Housing crisis

[lollipoprainbow]

Aibu to feel really angry about the housing situation in this country ?? I think it's terrible that tenants that privately rent only get 2 months to find somewhere else to live once issued with a section 21 surely in the current climate of a rental shortage it should be six months ?? I think it's awful that people can't get mortgages despite paying the same or less in rent each month. I think it's disgusting that 'affordable housing' is anything but for the normal low wage earning person. There is zero help for people working on a low wage. Sorry but I just need to vent, I want to complain but don't know who to !!

You're absolutely not being unreasonable, I don't know how anyone makes it onto the property ladder these days without some kind of family support, whether that's living at home rent-free for a few years or just some cash. And the rental market is absolutely dire, just landlord politicians continuing to vote in their own (and their landlord mates'j interest rather than providing a secure housing solution for renters. But nothing will change until people start voting differently

I totally agree - a friend has just been given 2 months notice after renting lovely home for 8 years - landlord is selling
She can’t find anywhere within 20 miles that she can afford and as a single 60+ year old with no disabilities she is unlikely to get help from council or housing association
She won’t be on the streets as can sleep in my spare room with furniture in storage temporarily
We are in a reasonably cheap area for renting but when you are single on a low ish wage it’s near impossible and everything gets snapped up instantly

When our rental was bought by a new ll he visited and told us we could stay indefinitely..
6 months later we got served notice. 10 weeks to relocate.
The owner is a well know figure in the area. Current news says he is worth 380m.
May be rich but no morals.
Twat.

YANBU. Not to mention when trying to buy, landlords are so inflexible with releasing early from a tenancy. So you could end up having to pay rent and a mortgage at the same time!

I thought that the notice period was being extended & there are some measures being put in place to make it easier for tenants? Or did I dream that

I'm so desperate for a secure home. Worked and saved so hard and had prices in our area not increased 20% over the last two years we would finally have been able to buy. Its soul destroying to see the goal posts move quicker than we can save. No family help and not allowed to live at home (despite boomer parents owning two houses and having just sold a third ffs)

It is absolutely awful. My siblings and I were incredibly privileged that my parents helped us out substantially with a deposit for our first homes. Despite having good jobs DH and I couldn’t save anywhere near enough to get out of the rental trap without input and we are eternally grateful. I have one friend who got a high paying job, moved back home and saved like mad and bought a house on shared ownership (fairly cheap area) who had no help and I am so incredibly proud and pleased for her. Everyone else I know has had some help from family, whether gifted or inheritance. For the significant majority of families who do not have this ‘spare moneys’ it’s virtually impossible and dreadful.

It is very tough out there. I agree there should be better tenancy protections in place (the more done to make a house a home rather than a property investment for a certain few lucky people the better).

What would happen if BTL mortgages were slowly phased out? Or maybe had higher capital requirements? Or a limit for the number of properties a person or business can own and let out?

Something needs to be done to deflate the rental market. I get that in the current set-up landlords need to cover mortgages with rent they charge, but, there needs to be a way to make renting cheaper in comparison to owning your own home.

Otherwise people get stuck in these really tough situations.

We are coming back to UK from overseas for various reasons and it took 5 offers(all in different towns in Surrey, Berks , Bucks ) to actually get a really nice rental house in a town we like in south east - even offering full price in all but 1 case — this is at the 4 bed detached/semi end of the market too. One issue is that because of working from home people have moved a bit further out and often sold— so they rent something niceish for a year whilst looking to buy in new area— there’s a real storm of various issues, landlords selling up, more demand (for reasons I mentioned) - landlords getting greedy due to demand particularly in ‘in demand’ areas. We actually do rent long term for various reasons , have a great rental record, no kids at home, no pets and aren’t looking for cheap— so if we were struggling to find nice places , must be a bloody nightmare for others

@JaceLancs Some areas seem to have sheltered housing availabilty for those over 55/60. If your friend registers with the local authority she has a reasonable chance of being housed. reasonable rents too.

I think your right theres a problem. But I dont know how to solve it tbh.

One idea would be 100% mortgages to enable those to buy and pay less on a mortgage than rent. But then theres also the cost of owning a home which renters dont pay; and this not only protects them from living in squalor but also protects the housing stock from decay and neglect (obviously this happens anyway - but it would be a lot more of a problem if everyone who cant afford to upkeep a home buys just to reduce their monthly payments).

Theres literally no point in owning a home where the roof has decided to fail one day and you cant afford to fix it; or any other number of endless expensive things which go wrong with houses.

the problem with tenancy protection is that some people are not good tenants.
if you want a "your" home...well you need to buy it. a renter is always a renter.

