There should be an upper limit on rental prices

[HereLiveIAmNotACat]

Am I the only one that thinks the property investment industry is horrendous and shows how awful, greedy and selfish mankind can be? Surely there should be laws around this? Or caps on the maximum profit a homeowner can make per month relative to any mortgage on the property?
How can it be right that rental prices are ludicrously above mortgage prices purely for the homeowners to benefit from someone else paying off their mortgage and make a pretty penny on top.. then moving on to their third, fourth houses etc..meanwhile renters are stuck forking up more than they can afford with little chance of ever making it onto the property ladder due to the impossibility of saving up whilst paying rent.
Unless you were fortunate enough to have a property in the 80s before inflation/money from family you’re screwed really.
Just means less and less rental properties being available. The rich getting richer the poor getting poorer. And it’s always ‘oh it’s brilliant we’ve paid that mortgage off and are making such and such per month renting out..we’re now moving to a much larger house in a much nicer area’ as if that’s something to be proud of?!

(Yes- bitter renter here)

£650pcm to live in a house share with nine others, sleeping in what should be the living room.

It's scandalous.

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry but then they’d likely sell … because the rent isn’t enough to cover their costs?

I think what you’re trying to say is that rents are not officially related to costs which is true, but they absolutely are unofficially related to costs because otherwise you wouldn’t have landlords. The only circumstances I can think of under which that might differ would be if capital growth was exceptionally high or tax treatment was exceptionally generous, meaning that a landlord would absorb a loss in order to benefit from other advantages.

@GreenLunchBox

This is ridiculous. Obviously just a jealous person trolling now 🥴

Do you mean me? Troll hunting is against MN guidelines, but I can assure you am not one and I’m very happy for MNHQ to confirm this. You don’t have to like or agree with what I say but please, behave yourself.

but then they’d likely sell … because the rent isn’t enough to cover their costs?

Yes, that would be the sensible option. I’m sure most do.

I think what you’re trying to say is that rents are not officially related to costs which is true

I didn’t try to say it. I said it.

MN is hilarious. On this thread we have people saying the solution is more social housing, rather than a rent cap, on another thread the OP is saying that social housing (or what they refer to as ‘tax payer’ housing) is not the solution and tax payers shouldn’t have to pay for someone else to have cheap housing. Love it.

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry
Wow people having different opinions, how hilarious

@Runningandhungry

Not bitter at all. You're completely right it's totally corrupt. There is a housing crisis and there isn't an easy fix.

There isn’t a housing crisis. The crisis is regional inequality in the UK, because of stupid over concentration on the South Eastern corner of England.

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry not in a way that anyone understood otherwise you wouldn’t have had to reply to everyone and we wouldn’t be having this conversation! Anyway, no more from me.

OP I understand your frustrations, I also rented for a long time and it wasn’t easy. But rent controls don’t work, the answer is more (and sometimes better) supply of housing.

Don’t forget that as well as a growing population, the average household size has dropped from around 3 to closer to 2 over the past 50 years (partly as baby boomers were a big cohort and living at home then). That means that even if the size of the population was to stay the same you’d need more houses to reflect changes in living arrangements. As it is though, population has grown as well, putting double the pressure on housing stock.

not in a way that anyone understood

Not in a way some want to accept. There’s a difference.

Why would a landlord charge less than the amount someone is willing to pay? DS is working abroad, has a flat in the uk and charges £800 a month to his tenant. DS plans to live in this flat again if he ever returns. His mortgage is £500. Why would he charge less than the going rate of £800? Loads of people can afford that and want the flat at that price. Why has the size of his mortgage got anything to do with the price of eggs?

CyberNan

"there is no connection between a mortgage and rent... the area, size of property, condition of property etc is what decides the rent"

That not actually true!
I am at the moment looking to rent out my property and we will not get a buy to let mortage unless we get £450 more than our mortage is

I can see a whole other thread of complaints on Mumsnet when this system is implemented: the flat downstairs is identical to mine, how come they can get it half as cheap, just because their landlord has a lower mortgage than mine. It's not fair!

