Lots of Landlords are selling up!!

[PassingStranger]

Where is everyone going to live who can't afford to buy?

Alot of landlords are selling. Can't be bothered with all the hassle now.
People aren't paying rent and also trashing houses when they do and costing the owners lots of money to put things right.
On TikTok people are being told to trash houses. [Society gone downhill]

I know there are good tenants, but there are alot of bad ones. Family member works for estate agent and says there are more bad tenants than landlords.

You can trash a house and walk away. Nobody ever gets done for criminal damage on private rents.
There is no register of bad tenants legally allowed either. It's all left to the landlord to sort out at their expense.

Where is all the housing going to come from?
The government donthave enough.
People who are trashing houses and not paying rent are actually spoiling it for everyone..
Alot of lls are selling up now.

What banks? What will they then do with them?

So much to unpick.

Most landlords view providing homes as their own private income and investment opportunity. They are not in in for the common good. They are in it for the personal financial returns.

So you think LL's shouldn't profit? Do you understand how many costs LL's have? How high the risks are? Clearly not. Of course they're not in it for the "common good" you daft thing. Do you go to work every day for the common good or do you expect to get paid?

Do you think tescos should provide free food as it's a basic human right?
Do you fancy buying a house and then letting it out to people for no profit knowing they could stop paying their rent at any time and it would take you approximately 2 years to get them out? Meanwhile you'd still be responsible for paying the mortgage? Oh, and then if you manage to get them out they may decide to trash the place? Hmm? Do you?

Many have provably profiteered from their tenants, simply because they could. Rent increases of 20% between one tenancy agreement and the next are not unusual, without any improvement being made to the home, or any benefit to the tenant.

Rent increases rise to match market value/costs to the LL. Interest rates are sky high meaning some LL's are paying 4 x more on their mortgages. If they cannot afford to pay the mortgage the tenant will be evicted so the LL can sell up. Of course rents have to rise over time to match the LL's costs - otherwise why would anyone bother being a LL?

If you were selling your house worth £200K to a nice couple, would you let them have it for £100K, just to be kind?

In my opinion the state should provide rented housing to people who cannot purchase it for themselves. Rents should be collectivised and used as income to maintain existing homes and build new ones. Rather like... ooh, council housing, in fact.

You can have whatever opinion you want - doesn't mean there's a chocolate teapots chance in hell of it happening.

Whilst I have personal experience of very good landlords I am also aware of many greedy, grasping bastard landlords who should not be allowed to be responsible for providing a hole to a mouse let alone a home fit for humans.

And I have direct experience of many lowlife scumbag tenants who think the world owes them a living and decide to stop paying their rent, make you go through hell trying to get them out and then cause £1000's of pounds worth of damage just to be spiteful. 🤷‍♀️

I think having both rented properties as a tenant, and acted as landlord, that tenants don’t often trash properties but the expectations of landlords for tenants maintaining their properties is unreasonable. LLs will often install the cheapest fixtures and fittings that wear badly, in a house I lived in for 2 years the landlord did not come once to check condition of the property and went crazy that some cheap flooring had lifted in the bathroom after 2 years of a family using it. Was incandescent that things he bought new (and cheap)were not new any more after daily use and needed upgrading. We were accused of ‘trashing the place’ because of a broken blind, lifted flooring a scuffs on the skirting boards. Fortunately the tenancy deposit scheme sided with us. But ultimately when I rented my home I checked in every three months to see the condition home was being kept in and provided quality fixtures and fittings that lasted. Tenants also don’t always know how to keep a house well aired to prevent mould and so on…so you do have to make sure you properly ventilate and keep on top of things.

I know. My theory is in ideal world territory.

It is in fact immensely time- and resource-consuming being a public sector landlord, because some tenants are very vulnerable; they need support, they need repairs done and they fail to pay or manage their housing benefit claim. These are some of the reasons why you perceive so many staff are needed for the endeavour.

No, there are private landlords, like me, with one or two properties, and then there are companies that own hundreds of properties.

The government are skewing the law in favour of the latter.

The only difference it makes to the tenants is that they are dealing with hard nosed companies only interested in profits as opposed to dealing with people like me who are interested in investing in our future while providing a nice place to live. I had the same tenant for nigh on 15 years, they were on benefits, and looked after the place. I barely increased the rent in all of that time as I wanted them to stay there. A company would not be interested in that, just the £££

Yes, and it's a good job this is happening - there are too many people and not enough properties. We need many more properties that house several unrelated people in this way. Not 4 bedroomed family homes with one couple living in them.