It’s incredibly depressing. It appals me that income criteria are applied to renters who have an impeccable record of paying their rent. My son was in that situation, fortunately I was in a position to lend him six months rent so he could pay upfront.

We paid our landlord in our last house more than he paid for the whole property and the repairs he carried out in the 10 years we lived there. It’s sickening yet a certain bank says we couldn’t even borrow enough to buy that house right now.

I thinking proving you’ve paid your rent on time for X amount of time should show you are good for the money. Like the reason I cannot save 25k plus is because I pay so much rent. I can insure my boiler, I can get approved for a loan that would pay for a roof etc but my mortgage wouldn’t pay for a house that’s actually big enough unless odly it needed say a new roof, boiler, windows etc.

This is what happens when council houses are sold off. It’s a capitalist economy innit. Great if you’re already rich. Awful if you’re not. And the wealth gap grows ever wider.

@Strangeways19

I thought that the notice period was being extended & there are some measures being put in place to make it easier for tenants? Or did I dream that

The government have committed to repeal s21 in the queen's speech so that landlords can't just serve notice to evict tenants. They have to need the property back to live in or having to sell. It will be a good thing when this passes.

I feel that angry I might write to Michael Gove although I doubt he will give a toss !!

It's a mess. I am an accidental landlord, we had to move for work and rent a house in our current location whilst renting out our home.

The house prices have shot up and we are relieved we didn't sell. But now we have a lovely tenant who would struggle to afford the market rent in the area. We charge about £250 per month under the average in that area. I don't know what we will do a few years down the line.

I don’t disagree with you but to add another perspective. I have just served my tenants a section 21 as I am selling my property (it was owned and then rented when I married husband). Financially being a landlord is no longer viable and my tenants are not good and never pay on time.

To answer someone from earlier, I think subsequent government legislation and tax rules have made second(third) home ownership less desirable - which I actually agree with!

You cannot just give someone a 100% mortgage because they pay rent of £1k a month and the (CURRENT) mortgage payment would be £800 a month. The bank needs a buffer in case they need to repossess, which is the point of the deposit. They also need to stress test the mortgage - it might be at 1.79% now but what if it goes up to 3%? 5%? I paid 7% on my first mortgage and I'm not a boomer, I'm 37!

I was going to move from council to a private rent due to awful neighbours that were threatening me but luckily managed to get an exchange to where I live now. I'm glad because the house I was going to rent was up for sale within a year. It's time there was more money available to build social housing. There are large amounts of council owned land lying empty where schools have been knocked down but the council prefer to leave the land empty in the hope of selling it instead if building new homes on it. One of these sites is right next to where I live. The council in the next area to me which is literally over the back of where I live have the right idea, they are constantly building new developments on pockets of land they own. The piece of land where I live next to has outline planning permission for 65 new homes, a mix of houses & bungalows, the bungalows are desperately needed as there are only 16 suitable for disabled people in the area, otherwise it means flats that were built in the 1960's which don't meet building standards for disabled people. I'm in one of those flats & there isn't room to swing my wheelchair in my front door, none of the doorways are wide enough & there isn't the 1.5 metre turning circle of space in the kitchen.

Yes it seems unfair but landlords struggle to evict when tenants don't pay rent, have to pay for repairs because tenants don't take care of the property etc. my neighbour had the house when they rented it (due to job loss they moved in with family). I've rented twice in recent years and I was glad rental properties exist

@mjf981

This is what happens when council houses are sold off. It’s a capitalist economy innit. Great if you’re already rich. Awful if you’re not. And the wealth gap grows ever wider.

A line often repeated without much thought to other structural issues with the economy. The problem isn’t that there isn’t enough welfare. Why do people want others to be dependent on welfare? The problem is that UK is a low wage economy because nu labour systematically created a culture of welfare dependency with the tax credits instead of letting employers pay the going rate. The Tories continued this strategy. This made UK the country with the lowest productivity in the G7. Well, guess what? Low productivity means is even more wage suppression. Add to the govts around the world printing money like it’s going to fashion, stupid lockdowns in the last two years, nimbyism rife in this country, and you have this problem. Quantitative easing especially caused money to make its way into assets. So this council house theory is a bit lazy and basically from the school of thought where you shouldn’t pay people enough and have them dependent on welfare and subsidized housing.

My brother bought with a 100% mortgage around 17 years ago and did fine with it. Should be brought back. Fuck the banks.