Landlords are hated but

[Parsley1234]

I am a landlord tenants been in situ for over 10 years very happily in a character Victorian terrace rent raises minimum I leave them alone get repairs done in a timely manner however from 2028 I will have to either sell holiday let or leave vacant the property as the modifications are untenable for me. Double glazing adding internal walls to make small rooms smaller etc. We are in a housing crisis this is going to make it worse and for all of you who want to have a go at landlords maybe look at the government housing policy first

No - new immigrants (except refugees) should not be give social housing. There is an extreme shortage of social housing and many people including children are homeless or living in hugely unsuitable accommodation.

It's caused by lack of homes to rent.
I don't view it as a crisis not to be able to afford to buy a home. I do view it as a crisis that people are homeless and being housed in dangerous and overcrowded conditions, often far away from their family and friends.

Given that you're not sure how it works maybe do some research.
A buy to let is exactly as it says, clue is in the name. The owner is not allowed to live there.
Please show us a link to the info that many already own the property, that's not the case for many landlords that I know

No, homelessness, being in overcrowded conditions etc is caused by a lack of homes to live in, regardless of whether they are owned or rented. Unless you actually build the home, you are not increasing the number of homes that people can live in by being a landlord. If you didn't own the property, it might be owned by someone who lived in it. If not it would be owned by another landlord.

Accidental landlording often does mean the house is owned outright but the owner cannot or does not want to sell it.

For instance:

People who inherited a house but don't live in it (wrong size, wrong location, already have a house). They may wish to keep it rather than sell it, or wait and see how they feel later - there could be inheritance, tax or other issues.

People who have relocated within the country or abroad, but are intending to come back.

People who can't sell their house.

People who have accommodation with their job and intend to retire to the house.

None of this is that uncommon. I can think of people I know in all those categories.

Sorry but that's incorrect too. Some, if not all lenders (like mine) will let the homeowner live in the rental.

Not all of those will mean owned outright

Also, the information above that all BTL mortgages are interest only was inaccurate. Mine's repayment. I think most people have got the memo on the issues with interest only now.

@Phineyj

All very true and 100% valid but that won't stop the anti landlord brigade from telling you you're wrong.

I've worked away from home and it would've cost a fortune in b&b or hotels. A rental was a godsend and also gave me some stability (no carting a suitcase and belongings every week or so).

Same. My BTL is repayment and also has an offset facility, which is very handy.

I'd never take out an interest only. Mugs game IMO, although I appreciate why some people use them.

I disagree.
Those that are homeless will not be buying a home. They need a home to rent. It's the supply of rental properties that is the issue. More social housing needs to be built or acquired and private renting needs to be encouraged not discouraged. Yes private renters need protections, more than they have a present, but not at the expense of happy renters losing homes because decent landlords decide that it's not economic to contine.

Lack of homes to buy is a secondary issue which can assist with homelessness but it's not going to come anywhere close to solving it.

People who inherited a house but don't live in it (wrong size, wrong location, already have a house). They may wish to keep it rather than sell it, or wait and see how they feel later - there could be inheritance, tax or other issues.
They can sell the house, they just don’t want to: not accidental landlording is it?

People who have relocated within the country or abroad, but are intending to come back.
They can also sell the house: landlording is a choice, not an accident.

People who can't sell their house.
Bet they can sell their house, they just don’t like the price at which they can sell it.

People who have accommodation with their job and intend to retire to the house.
They can sell the house and invest the proceeds in a pension, what with pensions being intended for retirement and houses not being intended as a retirement plan. Again, it’s a choice.

Look, landlords are gonna landlord, but the whole “oh this is accidental” and “oh I’m so reluctant” is bullshit. Own the decision.

People don't have to dispose of their assets just because you'd like them to!

The final example's a vicar - where the heck would he and his wife live in retirement otherwise? In the meantime that's a house a couple's had available to live in for 30 years, while he lives in the vicarage (which hosts various events so is a semi workplace).

Funnily enough our local vicar has bought a BTL for exactly that reason. He lives in a beautiful house by the church but it's not forever.

We advised him on it actually, as house prices were rising and it would've been impossible for them to have bought the same house now.

