To think rent is so bloody unfair

[Tar19891]

My rent is 800 per month. A mortgage on the same value flat would be 450 per month. Not in London obviously. It’s not fair is it?

Haven’t read the full thread, there’s always loads of ‘why don’t you buy instead’ and how expensive everything is for landlords.
Tosh!

I Thank my lucky stars I no longer live in the UK. Extortionate rents for unbelievably crappy ‘homes’.
When you rent and your landlord wants the house back you are out on your arse. Because it is NOT your home. It is a dwelling you are granted a temporary stay in.
It is atrocious that basics like a roof over your head, warmth and food are in such short supply in a supposedly 1 world country.
When I uttered my opinion I was told to go back home where I came from; the minute I could I very happily did!
Scandinavia is not perfect, but compared to the UK it is heaven.

It is down to politics. Social democracy is sadly waning here too, and I do anticipate a UK-state of affairs here too in 50 years time if we don’t turn the tide politically.

[b]"Good. No one should profit from providing shelter, a basic human need."[/b]

By that logic, no farmers, food shops, gas/electric/water companies should make any profit at all either? Not even enough to pay for time spent on the work involved or save to pay for future issues? Really? (yes, I know all the above except farmers make way more profit than they need to, but despite that your issue is with the small landlord making profit?)

I'm amazed people havn't been on here to tell op that if she got a promotion at work a and ate beans for a year with no spends on anything that makes life worth living then she would also be a homeowner.

No it is not fair op. We only got on the ladder as mil died and my great aunt died leaving inheritance which is very bitter sweet. We now pay a fraction of what we did as renters and it's a joy not to have monthly inspections and landlords winging about mould which they could tackle if they bought a dehumidifier but cant be arsed to make that outlay. Don't even get me started on the £350 " kitten tax" i was asked to pay out of the blue about a year after the landlord gave me permission to get a kitten!

@Twitterwhooooo

A580Hojas yes, the sell off of council housing in the 1980s and onwards has cost the next generations dear.

Something like 40% of ex-council housing is now owned by BLT landlords.

My local authority gave away much of its 'hard to let' stock in the 1990s, some of which it is now renting back from owners to house homeless families in.

My builder BIL does a lot of refurbs for a group of investors who buy up ex council homes and lease them back to the council.

The investors average 8-12% return on capital and have a steadily appreciating asset. It's low risk, the council pays the rent and undertakes to return the properties in the condition that they got them in.

The only bit that's a hassle is finding the properties in the first place. The council are so desperate for properties that they are now accepting houses that are 10-15 miles outside the council area.

I was considering releasing some equity to buy into it, to top up my paltry pensions.

@berksandbeyond

People are full of shit, if you could afford a second property, you would do it too. Anyone who says they wouldn’t is a liar

Hello!

I wouldn’t and I can afford multiple. It’s the investment choice of the unimaginative and thick. There’s a myriad of equity investments that can be made - and you can buy and sell with a click these days at a whim - and if you know what you’re doing the returns outstrip property investment by many factors.

Why on earth would anyone with a brain want to speculate in shelter when you can do that?

@SwanBuster the oh so clever got their pensions stolen which was the catalyst for property portfolio investments. Hope that doesn’t happen to you to wipe the smug grin off your chops

@Tar19891

Plus the landlord is building equity. Come on, we’re all adults as you say. Just admit to profiting off the situation

Why should someone let their flat to you at cost ?They have all the hassle and maintenance costs . Do you think they should not make a profit ? Presumably you get paid for doing your job ?

Why on earth would anyone with a brain want to speculate in shelter when you can do that?

The advantage of property investment is gearing, which is not usually available for equity investment.

[quote Nothappyatwork]@SwanBuster the oh so clever got their pensions stolen which was the catalyst for property portfolio investments. Hope that doesn’t happen to you to wipe the smug grin off your chops[/quote]
The world of pensions has moved on a lot. You don’t need to keep your retirement fund with Rupert Murdoch any longer.

Tell me - How will they steal out of a Self invested pension plan? Are they going to reach into it and say ‘that Vanguard S&P 500 ETF - I’ll have some of that’?

@AuntyBumBum

Why on earth would anyone with a brain want to speculate in shelter when you can do that?

The advantage of property investment is gearing, which is not usually available for equity investment.

Gearing is freely available and tax free. It’s called spread betting and if people did even a modicum of research on how to invest they’d know that.

• meant Robert maxwell not Rupert murdoch!

Tell me - How will they steal out of a Self invested pension plan? Are they going to reach into it and say ‘that Vanguard S&P 500 ETF - I’ll have some of that’?

The government? If needs be it would be done by taxation.

The vast majority of people do no research on any investments whatsoever the ones that are investing in property are a teeny tiny minority in the grand scheme of the general population the average pension we are ascertained on mums that was something like 70,000 so no probably people aren’t researching spread betting and sipps doesn’t make them all thick though does it ?
My job is utterly unnecessary I provide a service purely on the basis that people don’t want to take responsibility for their own decisions on their own lives and there are many industry sectors that are built on exactly the same premise. It’s where we are as a species. I should stop saying to Mumsnet that people need to grow a pair and sort themselves out because to be honest if they did I’d be unemployed.

