Page 29 | Lots of Landlords are selling up!!

wombat15 · 15/03/2025 20:23

Britinme · 15/03/2025 20:15

There are many people who are never going to be in a position to buy - my eldest DS is one of them, currently in an HMO and unlikely to afford anything better. He was sleeping in the back of the van he had then for seven months before that so he was lucky to get a place. He's always in and out of work, and half the time I have to help him out with the rent as his room costs £1000 a month, though that obviously includes all the bills and wi-fi and there's a washing machine so saves on launderette bills.

He's in the UK but I live in the US where I think the laws are slightly less tenant-friendly. However, my city now has rent control, and this has meant that instead of letting tenants stay at the same rent for several years and increasing rent to market rates when they move out, we actually have to raise the rent by the small percentage (2.5% last year) allowed or we are hopelessly behind when they do move out, given that insurance costs and property tax costs go up every year. One big difference here is that here the landlord is responsible for the property tax (council tax equivalent).

We use an agency to vet incoming tenants and mostly they have been pretty good. However, one time a tenant brought in a second-hand mattress he'd picked up off the sidewalk, and infested the entire three-apartment building with bedbugs, which cost me a fortune to have eradicated. And another tenant who we had actually been friends with and who had stayed in our house with us rent-free for two years stopped paying rent two months after moving into one of our apartments. It took me almost a year and a court appearance to get him out, and on his way out he flushed raw carrots down the toilet and blocked the sewage line. Altogether it cost me $23,000 in lost rent, legal fees and repairs.

Anybody who thinks it's an easy way to make money doesn't know what they're talking about.

It has been an easy way to make money in the UK where property prices have increased a lot over the years e.g London

wombat15 · 15/03/2025 20:34

Willadviceplease33 · 15/03/2025 19:58

Honestly you don't get it. The people who are buying are probably living with their parents whilst they save up, or in a house share.

The people who want or have to rent are fighting for a shrinking rental pool and the prices are escalating as a result. As a previous poster said, even a 10% drop in house prices (which is massive) doesn't mean everyone can suddenly afford a deposit to buy.

Shelter etc. have contributed to this problem by campaigning to the government non stop which has resulted in this mass exodus of landlords. Incidentally Shelter house absolutely nobody.

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The lack of housing in this country is not due to the fact that there aren't enough landlords. It is due to the fact that there aren't enough houses full stop. Landlords aren't increasing the number of properties for people to live in and if landlords sell there isn't a reduction in the number of properties. The property will be bought by owner occupiers or other landlords. If there are more owner occupiers there will also be fewer people looking to rent.

I'm not suggesting that we don't need any rental properties but part of the reason so many people rent is because they can't afford to buy because house prices are too high. If landlords are selling house prices will drop and that will mean there are more people can afford to buy.

LilySLE · 15/03/2025 20:36

Frowningprovidence · 14/03/2025 14:21

I've always wondered why there aren't the equivalent of Tesco, aldi, waitrose in the private rental market. It seems to be all private landlords with a handful of properties with the assumption the rent has to cover a mortgage and tax and agent fees and a small profit.

Actually there are institutional landlords entering the market. It’s called “build to rent”. Purpose built blocks of flats - and even some houses - built for investors who are only ever going to let them out to tenants.

Trouble is, the regulation on anything 7 storeys or over is very stringent now post Grenfell. So again this limits the investment market for this sort of thing.
I agree with OP; I fear the Government is going to make it so difficult for all types of landlord (responsible as well as irresponsible; institutional investor as well as private) that they will exit the market, the stock of rental property will dry up and the whole thing will be counter productive

Badhairdayagain · 15/03/2025 20:37

Private rental sector is poorly regulated imo and btl mortgages have been a disaster. Interest rates should not affect renters. This is a risk for mortgage holders who get the end benefit of ownership of the property for the financial hardship.

i hope the banks don’t buy the houses like others have said 😢

Veronay · 15/03/2025 20:43

Is that so? I suppose they'll have to look into those 'job' things that most tenants have

daleylama · 15/03/2025 20:46

PassingStranger · 14/03/2025 14:12

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.

forgive if mentioned elsewhere... but even if all were good tenants, the tax take has made being a part time LL unworkable. The Tories drew a lot of 'ma and pa investors' into property investing around 10 years ago, and started increasing the tax take from that area from about 2020 onwards. Waged employees, pensioners with under 2 mill to leave to families, and small landlords, are all easy pickings for HMRC.

daleylama · 15/03/2025 20:54

PassingStranger · 14/03/2025 14:37

Exactly everything is on the tenants side.
If you went into a shop and smashed it up.police would be called.
Trash someone's house, walk away, nothing happens.

