I'm so sick of people buying multiple properties for BTL

[flashbac]

So the landlord next door has hoovered up another house on the street for BTL. A nice house that wasn't even on the market but they managed to get their mits on it. Yes I know I sound bitter because I am! I'm so fed up of investors hoovering up all the houses. There should be a limit but with most of our government being BTL landlords nothing will change.
I'm sick of the increasing gap between rich and poor.
now runs and hides because reckons half of MN have a BTL or holiday home

@ttcissoboring

Also not everyone wants to buy. Some people don't want the responsibility or not everyone can buy (no deposit, poor credit etc) - so why shouldn't landlords cater to those people?

Yes. If they didn't, there would be far fewer homes for people to rent.

Very, very few people would prefer to rent over buying

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

Very, very few people would prefer to rent over buying

That's a fact. However there are times when renting is the only option and many young people rent. I did before I got together with my husband and then we bought a house. My son has rented for years, so have many of his friends.

It takes such a long time to raise a deposit unless you are lucky and have family help.

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

Very, very few people would prefer to rent over buying

DH sector now seem to expect them to have short-term - 2/3 year contracts so they often - not always though- have to move for work so renting was preferable.

Couple of generations before DH and it was much less so - more vertical progression and full time contracts work. Many of DH collegues hit their early 30 had DP/spouses with careers and often children and don't want to do it many leave for other sectors or have insane communtes or live away in week.

Plus you also usually want to live somewhere while your saving the deposit.

I think there clearly a need for rental sector - but I think it's as fucked up as the rest of the housing market currently.

OZANJ's comments really good hearted + interesting having worked in housing years ago myself and have witness people's stuggles. My son + his partner rented from a "Housing Association" + the rent went up twice a year (which is normal) as at the end of their tenancy were paying £700 a month + have only just moved into a home of their own but that they got their repairs done for free which is the norm. On the other hand my sister in law + her millionaire husband who moved to live abroad have 3 rentals in the UK so its very hard in judging these days after yes Margaret Thatcher sold off housing stock, whereas my own grandparents rented their council house and never bothered to ever buy it, then everyone has different stories to tell. Everyone must be accountable for their own budget in what they can afford on a property purchase + there will always be those money grabbing folks around in life making a profit out of others.

I know many people who prefer to rent.

People who move around with their work

Students.

Overseas nationals who plan to be here for a few years and then return to their own country.

Couples who have moved in together for the first time and don’t want to commit to buying together.

People who have moved to a new area and want to get to know it first.

Those who have just set up a business and want to put all their spare cash into it.

Those who want the facilities and convenience of serviced accommodation.

Those who are downsizing and want freedom from the responsibilities of owning.

These are just some of the people I know personally . Sometimes posters on MN forget that not everyone is a couple with 1.8 children who want to live in a suburban semi in the same area for the next 20 years.

Households come in all shapes and sizes and for many of them the PRS meets their needs.

@coldwarenigma

There should be a cap on rents to two thirds of local authority rents. I keep saying this on here but there needs to be a mass social housing build programme. Its a nonsense that the state pays HB to a large proportion of LL due to high rents rather than provide housing. The original SH was for all, not just those at the bottom of the pile.

I agree!

And I'd like to know how much of UC and HB paid to tenants goes to pay off the BTL mortgages of these investors and make them very rich indeed.

You can't get public funds to pay your own mortgage even for a few months if you buy and then fall on hard times, but your tax payments can be spent on BTL landlords' mortgages and no-one seems to blink an eye.

As usual, it's one rule for the haves and one for the have-nots.

@IM0GEN

I know many people who prefer to rent.

People who move around with their work

Students.

Overseas nationals who plan to be here for a few years and then return to their own country.

Couples who have moved in together for the first time and don’t want to commit to buying together.

People who have moved to a new area and want to get to know it first.

Those who have just set up a business and want to put all their spare cash into it.

Those who want the facilities and convenience of serviced accommodation.

Those who are downsizing and want freedom from the responsibilities of owning.

These are just some of the people I know personally . Sometimes posters on MN forget that not everyone is a couple with 1.8 children who want to live in a suburban semi in the same area for the next 20 years.

Households come in all shapes and sizes and for many of them the PRS meets their needs.

Are all these people in positions where they could buy if they wanted to? Are they actively choosing to rent over buying? Or are they just making do?

What are the statistics on people choosing to sell their homes because they’d prefer to rent?

there will always be those money grabbing folks around in life making a profit out of others.

People who have money to invest have a variety of investment options. Shares and bonds, for example, which provide liquidity for capital markets and in the long run, are generally quite profitable, above the rate of inflation.

If people can't make a profit investing in rental properties, no one will, they will simply invest in financial instruments. If no one invests in rental properties, they will eventually cease to exist. There has to be a reward for putting capital at risk.

@SingleStrongWoman1

Do you have no idea of the housing market works, and how a limit on the number of houses you can buy would effect the economy.

Go back to school and stop selling scents on facebook!