Property makes a sound investment, or at least it used to.

I may well approach Lloyds and see if they want to buy mine. 👍

Exactly. What bank wants to buy a 120 year old solid wall terrace in Hartlepool? Or a converted flat in a Victorian leasehold in Stockton?

Which reminds me, the EPC ‘C’ rating comes in for new tenancies in 2030. That will shake a few more LL’s out.

So not only is it ‘poor landlords’ can’t go on exploiting the system unchecked in the same way but it’s also all down to immigration. 🙄

Children have literally died in this country due to the state of private rental stock so excuse me for having zero sympathy.

The same happened to us 20 years ago. Yes, not a typo - 20 years.
We rented out our house through a managing agent while we were away for two years. The tenant paid monthly for the first year, then stopped paying. We were dependent on the rent to pay the mortgage. They even lied and said they had paid monthly and the agent had stolen it!

The process of taking them to court to evict them also took around nine months. The court found in our favour of course and ordered the tenant to pay the arrears.
Guess what? They did a flit. We never saw a penny. Seems like nothing much has changed over the years.

Worst part was when we went back to claim our house we couldn’t even get in. The scumbags had changed the locks.

Lots of landlords are selling up because 90% of being a landlord involves remaining neutral while people lie to you and/or generally treat you with utter contempt. That's why I am doing it.

Do you really believe that? The reason is because people believe they have rights without any responsibilities. They just don’t care and it doesn’t matter about vested interest. We rented before buying and left the flat as immaculate as when we moved in because we were raised to respect other people’s property. I was grateful to have a decent roof over my head.

@Dollydaydream100 I do think private landlords should make enough profit to cover their costs, yes.

I just don't think private individuals earning private pots of money is the right way for the nation as a whole to deliver fair and equitable housing provision.

Perhaps you should get out of the landlording game - you seem to find it rather stressful and provoking. Forgive me if you have done so already and told us about it - I have not closely read all your posts.

No idea. My friend rented out her house when she temporarily moved abroad. The tenants seemed like a nice couple and paid their rent on time but they poured concrete down the toilet before they left.

Sadly yes, but "hammer the landlords" is what so many wanted, unfortunately without thinking through the consequences

I'll add that some landlords should be hammered, just as some tenants shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a decent house, but what we've got now is silly headline chasing driven by noise and fury and it doesn't work

Indeed.

But might sit empty.

Out of interest, how did you manage to save for a deposit during uni?

More housing stock = lower and therefore more affordable housing which means averagely off people will be able to get on the housing ladder more realistically and own their own home rather than being at the whim of a landlord. Better all round. It might also mean there is a push for more social housing. So I am all for it, despite being an accidental landlord for a while.

That's another reason I'm selling. I expect that the upgrades to meet EPC 'C' will just get passed on in rent increases though.

Il say it again for those who have no reading comprehension skills - No one said it's all down to immigration. But it plays a part, especially when they come into the country illegally.

Do you deny that the steep rise in the population is part of the problem?

I’ve had a second home in the UK for 25 years. It sits empty 10 months of the year. I’ll never rent it out and not even increasing my council tax by 100 percent from April will force me to rent it out.

The government can get stuffed. No one is getting my home.

Luckily it's my dh who deals with it all. He is much calmer than I - I couldn't do it personally when I see the shit he has to put up with on a regular basis.

Well no, I don't think anyone should be profiting off those things either. But I understand that we live in a capitalist society and corporations need to make a profit so that they can provide people with jobs.

Landlords are not corporations. They are, for the most part, greedy individuals.

The housing revenue account is ring-fenced and can only be used to maintain and manage council housing. While that includes the wages of those involved in housing management, the average salary for a housing officer in my part of the SE is around £30k, so well below the national average salary (c. £37k now, I believe) which I wouldn't regard as "handsomely" paid.

Any council that allows its housing stock to become so run down that it needs to be demolished should be investigated by the district auditor imo. However, councils cut back on spending on improving housing that is earmarked for demolition and redevelopment, because it would be a waste. They will still do essential repairs though.

My previous job brought me into contact with tenants and staff of the 5 councils in my county and I don't recognise the kind of property management you mention. Any authority that did deserves to be up before the Ombudsman. The last time I encountered such issues was with a couple of London boroughs in the 1980s, where they were often in court for disrepair issues.