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You're wrong about police acting on shop damage and theft..not happening. Our High Sts are lawless. Police will not turn up. Local shopkeepers around our way (Chiswick, Hammersmith) have an informal alert system between themselves rgds thieves being about.

daleylama · 15/03/2025 21:01

wombat15 · 15/03/2025 20:23

It has been an easy way to make money in the UK where property prices have increased a lot over the years e.g London

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Increases in value are not uniform even in London. I am another landlord exiting the market having had 3 studios, and all are selling for less than they were bought for 10 years ago - partly because so many LLs exiting the market. If you'd ever had to suffer a bad tenant instead of theorising from a no-experience base, you might understand why we're all getting out and leaving it to the big guys.

catlover123456789 · 15/03/2025 21:48

Izyboo · 15/03/2025 19:00

Yes as a landlady I'm selling up, it is simply not affordable. I rent out my old house that we had hoped to save for our children. Trashed by 4 different tenants in 10 years it's not sustainable. And the agents, absolutely no use whatsoever.

Dispite frequent visits they have now smashed windows, they've flooded it, ripped the carpets
Enough is enough. 🤬🤬

Similar experience. Its just not worth it. Landlords are selling up but they've already lost so much they dont want to lose when they sell, so property prices aren't dropping.

SpikyCoconut · 15/03/2025 22:03

A relative of mine who is a landlord, had a tenant stop paying the rent. He was evicted-moved out but didn't move out. And then he did move out, but all his belonging still in the property and didn't surrender the keys.

When relative finally gained access, they discovered the source of the strange noises that had been occurring-banging etc, tenant had been hammering away at the brickwork and plaster work, just destroying the fabric of the house.

There was also a mound, like a pyramid, of shit excrement in the loo.Tenant had been returning on what seemingly was a daily basis given the sheer amount of it, to use the loo, and not flushed it at any point.

BlackCountryWench2 · 15/03/2025 22:05

Yes, @wombat15, this is a thread about the rental market. Lots of properties for sale coming onto the market is great for those in a position to buy. However, most people who rent would love to buy but aren’t in a position to - no deposit, poor credit rating, no equity from an existing property, low wages, unstable employment or no employment at all. The vast majority of renters are already paying more in rent than they would on a mortgage for the same property, but for these various reasons they can’t get a mortgage. Taking affordable to rent smaller, older properties off the rental market and onto the property market instead is not a win for the people who choose to or have no option other than to rent. It causes scarcity which drives rents up further.

SpikyCoconut · 15/03/2025 22:08

Stirabout · 14/03/2025 16:42

We had a tenant who must have spent the whole last week of his occupancy shitting in the bath and wiping it on the walls ( nearly 2years for the courts to deal with the case at a cost in fees to us of £15,000, not including lost rent and damage )
I had to pay some clearance guys and cleaners to deal with it. The smell made us wretch and I bought us all hasmat type suits just to go in the property.

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I can well believe that unfortunately-see my latest post. Some people are disrespectful, awful and downright revolting. I am sorry you had to go through all that

Woollysocksandbeer · 15/03/2025 22:10

Mrsbloggz · 15/03/2025 18:54

Re tenants who trash the place before they move out, this is pushback against a system in which normal people cant access secure and affordable places to live.

I am not condoning this behaviour and their beef really is with the govt who have failed to properly manage things. But when people are stressed angry and up against it (as you would be if regularly made to leave your home) they will tend to shoot the messenger!

I mean like I moved a LOT in Uk. Was I frustrated? Yes. Did I smear shit and ripped out rads?
No. Because i am adult adjusted person. Like even slightly below average person is.

It's crass. It's below fucking low class. Fuck her to hell. It's like robbin corner shop when being angry at gov. Stupid

teledays · 15/03/2025 22:11

LauderSyme · 14/03/2025 14:15

They're selling up because providing what should be a basic human right has become slightly less of an easy cash cow for the poor dears.

This

SpikyCoconut · 15/03/2025 22:12

ExIssues · 14/03/2025 16:44

The houses are always a state when you move in. You have to spend a day disposing of drug paraphernalia and scrubbing shit off the toilet before you move in. While you're there the place is riddled with damp, disgusting ancient carpets, rotting window frames. You aren't allowed to fix anything yourself and they won't fix anything unless it's life threatening or a security issue. The estate agent tells you the landlord is "great" because they do the bare minimum of fixing a broken central heating system after a month on the middle of winter when you have a 4 month old baby in the house. Then they try to keep your deposit when you leave because you didn't clean the oven that had been broken for 6 months.

The system needs a massive overhaul.

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I would never, ever let a house that was anything less than close to perfect. I don't know who these landlords are but I hate the way they give us all a bad name. After the tenant I had mentioned moved out, I had some lovely new ones come in (I deal with it all myself, not a chance I'd pay an agent, I don't trust them!) and then I noticed there was an issue with one of the outer doors-it 'stuck' a bit and was a bit difficult to close-I had bought a new one for them within days-and there was nothing particularly wrong with it! It just wasn't ideal and I want people to have a nice home.

Wimin123 · 15/03/2025 22:18

Sold my two rental houses - inherited. Absolutely appalling tenants. Landlords have no rights and that situation is only going to get worse. Anyway I timed it right as the interest rates went up considerably and it’s much less hassle. I just felt so sorry for the neighbours in both cases- I always felt so guilty. The properties were perfect but I had to get cleaning companies in to do a deep clean before selling. They said that they find the good landlords get bad tenants and vice versa in their experience…

Wimin123 · 15/03/2025 22:28

LookingAtMyBhunas · 15/03/2025 15:06

Booooommm. Wins the thread.

