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

[LargeDeviation]

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.

I did work hard.
where on earth did I say others didn’t?
what is the point in this response. I was clear about what I said.
I will do what I can to better my life and others do the same.
I try to be a good LL and it is my only property whilst I live at and care for my mum. You think I’m going to just give my property away?

Er, sell it? There are other ways to invest money for the future that don't involve exploiting people that have no choice but to rent.

Err no!
you sound incredibly jealous of people who have something you don’t.
I will not feel guilty and will not sell thank you very much. I’m a good person just trying to get by not that I need to justify myself to you.

This comment really shows your true colours. Whys should Kentgirl "sell it".
You sound very entitled and envious.

It’s not a business transaction when it’s the place you tuck your children in each night

The problem is when people take polarised positions in this discussion it doesnt really recognise that there are huge areas of conflicting and competing needs

For every person wanting to buy their own home but who cant, there is another who thinks that a mortgage is not something they want to enter into and wants to be a renter

For every landlord who is a landlord by intent, there is another who rents out a property because its the best option for a property that they dont currently live in even if they didnt intend and set out to be a landlord

For every bad tenant there is a good tenant and for every bad landlord there is a good landlord

There is a negative narrative (which isnt accurate) about the UK that it is 'obsessed' with home ownership but at the same time there is another narrative that hates landlords. If we all hate landlords then ergo we want to equally be owners and not renters. If we thnk that being 'obsessed' with home ownership is a negative thing then we should embrace renting as a solution to accommodation

Personally I think that we need a building programme of about 3 million social housing homes. Im not anti private landlord but people need options to be able to afford rented accommodation and not need guarantors or massive deposits or rent up front. They also need to be able to have security of tenure and be able to have pets.

Thank you Whammy.
I like to think I’m a good person and I certainly will not be selling my property to make someone on MN happy!

She can keep it or sell it, I don't care. But why should someone who has no choice but to rent have to pay her mortgage for her?

I'm not envious at all. I live in a HA property, my rent is cheap and I can stay here forever if I want. I'm angry on behalf of those who aren't so lucky and have to pay high rents.

Exactly

I have a HA property, like I said. I'm not jealous at all. I have a lifelong home.

I’m sick of people gaining by exploiting others controlling narratives and trying to tell us that this level of inequality and unfairness is perfectly ok because they’re “just jealous”.

I paid enough rent to buy my landlord’s house for him 3 times over at the price he paid for it, and then he caused us a load of hassle and even nicked our deposit. It is a fundamentally unequal relationship that has no justifiable reason - beyond the fact that landlords have power and workers and tenants have none. It is as simple as that. No amount of pathetic attempts to complain of jealousy would have stopped the French Revolution, and does nothing to stop the inequality that led to it.

Excellent point

So only really super-rich people who can buy houses without a mortgage should be allowed to profit from being landlords? So it's OK for the super-rich to get richer but it's not OK for someone to invest for their future?

Any debate which gets as emotive as this, as evidenced by this thread, won't have good outcomes.

I personally don't agree that private profit needs to be taken out of housing. But if that is your position then it's daft to take punitive steps against private landlords until alternative provision is in place in scale.

As it stands, landlords will be broadly fine in aggregate - they'll sell up, probably make a decent capital gain, and stick their money somewhere else. It's renters who will suffer from measures supposedly designed to help them as supply dries up.

It's not an excellent point at all. Many people in HA houses claim UC to either pay all their rent or some of it. You'd have to increase the welfare bill if you increased HA rents.

Besides, it's an incorrect point, like I've already said, the money has already been pretty much paid back for ALL HA properties, councils make much more from the rents that they spend on the maintenance these days.

Well why don’t you give up your HA home to a deserving family out there if you are so morally above me.
or the money you save on your HA home you could give to someone towards their deposit to buy their own property?

Completely. They need to have an alternative to house renters once the landlords sell up.
one or two selling up will have fuck all affect on the housing market other than losing rental stock.

You could buy a house in a cheaper area and rent it out to get yourselves on the property ladder. It's easy money after all.

We need more affordable secure long term rentals via socail housing that are never offered up in right to buy.

I'm not sure as a landlord what the new epc rules will be for sure ( it's not set yet is it?) But at the point where I can't continue, I'm out. I won't lie and say capital hasn't risen as that's pure BS, it has. I rent my house out, I live in rented across the country. One things that stinks about being a Tennant is lack of security. Private rentals will never be secure. That's the nature of it. What's the answer? A miracle tbh. What is needed, ain't ever gonna happen. This country's model is around benefitting the upper middle class. That's not going to change overnight. You would absolutely mad to go into btl fresh today. I hear that lots of landlords are selling up but are they?

I was given a HA house because I qualified for one, being a single parent on a low wage. When my DC is grown and has left home I won't need 2 bedrooms so I'll swap to a one bedroom house or studio flat, so that someone who was in my situation can have my house.

I can't afford to give someone money for a house deposit 😂 if I had the money to do that I'd buy my own house.

So everyone should just be given a house for free? Or the government should own all houses and allocate them to people? I mean buying and selling houses is a business transaction too, especially for housebuilders.

The private rental market has it place but it should not be forming the basis of a solution to the housing crisis.

The housing situation in this country is so fucked.

And now with high interest rates coming down the track the crazy house price inflation is going to really hurt.

Just imagine if the Billions of £ that has been paid out in housing benefit to landlords over the years has been invested in building social housing. There would be stock of social housing.

Right to buy should never have been allowed.

If you want to buy a house great go and buy one in the private market and let your social property go to someone else that needs it

Buying a house for yourself to live in is different than buying a house with the expectation that someone else will pay for it for you.

I'd be quite happy for the majority of rental properties to be owned by councils, yes. And any new property that is built should either be social housing or for someone to buy that is actually going to live in it themselves.

If she sold it she would also be making money from it.

But where will you rent if landlords sell? Or if you have done well enough to inherit/save a deposit, where will your friends who still need to rent find a home?