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.

@WhatsTheUseOfWorrying I take it you’re also agreeable to the government compulsory purchasing your 3 bed house once your children leave home? After all, it’s for the greater good, a forward thinking social policy to free up family housing stock for those in their 30s. The government says a one bed flat will be all you need. Honestly, where does this end. You need to take a long, hard look at your policies of market interference.

There are 270 houses in a 5 mile radius from me for sale up to 150k
The cheapest is 60k
The oldest listing was reduced June 2022.
I'm in the North West.
Landlords are not stopping anyone buying these houses

At this point we dearly need some 'market interference'.

Late stage capitalism is collapsing.

I’m making the point that the purchase, use and disposal of real property routinely attracts restrictions.

What I advocate is really just an extension of CPOs but would no doubt be fought against in the courts. But I would expect a government to win, and I believe it would be a very popular policy.

If the courts did find against such a policy it would still be possible to introduce incentives to sell at a discount to eligible buyers, through tax penalties. That would be unchallengeable.

Could we all bear in mind the total and utter disaster the Green policy here in Scotland of rent freezes? Scotland has rents increasing at a higher rate than anywhere else in the western world and in the past year alone 22,000 properties have been removed from the rental market.

Scotland, trying out shite socialist policies for the rest of the UK.

Ah, the slippery slope.

Yes, I would object to that for me and anyone else. But there’s no coherent reason for the action. There’s every coherent reason to re-shape housing provision by private LLs.

I’m not suggesting your family home comes into this. Just the other properties you’d own for profit were you to enter into the highly regulated sector I’m proposing. There’d be a good long run in for you to make your mind up.

I don't have hate for landlords. Ive chosen to rent. One day when I own my own place and if I have enough money to buy an investment property I might xo sider buying one (if you can't beat them, join 'em).

But claiming it is not for profit is ridiculous. If the rest doesn't cover all expenses. It is still for profit. Unless you genuinely plan to donate the house to charity or something. It is an investment you're hoping to profit. The new kitchen isn't for the tenant. It is to add value to the house.

But firstly I don't think LL would be forced to sell under this policy (did read the full thread but may have forgotten about some bits due to going out for icecream) - just that if they want to sell they'd only be able to sell to the tenant or other landlords, or an LA/HA if all else fails. This is already how some shared ownership works - you are restricted in who you can sell to.

Secondly, it wouldn't be landlords like now - people like you, or a lot of the other landlords on the thread. It would be registered landlord companies who would be making decisions about individual properties as part of a larger company, rather than based on a small number of properties they are keeping for their pension/children. It's a different kind of decision.

Thirdly, this wouldn't be theft. It would be a purchase.

Not convincing. Sorry
Don't need to be sorry. I shared a bit about my situation and used this to draw assumptions that are totally wrong.

I'm not here to be convincing. You however made a very unpleasant and unfunded accusation. You might have an agenda, I don't.

My tenants have now been in the property for 7 years. I KNOW that they are happy. That means a million time more to me than whatever assumptions you are making about me.

@WhatsTheUseOfWorrying, you're assuming that Landlords don't want to be regulated. I'd be absolutely fine with that.

What I refuse it to be expect d to become a social landlord. I'm absolutely fine for a win-win position, but not one where landlords take all the risks at a cost to them whilst renters are protected from any wrong doing.

TBF I have proposed a tenant’s discounted RTB from a private LL. I can’t see anything wrong with that myself; it’s no more an imposition on ownership and realisation of asset than is rent control.

But it does not support their rhetoric

I wasn’t unpleasant at all. And I made no accusation of any sort. I just pointed out that your accounting method was unrealistic.

I have no agenda. I don’t rent and I’m not a LL. I’m even instinctively opposed to government intervention but not in housing. Housing is special.

Tenants would be responsible for their misconduct. But LLs would have a much greater burden on them if they want to make money from letting.

Not a hope in hell. See the HRA and the ECHR article 8. This is exactly what I mean about knowing the framework and the subject matter. You don't.

And before you say we should leave, think about why it was set up.

I’ve already dealt with this. It’s A1P1 you should be looking at. Art 8 concerns the home, privacy etc, not trading or possessions (and is a qualified right anyway).

And it would win against an A1P1 challenge, just as the law on adverse possession was upheld under A1P1 for complete loss of ownership.

And I don’t know what I’m talking about? 🙄

Theft is not in the public interest. LL pay a lot of tax into the government coffers. Those revenues are needed to help government implement schemes to help out ftb's.

Yep I've chatted to several LL's in Scotland one is in process of selling of another 4 properties. She sold 4 last year too. She said she's fed up of government legislation in Scotland so selling them all off she had 18 to start with. She will still have 10 left but if any tenants leave she's not reletting them and selling instead. That's why rents have gone through the roof in Scotland. Fewer properties left to rent. The more legislation put into place the more LL's sell up.

Honestly ! You live at the end of the garden with the fairies - put as much energy into saving up and buying your own house rather than these silly little dreams 😂🤣

Thank you for that important contribution. 🙄

We have been landlords and tenants at the same time, admittedly many years ago. Needed to move for a job, couldn't sell our house (early 90s,negative equity) and so rented it out whilst we rented a flat where we moved to.

Our son now lives where he grew up, where all his friends live, in an area where he has no hope of ever buying because of house prices being so high. He has had to move twice in the last year as the houses he was living in were sold by the respective landlords,both of whom owned multiple properties. Both houses were in a shocking state and problems took months to be rectified. Including a boiler not working through the winter months.

I think RTB was a dreadful policy, and things have just got worse and worse since it was introduced.

I'm not an economist so don't have an answer but would like to see an end to RTB and some form of rent control coupled with enforcement action to make landlords rectify issues immediately.

I'd also love house prices to drop. I get that that would put some people in negative equity, as we were, but it's a price worth paying in my view.

Can I ask what your background (work) is.

As you must have been writing some policies to have such entrenched views.

Sure. I’m a lawyer. But my work has nothing to do with real property, landlord & tenant or anything remotely in that area. I do not belong to or have any role in any political or advocacy groups in this field or any other.

And, as I’ve said, I’m neither a LL nor a renter (I last rented a long time ago).

I’m also instinctively a free market Tory.

My views are based simply on the obvious problems this country has with housing provision, including the frequent - not by you - terrible treatment of tenants by private landlords.

Housing is a special case that needs some bold intervention for solutions the market just cannot provide.

Qualified solicitor or barrister ? If so how long ?

I’m not going into that much detail. It’s irrelevant. I am an experienced practitioner. I know the law.