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Hardly - very naive…my rental properties were sold to people doing Airbnb so not going to help renters either is it? I get more hassle free returns from investments and improved interest rates and other landlords will do the same..

farmlife2 · 15/03/2025 22:31

When we moved we thought we'd try having a rental property with our former home. Definitely wouldn't have made any money out of it as it was fully mortgaged and we were pretty tightly financed, but if the rent was covering that, it could have worked. We couldn't carry it. We would have been generous LLs who would have been helpful when required. We know what it's like to rent for a long time.

What we got were tenants who didn't pay rent and had to get evicted. Fortunately at that time eviction was easier and faster, as we couldn't afford to cover it. We put the property straight on the market and decided LL was not for us. The house was bought by someone who sold it for a lot more as a rent-to-buy.

So one could have been reasonable rental off the market due to the behaviour of tenants.

Copernicus321 · 15/03/2025 22:34

What I'm setting out here is a generalisation but being a landlord isn't financially worthwhile. There are still some hotspots where if you buy a project at auction and do a lot of the work yourself you can get a modest return providing you aren't paying for borrowing costs.

I've have a few properties for a while now which I own outright and I'm holding on to them purely because I've solid tenants who have been with me for 12-15 years. I'm conscious that I'm actually buying their goodwill by charging below market rent, the upside being they stay with me and I've never had to pay for any malicious damage. Once you take maintenance and safety governance into account, being a landlord is a really poor return on investment even bearing in mind that I've no interest payments on the capital. If any of my tenants were to serve me notice, I would place the property on the market. I could increase my return by putting the capital into an NS&I fixed rate savings account. As I say, many landlords are still in the sector purely because of inertia and in many cases the significant capital gains tax bill.

not4profit · 15/03/2025 22:34

Fascinating thread, and I've yet to read it all. One thing that I don't think I have ever heard mentioned in the context of the rental crisis is the effect of the massive expansion of higher education in the last 30 years. My old uni had around 5000 students when I was there (late 80s). The same institution now has 30,000 students. I'm sure this is true in many student towns, where student rentals must completely skew the housing market. One of my dcs was paying, in combination with all his housemates, I think it was £55-£60 k per year to live in a quite grotty student house in a northern town where housing should be relatively cheap. You could literally rent a much nicer 4 bed house in a very expensive part of SW London for the same or less. This cannot help the rental market in many towns and cities.

Stirabout · 15/03/2025 22:47

not4profit · 15/03/2025 22:34

Fascinating thread, and I've yet to read it all. One thing that I don't think I have ever heard mentioned in the context of the rental crisis is the effect of the massive expansion of higher education in the last 30 years. My old uni had around 5000 students when I was there (late 80s). The same institution now has 30,000 students. I'm sure this is true in many student towns, where student rentals must completely skew the housing market. One of my dcs was paying, in combination with all his housemates, I think it was £55-£60 k per year to live in a quite grotty student house in a northern town where housing should be relatively cheap. You could literally rent a much nicer 4 bed house in a very expensive part of SW London for the same or less. This cannot help the rental market in many towns and cities.

55/60k is a lot.
I have one ds in. London suburb
5 in the house, £550 pm rent inc bills each. That’s £33k / yr inc all bills.
I have another in Exeter
6 in house, £570pm inc bills each. That’s £41k / yr inc all bills.
Another ds in St Andrews
has just signed for a 5 bed house £3600 between them / month for 11months
Thats £39.6k

Im assuming 55/60k must have a lot of students in it or be very swanky
Many student let’s don’t have living rooms to provide an additional bedroom. In terms of using up available housing that’s a good thing

We can’t deny education because of housing but I do think Unis need to build more student flats to keep the pressure off local housing supply

Ownedbykitties · 15/03/2025 22:51

@HappiestSleeping
very we'll put and explained. This is the reality of many LLs who find themselves having to "live in" because of work, yet dare not come off the housing ladder because they know they will need a house to live in themselves when their circumstances change. It is also the case that many people considered a rental as a way of being financially independent in older age. So much for trying to plan for the future and not rely on tax payers to fund benefits or care. May just as well have done nothing and let the rest of the country pay out.

Mrsbloggz · 15/03/2025 23:31

Woollysocksandbeer · 15/03/2025 22:10

I mean like I moved a LOT in Uk. Was I frustrated? Yes. Did I smear shit and ripped out rads?
No. Because i am adult adjusted person. Like even slightly below average person is.

It's crass. It's below fucking low class. Fuck her to hell. It's like robbin corner shop when being angry at gov. Stupid

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But of course, it goes without saying that this is the behaviour of the Lumpenproletariat. I was just offering a personal theory as to what drives it😇

Santina · 15/03/2025 23:33

How ironic, when landlords are renting out their properties, they're in the wrong. Now they're selling up, they're in the wrong. 🙄

ThistleTits · 15/03/2025 23:37

Costacoffeeplease · 14/03/2025 14:17

So all the landlords sell up, where are the people who don’t want to/can’t afford to buy going to live?

Other landlords with huge portfolios, will snap them up. They'll be able to charge whatever rents they like because they'll have all the commodities.