Landlords response to Labour proposal

[Stellaris22]

Surely it’s becoming increasingly difficult to defend landlords.

In response to proposals to make renting fairer and better for tenants landlords have responded with typical ‘we’ll increase rents’.

Yes there are good and bad tenants just as there are good and bad landlords. LLs need to stop the saviour attitude of thinking they’re helping people who can’t afford to buy. They can’t afford to buy because of their high rents!

Good to see Labour (hopefully) tackling the private rental sector.

I have lived in London for over 10 years and am an immigrant myself but most people my age (Including from other countries) except for students would love to buy in London. They tend to leave London because they dont see it working out long term in London in a room share!

It is true that rental houses sold may end up having fewer people living in them. Especially now as we pack the poor in smaller places to ensure ;those who matter' have plenty of room. We even fine the poor for having any spare space.

Not something we should want to continue anyway and that brings us back to building more houses for people who live here and not allowing illegal immigration so we can catch up.

But all too often they ‘choose’ because they have no option. They don’t have the money for a deposit on a property to buy, and find it very difficult to save that sort of money, because rents are so high, especially given how they’ve soared recently, and a monthly mortgage payment for an equivalent property would often be less than the rent.

Maybe there is a better term for it, but years ago my company moved locations and I either had to go with them or stay. I tried to sell my house but no takers as it was in a flood area. I also tried to get another job but didn't as a rural area within the six months. So really either i stayed put and lost the house as I wouldn't have been able to afford the mortgage with no job. Or i moved and rented my huse out. I tried to keep the house for sale while renting it but obviously prospective tenants wouldn't be happy with the uncertainty. So I rented it out for four years. Maybe it's not accidental and while it was a choice, it was a choice between two bad things

I'm interested in how some pp on this thread think a house price adjustment can be achieved?

I agree that housing is ludicrously expensive in some (not all) parts of the country. I would love to see an adjustment for the sake of my children and all the other younger people priced out of the market.

But ... how? How is it going to happen with the population rising all the time and a culture of people owning second, third or more homes? And AirBnB?

Please give us your ideas ...

I can agree with the phrase "reluctant landlord" but not the phrase "accidental landlord".

People can undertake it reluctantly as they believe it is the least worse financial option (although often they do not fully consider the risks involved as some risks are quite abstract).

So many people seeing this through their own lens of being renting and unable to buy. There is a need for private rental accommodation for all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons. Students need accommodation for 9 months to a year. They don't want to buy, they have no interest in buying, they want a private rental with their mates. People who have just left college/uni and are starting their first graduate job don't want to make the immediate leap into buying. People who are seconded to a company for 6/9/12 months in a different city don't want to buy.

There is a need for a private rented sector which is not ridiculously expensive because of legislation which is designed to make life difficult for rogue landlords.

I can't think of one, sadly.
People who live in 'expensive' areas will likely have children who won't be able to live nearby unless they come into a big inheritance, {or their parents do}

Big inheritances are how younger people are affording places - but this implies property ownership filtering down the generations.

I'm interested in how some pp on this thread think a house price adjustment can be achieved?

Turn the planning process on its head for developments of more than half-a-dozen homes to reduce the number of "executive detached" developments to encourage a greater diversity of new build property types - including semis, terraces, and flats. Build communities, not schemes. Build lots of them. Put the public services in early in the development process. Change business policies to encourage hybrid working to reduce the commuter belt premium. Invest massively in active transport infrastructure.

I was an accidental landlord when my Dad died and I inherited the house. His longterm girlfriend was living in it with him when he died and couldn't afford a mortgage, so I kept renting it to her for over a year until she was ready to move out. Sure, I could have booted her out immediately and sold the house but how much of a heartless bitch would I have been to do that.

Like the previous government this one is completely missing the point with the new proposals...all the new legislation over the last decade has done is to increase rents and shorten supply and has done NOTHING to stop slum landlords. Why are housing ministers not looking at this to understand why?

They should listen to the Residential Landlords Association and good Landlords and understand the issues faced by LL and address them. The more private LL there are, with the least legislation, the LOWER the end cost of rent..

