to think those who demonised BTL landlords are (partially) responsible for rental crisis

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Many small landlords are selling because:

• mortgate interest is now only partially deductible for tax
• S21 evictions are being stopped, meaning it will be impossible to kick out bad tenants; the courts are too backed up to actually enforce any evictions even when it's allowed anyway
• Onerous EPC rules coming in which will cost huge sums to rectify
• More and more registers, inspections and paperwork

At the same time, landlords have spent the last few years being jeered as being unethical - and many MNers haven't been shy to raise their voices about that.

The tiny minority of renters fortunate enough to be able to afford a deposit and mortgage might be happy; they will have a bit more choice and a slightly lower price. For other renters they are having real problems.

Shelter and other housing charities should be campaigning for more landlord friendly policies such as easier tenant evictions and restoring full mortgage interest deductions for tax if they want to improve housing availability on a large scale, but they won't because PR-wise it will be a nightmare as their changes will be seen to disadvantage individual tenants.

Yes, there are other factors too - large scale immigration; planning system broken; not enough housebuilding; more singletons/split families and fewer intergenerational families - but landlords selling up because of government policies and societal ostracism is a major cause.

I am not a landlord but have been in the past - there is no way I would become a new landlord in the current environment.

Those who called landlords rent-seeking scum or similar should feel ashamed.

@cawfeee ah - so you don’t give a crap about social housing tenants. It wasn’t a sensationalist report at all. It was a well researched report raising a massive sofial
issue for social housing tenants.

the housing ombudsman has identified it as a significant structural problem in the sector. It is a shocking situation that is only going to get worse as the housing stock ages.

private tenants are typically in an even worse situation as the don’t currently have an ombudsman to go to. They can go to the councils environmental health team but that’s not likely to be successful.

the point is that social housing is not the answer to the housing problems.

for example I think it’s shocking the condition that council properties are often rented out in - with no flooring!!!

my personal view is that that a realistic answer taking into account the current structure of the uk rental market is for people who for one reason or another need support to be provided with government funded and run housing for the duration of their time of need.

and for the private market to be well regulated with minimum standards that are enforced.

No logic to this. If landlords are selling up surely they're selling either to new owner occupiers or a different landlord. Either way someone will be living in it - ie presumably whoever buys the property won't be leaving it empty? So the property supply remains the same. What am I missing?

@Beezknees well then at least acknowledge that you are being subsidized and you want other people to pay for your housing.

that may entirely be reasonable if you are in need

but can you see thst a system where all housing is subsidised by the state means that tax revenues are used to support people who aren’t actually in need?

56% of households in social housing receive housing benefit.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004105/EHS_19-20_Social_rented_sector_report.pdf

Well... Lots of people do work hard indeed. Also some people (the tenants I tend to have) live a different life. For those who struggle, who live with anxiety, really can't work... For those unable to secure social housing, I like to think I provide the next best thing. I can't afford to match social housing rents, but very close to their housing benefit allowance, with a much more supportive attitude.
And as for all those of us who couldn't buy/ wasn't the right time or place, renting has always been there and reliable. The more flack people give the folk who are renting out a nice home affordably, the fewer of these will be available. As we see now - that causes horrible pain and stress to people. Let's support nice tenants getting nice homes from nice landlords.

I pay for my housing. The HA pays for the maintenance, as they own the property. If there really is not enough money to maintain the properties to a decent standard, then yes, governments should be stepping in. The whole point of HA is that they are affordable to those people who cannot afford private rent. Do you not want people to have affordable housing? Do you want to see more people in poverty?

I work, but many people living in HA properties are disabled and can't work. Do you not think they should be helped? You want to raise their rent, which is paid for by benefits and that means the welfare bill will have to increase too?

Apparently many in London are putting HA tenants in new build developments.

New builds are notoriously bad for mould, water leaks etc.

In fact my niece purchased a 1 bedroom flat in North London and most now are let to ‘Housing Association’ tenants.

My niece was lucky her flat didn’t have some of the substantial leaks and moulds many upper floors had.

The poor HA tenants complain but the council do nothing.

This is key for me. Since some do not need a subsidy from tax payer that private market needs to exist.

So landlords do need some regulation but also if it becomes too high a risk - tenants not paying - then people exit

I’m not sure where there is still no protection from non payers though

I can claim what I like, thanks. Like I said, I pay my rent. Tax credits is nothing to do with rent. I would get tax credits even if I owned a house. I do not receive any housing allowance. You clearly don't understand the benefit system.

Of course, if I moved into a private rent, which would be nearly double my current rent, I would get housing allowance. About £300 extra than what I get now, I believe.