I imagine most vicars have to unless they're independently wealthy. The C of E has only very recently and grudgingly brought in pensions! Before they said the pay was a stipend for a vocation.

I understand the term to mean not what they originally intended.

You don't seem to be very good at arithmetic. It doesn't matter if a homeless people will not usually be able to buy a home. If the property is bought by anyone who previously lived in rented accommodation, there may be one fewer property to rent as a result but is also one fewer person/family looking for property to rent.
Buying or acquiring a house that already exists does not increase the total number of houses available to live in and help the housing crisis. New houses have to be built for that to happen.

We've just sold up after 16 years of homeownership. Our circs changed when our disabled son was born 12 years ago and we have clung on but finally the debts were so massive, we needed to release the equity.

We have just this week moved into a really lovely rented house. The landlord has refurbed it top to bottom and my kids think it is the most amazing home (as do dh and I).

We actually sold our house to a landlord who will do a refurb and rent it out to a family like us. While we lived in it it was awful - we didn't have the money to make it nice and couldn't afford anything else.

We need rented homes.

@dianthus101 but it impacts poorer people much more than richer people.

house prices won’t be impacted in any meaningful way - so what it means is that someone relatively wealthy may be able to buy but for people who will never be able to buy rents go up as there are less properties to rent.

So much jealousy and hatred for landlords on this thread. Mil advertised a house for new tenants a few weeks ago. She had 30 applicants. Within 72 hours. One family secured the house. Who knows where the other 29 will find something, people were offering 6 months upfront, etc and some were pretty desperate.

People have lots of different reasons for wanting/needing to rent. Lots wouldn’t be able or want to buy, no matter what. Not everyone wants to own their own home. Landlords leaving the market isn’t helping renters. Most landlords are decent, everyone focusses on the minority of unscrupulous landlords. The new EPC changes coming in will certainly make more landlords exit the market then maybe next time mil needs a new tenant they’ll be 60 applicants? 100?! How high will rents end up then?

And stop allowing social housing to be bought on the cheap?

Which is why the tenants are not ‘paying the mortgage’ and have not ‘bought the house for you’ they are paying for all those services they are using as well. And any landlord could take all that money and invest it elsewhere for a profit if they wanted it to be. Lots now have.

The accidental landlord argument is also a bit silly. No one is pretending they just fell over a spare house. Just that they didn’t buy the house with the intention of letting it. It’s a business. And like any business, you get side hustles and big corps.

You can get BTL repayment or interest only. Most career landlords would use interest only. Amateurs (or accidental LL) are much more likely to be on repayment finance or have consent to let. You’d be mad to anyway - they usually want 25 percent deposits and 40 for decent rates, are higher interest rates than residential mortgages and they often want evidence that you own a home, have a reasonable income as well, have correct licensing and insurance in place and can let the property at a sufficient rent to cover the mortgage and costs. I have even been asked for evidence of savings for repairs and maintenance of the rent looks too low to the lender. You are not allowed to live in them (it’s a breach of conditions and the property can be repossessed). You are not usually allowed to let out a home that is on a residential mortgage. They have massive fees and higher legal and survey costs.

You need different kinds of mortgages for different tenants, too. HMO mortgages are about 6 percent, even when they base rate was virtually zero.

It’s so, so naive to think the tenants are paying the mortgage. The landlord’s costs are higher and there are many more of them.

Good grief. If people are buying properties to live in it doesn't matter if there are less properties to rent because there will also be less people needing a property to rent. You are not increasing the properties available for people to live in by buying an existing property and renting it. It was already there!

Amateurs (or accidental LL) are much more likely to be on repayment finance or have consent to let.

@Eeksteek

Can you explain this please? Not that I mind being called an amateur but is interesting why you'd choose an interest only, unless you'd want leverage the profits for more property, or looking to sell at a profit. It would be interesting to hear other rationale as I'm sure I've missed something.

I'm on a repayment as interest only is a waste of money and you're always left with the capital. I also offset over half the remaining mortgage amount, which is saving me thousands on interest and reducing the term time.

You missed the point I was making. There should be enough social housing for nobody to need to live in a private rental. Hope that’s now clear enough.