@berksandbeyond

People are full of shit, if you could afford a second property, you would do it too. Anyone who says they wouldn’t is a liar

I could afford a second property. No way would I ever entertain the idea. Apart from the ethics of it, the return would be less than I’m getting from my shares.

You make it sound so easy, @Nothappyatwork, and I’m genuinely delighted for you (as well as slightly envious of anyone on the property ladder, but that’s my issue).

But how, when I live in a place where tiny one bed flats are £250k upwards and on a low single person’s salary of circa £22-25pa could I do the same? I also save as much as possible, but would need a salary of £50k and also a £50k deposit. Surely where you bought is v v reasonably priced in comparison, to have bought that easily and quickly?

As a singleton and low earner (not due to lack of qualifications, more due to mental health issues), I often wonder if it’s worth working. I pay so much bloody tax at the moment, pay a fortune in rent and don’t claim a penny; maybe I should apply for some financial assistance but would probably be a waste of my time as I don’t have children and the money seems to be mainly for families 😞

@AuntyBumBum

Tell me - How will they steal out of a Self invested pension plan? Are they going to reach into it and say ‘that Vanguard S&P 500 ETF - I’ll have some of that’?

The government? If needs be it would be done by taxation.

Which do you think is the bigger taxation target?

The few people with substantial self invested pension pots or the millions of buy to let landlords of and when there is a change in attitude towards taxation of private wealth?

Neither are going to happen anyway - MPs and rich people will steal from the PAYE earner first, as always.

Save up an buy then

@NellesVilla i’m honestly not being funny but you don’t get a choice on whether it’s worth you working, what’s the alternative ?
Do you have a lifetime ISA ? have you got anything in it at all ? That is literally the best place for you to start it’s free money from the government and as a single person it’s the only free money you’re ever gonna get.

There is so much hypocrisy on this thread. All about how accommodation is a human need and no-one should benefit from it. How being a landlord shouldn't be a business.

Yet on the ther hand, has all the expectations in rights that comes from being a customer. You can't have it all whilst the landlords gets no benefits at all. That would make them social landlords with all the stress and risks that comes with it. Who would be foolish enough to do it?

I pay 40% of the rental income back in taxes, for the benefit of society. I provide a good, well repaired, safe home to a family who can't yet afford to be owners. I didn't buy the home to become a landlord. It was my home, that I got on my own, with no help from family, working full time whilst raising my two children alone. I let the house when I married my husband who was a home owner too.

The rent is 20% below rental market rate at the moment. I make no profit from it. Yes, I get the equity but I still would if I left it inoccupied. It's my pension as I am self employed. I could have invested the money in the market. Would people have hated me just the same if I did? The family living there now would be gutted.

@Nothappyatwork

The vast majority of people do no research on any investments whatsoever the ones that are investing in property are a teeny tiny minority in the grand scheme of the general population the average pension we are ascertained on mums that was something like 70,000 so no probably people aren’t researching spread betting and sipps doesn’t make them all thick though does it ? My job is utterly unnecessary I provide a service purely on the basis that people don’t want to take responsibility for their own decisions on their own lives and there are many industry sectors that are built on exactly the same premise. It’s where we are as a species. I should stop saying to Mumsnet that people need to grow a pair and sort themselves out because to be honest if they did I’d be unemployed.

It absolutely makes them thick. They are going out and investing multiple 100s of thousands with leverage without looking into the freely available alternatives, and making the disgusting decision to compound the misery of young people who’s expenses increasingly swallow their entire incomes - even at decent salary levels.

A friend lives In a council flat. Her boiler went, she made a phone call it was replaced within a week, free of charge. She missed about how long it took.

We own our property. Our boiler went a couple of years ago in the middle of winter. We were freezing cold. We struggled to find anyone to replace it for a number of weeks and it cost us a few thousand pounds.

That's the difference!

*Such entitlement. Isn’t food, clothes and heat also a basic right? Where does your basic rights stop in terms of what you think you should be given by the tax payer?
*
Not really entitlement is it. There's massive price differences between a charity shop vs designer brands. With housing you have no choice but to pay extortionate prices in some areas, with no chance of progressing financially because you spend most of your earnings on rent.

I don't expect certain people to understand. If you pen your own home and life's all rosy, you're not going to get it.

@Barkingmadhouse

It seems every other post I see on here at the minute is someone advising another to not leave their rented house and to wait for the court judgment and bailiffs to throw them out. The more commonplace this becomes the more landlords will have to out their prices up to cover for such eventualities - only for people to then complain further at the cost.

Tennats pay x amount and then that's it for the month, they won't be stung with unexpected repair costs, that's the landlords issue. The mortgage is only a proportion of the landlord and home owners costs but I think renters forget this

That's because many councils will not regard a tenant as homeless until there is at least an eviction date. Some are even more strict, and want the tenant to have actually been evicted, some less so. If you go before you have to, the council can deem you intentionally homeless and that means that they have no duty to help you. (There is a right of appeal, but it's complex and there are fewer and fewer housing law specialists working in advice centres etc, thanks to cuts in legal aid for housing work.)

My council are will take a homeless application once a S.21 has been issued.

The advice given on here to wait until the last minute should really be to check with your council at what point they will accept an application under homelessness legislation, and don't go till you get to that point.

Oops

*moaned about how long it took

@Chely

Save up an buy then

Cancel the cheque. Just go away and be tedious somewhere else.