@Greenrubber

CyberNan

"there is no connection between a mortgage and rent... the area, size of property, condition of property etc is what decides the rent"

That not actually true!
I am at the moment looking to rent out my property and we will not get a buy to let mortage unless we get £450 more than our mortage is

But that doesn't mean you can insist on rent of £450 above the mortgage! It just means you won't get a mortgage at all unless the lender is persuaded that that's the market rent.

@MurielSpriggs good point!

@murielspriggs

The rental company valued it at £50 either side of that so luckily we can get the mortgage

But I can imagine people moaning about how we are being greedy for asking for that amount

Truth is we cannot rent it out otherwise

Fwiw we need to move to the other end of the country for a few years it's not about making money it's about making sure the property pays for itself so we have no extra outgoings

Some people rely on rental income as their main income. Some people use BTL as an alternative to pensions because they don't have one. It's a legitimate source of income so while I get that people are upset rent is a massive outgoing for them I don't know what the answer is. Some people are just trying to make a living!

Just did a mortgage calculator on a property paying minimum deposit of 6.5k tenants would have to find £550 per month which is the rental they pay. But their responsibility ends there. Any problems they pick up the phone.

@AlfonsoTheUnrepentant

then moving on to their third, fourth houses etc..

Most landlords have only one rental property. If the property is mortgaged, the owner should have a buy-to-let mortgage which is more expensive than a conventional mortage. Most mortgage providers will allow a property to be rented out at 20% over the mortgage rate to cover expenses.

This! The majority of landlords in the UK have only one rental property. Don’t be fooled by what you read in the media.

@Greenrubber I disagree a bit. The reason it’s so emotive is that it feels like peoples most basic needs are being exploited for disproportionate financial gain.

Even I would argue that’s something people should just expect to be able to do. As a landlord I’m an investor and it is a legitimate form of income. However as for those who are “making a living” from it, there are other asset classes that would allow them to achieve that without having the same impact on other people. It’s one of the reasons the govt intervenes in the property market through eg Help to Buy schemes, planning regs, tax breaks etc

Ffs what is going on with my typing!!! SHOULD NOT EXPECT… to be able to do!!

It's crap & not good for society but i'm not sure people want change

I am what you may call a reluctant landlord (guilty as charged, I used to say accidental until I learnt on here otherwise 😬).

How it happened - I was working for a successful company well known in my industry. I was happily living alone, no commitments other than my two dogs (I miss them every day now). I was seeing a lovely man but had issues with getting too involved because of past experiences so was happy to live in my house (that I’d worked my arse off for, no hand outs, no bank of mum and dad). Found out I was pregnant (didn’t think I could get pregnant), had a very generous maternity package lined up with work until they very surprisingly went bust (made the news). I lost a lot in that moment. No one wanted to employ me at 20 weeks pregnant. Lost my package and had to rely on government package that didn’t touch the mortgage never mind anything else. Straight away knew I’d have to sell the house (lovely dp said of course to move in with him) house was in negative equity, I’d have to find at least £20k to pay the bank back if I sold. I was in a dark place. Family friend literally begged me to rent to her very young daughter, single mum on benefits with a dog. We all thought it would be temporary. I changed the mortgage to BTL but as repayment (interest only scared me). I never wanted to make a profit, I naively thought I could help someone while keeping the bank happy. We agreed well below the market rate, I did everything above board (tax, insurance, safety checks) I didn’t put the rent up in the over 7 years she was there. I let her decorate how she wanted (I wanted it to be her home), at the end of the year I was lucky if I made £50 after everything but I didn’t care.
I was so proud of her when she’d met a lovely man, had another child and together they bought a house. But, when I collected the keys after they’d gone I was heart broken at the condition they’d left the house in. Cutting a long story short, it cost me £10k to fix and had to get a loan while accepting the shitty second car I’ve been driving will be mine until it breaks down. No point going after her for money, she’s not as financially stable as I thought and with everything else no energy to pursue anything. I got dangerously high blood pressure from the stress.

I’m sorry to go on, but just wanted to say, we’re not all in it for the money, I felt it was the only option, I had anti natal depression when I lost my job and genuinely believed it was the best solution.

I'm pretty sure the landlord haters are talking about South Eastern landlords. Most Northern landlords are not rolling around in fifty pound notes