A national register with annual compulsory inspections and strong powers to shut down poor properties, would address slum landlords far more effectively without punishing the good ones.

What constantly causes ill thought out decisions to be made, is seemingly everybody wanting private landlords to be charities and provide housing an no profit or loss...which is clearly unsustainable..no one is going to do that...would you if you had the cash?
So anything which makes being a private LL non profitable will shorten supply and drive up rents..it is not rocket science.

It wouldn't be painless but it could be done.

1. Stop government intervention to the support the market.

2. Tax 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc homes to eye watering levels e.g., 100% stamp duty and council tax set at 10% of market value.

3. Build, build, build and in tandem with that transition away from providing housing benefit to private landlords.

So anything which makes being a private LL non profitable will shorten supply and drive up rents..it is not rocket science.

That view is predicated on the assumption that the current demand reflects the true demand, which we know is not the case.

If you could magically produce a couple million new council homes genuinely affordable homes tomorrow, the demand for private rentals would crash.

Decades of deliberately suppressing the supply side is at the root of the issue.

The whole UK economy is based on selling houses and coffee.
There are more nail bars, barbers and fast food establishments locally than any manufacturing and I suspect all their staff are taking home top up benefits.
Your takeout coffee is literally costing you twice.

Tata steel are being given money to compete against imported steel with a lick of greenwash.

The slum
landlords are the bloody housing association and councils

National register would cost more in future pensions than would ever be got back in benefit. Have you seen the inefficiency of councils and civil service?

Many social housing properties are riddled with damp and tenants unable to take action in the way private tenants can

Building good quality social housing would be a start but you need ridiculous volume due to migration levels.

We have mechanisms for tenants to take action against poor landlords.
Put a storyline on the soaps if you want better awareness.

I'm not a landlord nor a tenant but basic economics is reduce supply and price goes up

Anything that reduces supply will mean another hike in rents. I think it'll be harder for people who seem riskier to get a place to rent

This is what I mean. You can change the market but it becomes harder

Exactly, we are in a Landlords market now and any reduction in supply will make it worse.
In some cases there are 10 or 15 people competing for each rental property, even if half of those decide they can suddenly afford/want to buy instead there are still a lot more prospective Tenants than rental properties.

You can do what you like to the stamp duty and council tax, I already own it so don’t pay stamp duty and the council tax is paid by the tenant, not me. How would that help?

I was an 'accidental' LL when I rented out my house when I got married and moved in with DH. I didn't know when I bought the house I wouldn't be living there 3 years later. And accidental again now as we bought a house for my brother to live in but he has now moved out. The tenants are lovely and pay below market rate, as did the previous ones. We also fix anything that needs it immediately, for example when the washing machine packed up I ordered a new one to be delivered and fitted the next day. Not all LL's are greedy and expect to be paid over the odds for a terrible service.

Please stop with the ‘accidental landlord’ rubbish. It’s not an accident. You’ve gone through paperwork etc to become a landlord. Justify it all you like, but it’s not an accident. You chose to rent out a property rather than sell it.

One problem with making life difficult fir landlords is that it will reduce the amount of rental properties on the market, especially from inexperienced landlords. Our daughter was looking at a 2 year job in London, currently lives in Manchester, and would have considered renting in London, and renting out her house in Manchester. However, if the rules change making it difficult to get back into her house, she wouldn't rent it out, and probably, not consider the London job. She didn't get the job, so problem solved. When I first started work in London in the 70s, the gov of the day brought in tighter rent controls and overnight, the supply of rented properties dried up, and we had to get the first edition of the papers, and Time Out and get on the phone quick. Rents also shot up.

🤣🤣🤣

yeap. They will leave the housing market worse than found.

either people buy and it is theirs or it is a business. They are making it impossible to buy still, never really could change that. And it looks like they are trying to impact the business part…loads will go if not profitable and then it is a fight between the ones trying to grow wealth as first gen and the ones trying to make ends meet.

the space between rich and poor in terms of housing will get bigger.

So would this legislation be ok if the courts could cope? Would landlords be happy to apply for eviction on fault based routes if they had a hearing within a few weeks of applying?