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

I would certainly like to see a crackdown on second homes. I live in a holiday area and there is a real housing shortage, not because of lack of housing stock but because so much of the housing is holiday lets and second homes.

@Onlinedilema

The non indigenous population should only allowed to rent.

Eh? Why? Is a skin tone check going to be part of the mortgage approval process?

I know an older lady {Seventies} She lives in a ''Protected tenancy'' {Sitting tenant} as she's been there since 1982.
Garden flat in Georgian house in posh area of Bristol.
She pays a few hundred in rent.
Various investor landlords have bought unit cheaply and tried to harass and bully her out.
They know that by getting her out, that flat will be worth a bloody fortune on the open market.

@flashbac

So what do you suggest people who need to rent do? Rental properties where I live are often snapped up before getting a sniff at Righrmove

There wouldn't be so many people renting if houses weren't so ridiculously priced.

But not everyone wants to buy. I don't know anyone renting who actually wants to buy currently.

I agree OP although I think one second home rented out all year round is fine. A lot of people end up as accidental landlords.

Something needs to happen to improve the housing market though I'm not so clear on what that should be.

Though we spend over a decade renting before buying partly as work and our careers moved us around - we then had to buy as the kids needed stablity for school - and we tended to prefer the BTL landlords because ones we enountered treated it as a business and did repairs and were professional - accidental landlords we had tended to not want to spend money and could be bad about poping round.

now runs and hides because reckons half of MN have a BTL or holiday home

Of course they do, but if they are aaaall high earners they have to spend their money on something.

There is a house on our road that was sold to an investor. Was previously lived in by an old lady and needed lots of modernisation.
On of my work colleagues was house hunting at the time. A for sale sign went up outside but never went on rightmove so local people didn't get a look in.

She turned up with her massive fancy car and a camera crew in tow to film her for her social media channels blocking the pavement. Remains to see if she will renovate it to flip it or rent it out. Posted the other day on Instagram with her new sports car she bought.

I understand there is a need for private landlords but buying houses just to flip them or to rent out is pushing prices up.

I think BTL has a lot to answer for regarding the current housing crisis in this country

I can't blame people if they are able to buying a holiday home though. If I had enough money I would definitely consider buying a second home.

@FangsForTheMemory

I would certainly like to see a crackdown on second homes. I live in a holiday area and there is a real housing shortage, not because of lack of housing stock but because so much of the housing is holiday lets and second homes.

I lived in a similar area and it's a double-edged sword (or was where I lived) as a huge amount of the economy was reliant on tourism however there was shortage of workers as locals couldn't buy homes. They solved the issue by building a new estate of local occupancy only homes- it could have sold 3 times over the amount of interest there was. It did mean a lovely field got built on though which some locals weren't happy about!

I don't think it matters how many properties an individual landlord owns. The real issue is whether or not they are good landlords, keeping their properties in good repair and treating their tenants fairly and well. Many people aren't in a position to buy their own home (or don't want to) and so we will always need good rental properties.

@dangerrabbit
The problem is not just that T.....allowed council homes to be bought and so remove them from the housing for rent stock but also that the government prohibited councils from using that money thus generated to be used to build new stock (not that it would have been that useful anyway given the discounted prices that these homes were sold for. In principle the idea of buying your own home is laudable but that's what mortgages are for. Council houses were meant for people who couldn't get a mortgage. Now they've all been sold off what are folks meant to do?

Fully agree OP. YANBU at all.

@lassingd

Tax is used to control behaviour. Tax on BTL is less than stamp duty on primary residences in places like Germany.

So the government want BTL to buy more houses. Why? No idea, but buck stops with them. It's very easy to control behaviour with taxes.

I agree. There's plenty the government could do to de-incentivise BTL without banning it.

I think tighter regulation of landlords, with leases that redress the balance of power more in favour of the tenant, would be helpful. Along with much tighter regulation around AirBNB-style rentals.

This would discourage casual investors and take the heat out of the investment-driven housing market, while ensuring that there is a healthy, properly-regulated rental market for those who wish to rent.

YANBU OP. It is selfish to the extreme and really pisses me off.

I live in a city where a lot of people come for a few years and then move on, and where a lot of the jobs are 1 - 3 year contracts, not permanent, in an industry where moving from city to city - or country to country - is very common.

Many people who are here have no interest in buying at all, but don't want to live in a small flat or shared acommodation. There is a huge market for nice, high quality single family rentals. Why should people be forced to buy when they neither want nor need to?

34.5% of the population in the UK rents. Elsewhere in Europe that goes even higher - it's 48% in Germany! We need better quality rental homes and stronger laws protecting tenancies, not fewer tenancies (which is what you mean by getting rid of BTL, essentially).

And we need the councils to start replenishing their council housing stock instead of selling off homes. Right to buy has been a disaster for this country. There should be safe, enjoyable council-owned housing available for everybody who needs it.

The obsession with owning just feeds the banks - as does BTL, to be fair too, of course.

Imo BTL is less harmful than buy to leave, holiday homes and holiday lets. At least the property is made available to an actual real family to inhabit as their primary home.

But not everyone wants to buy. I don't know anyone renting who actually wants to buy currently.

Really? I know some people renting as it's the most convenient option for them at their stage of life, but the majority of renters I know would jump at the chance to own a home.

Despite being in the EU, Denmark has strict rules on who can own property there from overseas. It's a pity we don't have similar rules. Oligarchs buy up property in London which pushes up prices everywhere else.

I have less of a problem with people buying property to rent, within reason - because we need rental properties. I do not like people having second/holiday homes, because that is removing a home from the residential market.

I'd also like to see more carrots to encourage people living in large houses who don't need to space to move to smaller ones. And stricter rules on extensions, so you can't turn a 2 bed house into a 4 bed house. It's no good removing the cheaper homes from the market.

@GreenWillow

I wouldn’t want to live in a country where the government had control over whether or not a private individual or company could own assets they were able to afford to buy

This.

I think a lot of MNers (and the political left in general) are very naive and trusting when it comes to the relationship between the State and the Individual.

I’ve often thought this on here, especially during the pandemic. The absolute blind faith in the government is troubling.

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

But not everyone wants to buy. I don't know anyone renting who actually wants to buy currently.

Really? I know some people renting as it's the most convenient option for them at their stage of life, but the majority of renters I know would jump at the chance to own a home.

Same. Us included. We have managed to buy now but out of all of my friends left renting they'd all prefer to buy

I think BTL is fine, assuming the property is actually rented out and does not stand empty for months/ years.
There are actually individuals / business behind these purchases, it's not immoral or wrong
contradicting MN popular opinion
I don't think it's possible for a government in a market economy to limit ANY type of purchases.

The obsession with owning just feeds the banks - as does BTL, to be fair too, of course.

I agree - but the British obsession with owning hasn't come from nowhere. It's a result of the fact at renting long-term is a shitty option in the UK due to lack of regulation (as you correctly point out).

I think owning one property as a BTL is reasonable (not that I own one). People need somewhere to rent and someone has to own those rented properties. But when people like the local large country estate owners round here start buying up all the local properties and then think they own the place it does piss me off.