It’s “affect” The verb… if you’re going to imply people are stupid and need a better education.

@FrankOrTheBeans

I think you're getting angry at the wrong people.

I work for a housing developer that sells 80% (if not more) of all their new build housing to foreign investors who use the properties as holiday homes...or not even at all. They can afford to leave the houses empty for years on end and not even step foot in them and just use them as investments.

These are buyers from UAE, China, America.

We have one property that was bought 3 years ago - the welcome drinks are still on their kitchen side untouched and collecting dust.

THIS is why there is a housing shortage. The land we are using up to build housing is being snapped up by investors who have no desire to actually step foot in this country and utilise a property that could actually house somebody.

I thought it was just applicable to London with these foreign buyers but nope my friend who works in one of the home county divisions has foreign investors buying detached "country" houses there too.

The introduction of a greater tax on foreign buyers should improve this issue but I doubt it will deter them!

Yes, definitely.

Other countries have restrictions on this

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

Very, very few people would prefer to rent over buying

When I left home at 18 I rented. Of course I would have loved to buy a flat then but that’s not really going to happen straight after leaving school with no savings in a min wage job. So I had to rent. Which actually was good because I moved around.

Later after I had bought but Jobs meant moving around again so I rented by choice and became a LL.

I know 2 of my tenants would like to buy but have no chance of a mortgage or council accommodation so private rental is their only option (and because of this they have long leases, have decorated how they like and we did a loft conversion for one to add a bedroom and bathroom and haven’t increased the rent). 1 is a student so doesn’t want to buy. Previous tenants were a couple who had never lived together (they split up and broke their lease after 4 months - which we were fine with) and a family who wanted to rent for 1 year while they were having their house renovated. I do believe private rental provides a service that isn’t available from anywhere else for a lot of people.

@Journeyofthedragons - water isn’t free nor should it be. Private companies operate the water supply. But it’s regulated and there are benefits so those who otherwise couldn’t afford their water bill can pay. Like property.

Ive rented property at many times in my life. I wouldn’t have been able to work or move etc without a decent supply of rental property. We absolutely do need more though.

Not everyone can or ever could afford to buy. Or even wanted to. My grandparents could have bought their council house at a huge discount but didn’t because they didn’t want the maintenance and got the rent paid anyway. It doesn’t suit lots of people to buy.

And I'd like to know how much of UC and HB paid to tenants goes to pay off the BTL mortgages of these investors and make them very rich indeed
People really need to start to educate themselves to the fact that times have changed and most landlords now pay much tax on their properties.

The only way to make a profit nowadays is to own outright and be retired or earning very little. Or own a large portfolio of properties.

If you still pay a mortgage, work FT and it own 1 or 2 property, whatever is paid in HB/UC will go towards the maintenance and management of the property and back to the gov in tax. Hence why many are selling off and the rental market I'd dire in many areas.

"And I'd like to know how much of UC and HB paid to tenants goes to pay off the BTL mortgages of these investors and make them very rich indeed"

Most UC people do not pass credit checks for most lettings nor the low waged so I suspect most BTL private landlords d not let to UC tenants nor to people on low wags and the letting agents' checks are not passed unless they can find a guarantor in the way students need their parents to guarantee student private lettings (if the parents' have high enough wages).

I have a lovely friend who has several houses which she rents out at very reasonable rents and prefers to rent to young people on UC/housing benefits as she feels many landlords ignore these people. I think she is very fair. Her rents are considerably less than most properties in this area.
However I do object to landlords who rent out property at exorbitant rents with no thought to what they are doing to the local property market

There should be a cap on rents to two thirds of local authority rents.

This would mean that nobody with a brain would rent a property out, ever again, given that LA rents are generally sub-market values to start off. How to suffocate supply!

There are always people moving to new areas who want to "taste" before committing. Some are going to want to buy swanky houses. For a finite period, I'd rent a nice house short-term. But I am not a young family in need of an affordable home. I am retiring and location shopping. So there are very different markets within rental too.

The problem is that property prices have outstripped wages. Housing shouldn’t really cost more than 1/3 of take-home pay, therefore, ideally, someone on minimum wage should be able to rent or buy a Studio, two people on minimum wage, a one-bed Etc.

Housing shouldn’t be seen as investment, but a utility, and should be subject to some kind of regulation such as a cap on rents, regardless whether LA or private Landlords, for every Council area and keeping these lower than current market rates until housing prices reduce/wages catch up again.
Once the market is back where it should be, there should then be a similar cap on house prices (like they have in other countries - Germany has this) so that the thought of buying property as investment becomes unprofitable...
This would take a long time - it would have to - otherwise people who have just purchased would lose out, but it’s the only way I can think of solving the current situation.

@Notjustanymum

You're quite right, some people don't want to understand the maths though.

We are currently at about 30. I feel no shame at all. I’ve nit done anything that a 44 year old couldn’t have done. No inheritance, hand out, degree or amazing job just really hard work and a lot of sacrifices. In the early days and still on going.