Only if she was a council tenant herself at that time, buying her own council house. Just like all the other council tenants who bought their own council houses at a substantial discount, she was at liberty to sell for a significant profit and do what she wanted with her money. No capital gains tax either.
Any future purchase of that property pays full market value, if it is a second property bought for renting out, the new owner also pays additional taxes. No relief on mortgage payments. No deductions for hours spent redecorating or carrying stuff to the tip. Then capital gains tax to pay when selling.
I agree, for the lady who was a council tenant able to buy her home or worked out well. We now need to replace social housing, and stop selling it.

I'm a landlord and strongly disagree. My tenants absolutely deserve to live in a home that is of a decent standard. In my previous neighborhood you could see instantly which properties were rented, those were the ones with single glazing and rotting window frames. I've had friends who rented properties in central Edinburgh that had no central heating. And that's less than 10 years ago. It's about time that tenanted properties need to meet a minimum standard.

The UK never shoulder have allowed BtLs to proliferate the way they have. I'm currently renting overseas and there are far fewer amateur landlords here, most properties are owned by housing corporations and while rent is not necessarily much cheaper the properties are usually well looked after and leases are for an indefinite length of time.

Up to a point but firstly rented properties on average have higher occupancy than owner occupied properties in particular because there aren't really many flatshares in the latter. So fewer lets means more overall demand.

Secondly air bnbs, holiday lets and other short term let's are still an alternative to selling for people currently offering longer lets.

Thirdly some properties which were let will probably just sit empty instead now - e.g. I rented out my place when I was overseas for three years a while back but absolutely wouldn't if it were now.

The benefit of properties becoming available as landlords sell up will also be felt by more affluent renters. Poorer people not in a realistic position to buy will just feel the effects of shrinking supply.

If you think the UK is horrific you would combust if you heard about the Australian system. Most people buy a house on a residential mortgage and then move into a rental themselves and negatively gear the property that they bought on the residential mortgage so that all the losses are tax-deductible against their PAYE salary.

honestly if you haven’t got a rental property over there and you’re over 18 everyone thinks something seriously is wrong with you.

I'm a tenant and pay fair rent and repairs are done quickly. I'm also a landlord (accidental) and charge fair rent and repairs are done quickly. I wouldn't have chosen to be a landlord, it's a ballache, but I do choose to be a tenant because it's much more convenient to pass all the repairs on to someone else. Some people prefer to live with less responsibility.

Macarena if only more LLs were like you - three cheers from me💃

Boo hoo my heart bleeds, it’s not the benevolence of the butcher and all that bollocks.

?

They provide homes for those who cannot afford to buy.

… who can’t afford to buy because BTL landlords pushed prices up with the greed of their demands. Theyparticularly targeted entry-level housing too.

Landlords are taking subsidies: every single one of them is subsidised by working people, either directly or by the state.

I think the abolition of Section 21 will backfire. I lived in a small block of flats for several years. The landlord was great, rents were fair and he was quick to get repairs done.

Then a total nutcase moved in below me. She would regularly play loud music in the middle of the night, throw used tampons into the communal hallway and have loud screaming conversations on the phone. Several of us asked him to intervene but the bad behaviour continued. Eventually we gave him an ultimatum to remove her or we would leave. She got even worse as a result.

I asked Shelter for advice and they said they couldn't help. I couldn't hack it anymore so left what had been a nice peaceful home to another flat which was smaller and more expensive, not to mention the cost of moving.

I later found out he managed to remove her but it took 18 months!

S21 has nothing to do with the situation you describe.

This simply isnt true

Not everyone who rents is renting because they cant afford to buy, not everyone wants to buy, not everyone wants a mortgage. Not everyone wants the responsiblity of house maintenance. Not everyone wants to be subject to service charges and ground rent for a flat.

The number of private rents is not the issue.

The issue is the lack of social rents.

I thought S21 was for evictions? Granted it was a few years back.

It is, but its known as a 'no fault' eviction. So you're evicting someone just because

In your case the tenant was clearly in breach of her tenancy by way of ASB or noise nuisance etc etc

So there are other ways to end that tenancy due to the tenant being at fault, S21 is neither here nor there.

I have four properties I rent. Bought for cash so no mortgage problems. Each property was decorated fully, new carpets laid and new cooker I then cleaned each one myself so it was spotless when rented, I have had tenants for years without putting the rent up. It's usually only put up when someone leaves. Any problems are dealt with straight away and if a problem can't be fixed a reduction in rent offered, for example one tenant was left without hot water in the kitchen due to a part going astray. Am I scum? Or providing a service

There definitely needs to be a requirement thst much more notice is needed for no fault eviction.a month for. Rolling tenancy is insane

but again the changes give proposed didn’t strike a reasonable balance - and they create more problems than they solve