Rent increase - fuck fuckity fuck!!!

[BlondeWaves]

Moved into my house 2.5 months ago and now having to move as had a letter from the landlord to say rent is going up by 150 a month. I KNOW I am being unreasonable but I am sat here sobbing because I've just settled here with my young child and the thought of having to go through all that upheaval again is so stressful. I can't afford the extra 150, I'm already stretched with the way everything has increased. This could happen again and again and I just hate our government and the way things are at the moment. I have no resentment towards my landlord as I know his mortgage has realistically gone up by more than 150 a month, but fuck, I'm so stressed. Don't even know what I want from this thread, maybe a handhold, maybe to be told I need to suck it up (weirdly I respond well to tough love) but I need something. Anyone there? 😭

As it turns out, you see, societies like those end up needing guards with machine guns stopping people leaving, whereas societies like ours have people risking their lives in little boats to join

I think they are influenced by fraudulent social media and the ability to work in an unregulated economy where (some) LL's & some tenants (sub letting) are letting to anyone with money (however obtained) rather than Marx.

There is a middle ground too. The nordic countries are far richer than the UK and have a better safety net. Even ultracapitalist singapore has 85% of its population living in state subsidized housing that they own. The state builds homes that it sells at a subsidized rate to its citizens. My dad is a landlord in singapore but he invests in commercial property, not people's homes. Its better this way and he fully supports the government building the majority of housing. He thinks that its pretty messed up in the uk that someone like me has to buy a flat on the private market. in singapore, only the people who have the equivalent of a million or so pounds budget buy private housing which means most first time buyers buy government housing as a default before upgrading to private homes at a later stage.

I think that is a flaw of the council home system in the UK. It needs to be for the masses which means that while there should be affordable rentals for the low income, there needs to be something that middle class people would be happy to call home. Perhaps a kind of tenure where you can own it but only allowed to sell to British citizens who earn below a certain amount and it will only return to the free market after 100 years. Property price appreciation would be slower but it would be priced lower and would help some people get on the ladder.

and the reason it needs to be for the masses is cos people wouldn't support something that they deem to be only for the poor and unemployed. Its why the government can get away with not building council housing.

Why would I do that?

And I’ve got a proper job, thanks. How on earth do you think I’d be able to keep my flat when I bought another house if I didn’t have a proper job?

This place is weird sometimes.

No fewer homes??? 42% to 8 % is a MASSIVE drop.

It created a housing crisis by a lack of council homes. We effectively sold of all cheap housing, and now have fuck all left.

But yeah, lets blame Tony Blair instead of looking at the facts.

www.transparency.org.uk/house-of-cards-UK-housing-policy-influence-Conservative-party-donations-lobbying-press-release

This is exactly my fear.

If the rise in interest rates continues, and rents continue to rise, I think an increase in homelessness is quite likely. Especially as the amount of help those on benefits can get towards their rents is capped at an absurdly low rate in many areas.

And homelessness costs us all money. It costs a lot more to keep a family in B&B than it does to pay their rent if they're in social housing. The human cost is even worse.

Housing isn't a service, it isn't comparable to Tesco, a coffee shop or a car leasing business.

We had a model that worked - Council housing - & from one of your previous replies, i thought you got this and agreed?

Private renting should be a very small part of the overall balance of housing in this country.

What you are doing with your apartment, is totally fine, the people renting in Canary Wharf wont be on the breadline.

BUT thats the exception, the norm is struggling, hardship, benefits and ultimately, the less well off & the tax payer buying a LL a life style, a house, private school fee's - take your pick or all of them.

That’s right dear, all of us migrants are just fools who moved here through ignorance.

While at , apparently also being bright enough to get jobs that let us own multiple homes.

Quite the mystery that isn’t it, how someone arriving in the UK with nothing can end up buying a house yet so many posters on here, who think themselves oh so clever, can’t.

Of course housing is a service. It’s a service just the same as is supplying water to someone or food or warmth.

And yes, I agree that we should have more council housing for lower earners, but that’s because providing housing is a service that people need.

You do know most LL’s are just normal folk with one or two properties they rent out as a pension?

That's the problem, so many of them are complete fucking clowns (like OP's landlord) and don't act like they are running a business.

If a small greengrocer sold manky food and overinflated prices, treated their customers like shit, they'd be out of business within a month, yet we have legions of shit landlords who never do repairs, act illegally, yet remain 'in business'.

I don’t think having a supply of private rentals is an issue. It was hard enough to get one when I needed it, the competition was high and reducing that supply won’t help.

You could say selling off council was a mistake- I don’t really get the policy sounds mad but maybe new properties were meant to be built with the money raised

Now though creating many more new houses is hard. Taxpayers are already feeling it before subsiding more builds

Why don’t you get in and build it if you think it’s needed? Like any right-minded person I’ll not be paying taxes here if Labour get in, so it’s down to you to sort it out.

In my scheme outlined before good landlords who are still able to make a profit whilst operating within the parameters of social needs will still be encouraged to continue. But the days of ever-increasing prices and virtually 'free money' are well and truly over. Something's gotta change.

Oh, one of those leaving the country then - bye-bye...

You've had some good advice on here, OP and I hope it helps.

What's happened is utter shit, and I really feel for you.

My DD was in a similar position, she couldn't afford her rent with a private landlord. She applied to social housing - I didn't think she'd have a hope in hells chance of being housed but she got a new home within a couple of months (she wasn't being evicted, I was paying the shortfall till she got her new place so there was no reason for urgency from the HA POV, still it was unbelievably quick!) I think the PP is right - council's sometimes overestimate how long people will wait to put them off.

Her new place is in a less 'desirable' area but luckily hers is in a little cul-de-sac off the main road so it's actually very quiet round there, she's never had any issues. I haven't read the whole thread OP but this could turn out to be a very positive thing to happen if it pushes you further up the list - least then you'll have cheaper rent and security.

I hope things work out for you; people act like one of the benefits of renting is no commitment, you can move as and when you please - completely ignoring the fact that moving is bloody expensive, stressful plus every other rental would've risen too. I hope you get a forever home from this (and ya greedy arsed LL finds it difficult to get a new tenant!)

Nice to see it can still be done. Must be a weight of you and your dd's mind.

This

Have Pm'd her with that in the hope she gets it. Thanks.

hahah!!

Any right-minded person wants a fair tax system so we don't have people dying in trollies in corridors and schools that can afford to operate.

No tax Tories who celebrated Liz and Kwasi's budget are living on another fucking planet to any 'right minded person'

Love re-reading this Telegraph article, shows how out of touch the loony right are from reality, radical transformation to blowing a hole in the UK economy billions of sterling wide.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/23/kwasi-kwartengs-budget-moment-history-will-radically-transform/

Precisely and oops. The Tories used to have a reputation for business and fiscal competence - no more. After Brexit, Johnson and Truss have ruined the country. in a way that Jezza never could have.

Do MN downgrade a thread if they think it's run it's course or don't like the way it is heading? I say that as I've noticed a few threads disappearing from notifications despite having new posts and I've had to go to my internet history to find them again.

In the medium to long term, council housing is self-financing.

The council borrows money from central govt (which is financed by bonds, as above). They use the money to build houses, which they rent out.

Government has trashed its credit rating. If you want it to have money for investment in citizens having better lives we need bug changes. Firstly, rejoining the single market.