To think that Landlords have a bad name.

[Arewe29]

NC for this.

Is it just me or are all landlords frowned upon a MN.

We own and rent out 3 properties all our properties are rented out to young families, just under market rate, we allow them to decorate their homes how they like, and if there is any issues or problems they just call us and we sort it out ASAP.

I know that there is some terrible landlords out there, that should be dealt with but there are thousands of other that are decent that follow all the laws and their tenants are very happy.

The thing is, you only hear about the bad ones. There’s nothing interesting to say about a landlord who is responsive and quick to repair / replace things when the tenants want.

When I was at university I had a great landlord. He owned about 40 properties, had his own team of builders, plumber and electrician and was polite and responsive. Being a landlord is not a passive income stream.

Thanks I understand what you are saying.

On here if you say that you are a landlord, then you must a slum landlord and exploiting your tenants.

I think it's more about how private landlords have distorted the housing market and how successive governments have encouraged this by beneficial tax-regimes and a disinclination to build any social housing. So people quite rightly feel aggrieved that there is a lack of first-time housing stock available at a reasonable price, whilst others seem to be hoarding property and ending up with a valuable investment with tenants paying their mortgage.

It's not the quality of the landlord, more the ethics of the practice.

The problem is that by buying 3 properties you don't need, you have taken 3 properties away from those families to buy themselves. Also in buying more than you need has risen the local house prices so not only have you removed the home for the families to buy, you have also priced them out of the local area. You may think you are a great landlord because you let them paint and fix things, but be real here - very, very few families want to rent. Very few people want to rent. They simply have no choice to thanks to the impact of people buying buy-to-lets. It's the economic impact that's incredibly selfish and makes the perma-renter-millennials despise you.

I’m glad you’re a good landlord, I know they exist as we’ve had one.

Unfortunately there are probably more ‘bad’ ones than good. We have been through two ‘no fault’ evictions, one with a two month baby. When you have been through the extreme stress of having to find a home it’s hard to like landlords and a lot of people will have the same experiences and therefore views.

YANBU. Landlords get a lot of hate on MN, most of it isn’t deserved.

To add to the views on removing properties from the market, a lot of people will argue this doesn’t happen and landlords are martyrs for providing homes for people.

This isn’t true.

When we were buying our first home we were repeatedly outbid in auctions by buy-to-let investors on houses we would have afforded. So yes, you are stopping people from buying their own homes.

Ah beat me to it!

I'm a carpet cleaner. We stopped working for letting agents because we can't deal with all the crap that comes with it.

Scrubbing stinking, worn carpets with rat shit on because they have a family of kids moving in the following day, being told to clean around the furniture to save them money when the place was dirty etc. We just went home angry.

There are such a thing as good landlords, but our experience has been overwhelmingly negative.

Being a landlord is inherently selfish. There’s no such thing as a “good” landlord, obeying the law is a bare minimum.

Not to mention the attitudes some landlords have that they’re doing their tenants a favour

Even a 'good' landlord is still a rentier, and part of the reason we have a dysfunctional housing market.
Ultimately we should blame gvts for incentivising this form of economic activity.

Not true at all. They wouldn't be able to buy that's WHY they're renting , they would just rent elsewhere.

Same here, and the prices were rising because people were rushing to get buy to let mortgages whilst we were getting over bid time and again

So now there are plenty of people my age and a little younger renting because they got pushed out of the race. And landlords try to say they are providing a service and if they didn't rent then people wouldn't have anywhere to live, but that's not really the full picture

I was lucky enough to buy in the end, which means I get to paint my walls without awaiting benevolent permission from above...

😂 What a ridiculous post.

Can you really not see anything beyond your own perspective and recognise the many valid reasons why people want to be able to rent?

There’s students, people who want to try out a new area, people who move temporarily for work, young people who want to move out of a difficult home, couples who want to try living together before they commit to buying to name a few examples.

Do you think no one should be allowed to move out of their parents home unless they are lucky enough to be given social housing or they can afford to buy?

The same with windows. It's ALWAYS the landlords.
They will cut every single corner with absolutely no regards for safety and will always want the cheapest crap they can possibly have, often trying to get us to install crap they've taken from other properties, only for for the skip.

We had one guy, a multimillionaire, who spent an absolute FORTUNE on his own massive house then asked us to do another job for his rental property which he rented to a disabled lady. He said "she's been asking for a new door for 10 years so I thought I'd finally get her one as shes a good tenant" then he kept knocking down the price until he finally decided he didn't want to do it so she still never got her door.
And yeah, maybe they are not all like this but they are still leeches.

But a lot of the time they can’t buy because landlords have raised local prices.

A mortgage is typically cheaper than rent, so as a general rule if you can afford rent each month you can afford a mortgage (universal credit aside).

Here most cheap houses that would be perfect for first time buyers are marketed as “investment opportunities”.

Do you think no one should be allowed to move out of their parents home unless they are lucky enough to be given social housing or they can afford to buy?

have you ever wondered why people can't afford to buy or why social housing is necessary?

Landlords

I think so many landlords are bad/indifferent enough to make living in the property unpleasant that the experiences you hear about outweigh the good ones. We had a really good landlord, didn't increase the rent, sorted problems, let us live there like it was our home. We have also had two poor landlords and leaking roofs, large gaps around the windows to let in draughts (gales, we could see to the outside!) and mould are more memorable than the house where everything was fine.

I wouldn't have been quite so harsh about landlords, but I do agree that they shouldn't exist.

Every single one of them should have a compulsory purchase order on their additional properties (only allowed to keep one to live in,) and they should all be put into the hands of the local authorities - and housing associations - for their social housing stock.

NO-ONE should own more than one property. The compulsory purchase order should pay them what they paid for the property. If they inherited it, they get what it was worth when they inherited it.

Yes yes I know it's a tall order, and a pipedream and so on ... la la la, but in an ideal world, that is what should happen.

Why are landlords scum.

Our tenants can not afford a mortgage or do not want to buy in the area as they are only in the area for work. If no one wanted/needed to rent they would not rent.

Aren't you wonderful! Your tenants must be overwhelmingly grateful that you, and so many other benificent, socially minded landlords, bought a house that they might otherwise have bought for themselves.