Small landlords selling off isn't a great news after all

[Goingindrain]

My landlord is a small landlord, just owns his house and the one where we live. He is a nice man and charges us below the market rate rent.
He is fed up of all the anti landlord rules and has decided to sell. It seems he had an offer from FTB and then a big corporation put in an offer 10k over and he's selling it off to them via the agents.
I am worried about the rent going up and it's not a great news for tenants.

@FancyCatSlave You probably don’t want to hear this but sitting on the money could be the next target. One of the ideas floated was lowering cash ISA allowance.

No, that isn't what happened. They shelved the abolition of Section 21 until such time as the Courts would be able to handle the increased workload - aka never. The rest of the Rental Reform bill ran out of time, but wasn't that big a change anyway once Section 21 remained in place.

This was started by the last Tory government. Labour have just followed on from them

Yes but that will impact me much less. Once I stop receiving rental income (all of which is eaten up by the mortgage, tax and maintenance) I won’t be a higher rate tax payer any longer (part time employment right on the cusp of 40%, higher rate if I was full time). Won’t need to do self assessment and would pay very little tax at all relatively on the savings.

If I don’t need it I’ll likely put it in trust for DD anyway. Quite frankly I’d rather spend it all than give it to the bloody government. It won’t be a huge amount after capital gains paid on it, under £100k.

Exactly.

Small landlords have been systematically vilified for years and the regulations made more and more difficult so that they can sell up benefiting large corporations and private equity buyers. I wonder how that’s going to work out for ordinary renters? It’s pure fantasy thinking that first time buyers will be buying up these properties. Who do you think has deeper pockets?

I have sympathy for my landlord. He said it was his retirement plan to use the income from property but due to hefty Mortgage rates, he thinks after all the taxes and upkeep it's not worth it.

Yes theres a couple of landlords i know who have refused to do it. Although who would blame those who agreed, given the huge amounts they are being paid? In my town they have loads of HMOs which are accommodating men, no women or children. Several of these are sited near schools and there is drug taking, fights, prostitution, men leering at schoolgirls. I know those who live in pleasant leafy suburbs will say this is bullshit.
It isnt.
Is everyday life for many residents. Nobody asked for this and nobody wants it

I blame “right to buy” in the 80s because the then Tory government forbade councils from using the moneys raised from selling council properties to build more homes for future tenants

No. As in my post below. The Tories abandoned the removal of Section 21 as they realised the courts wouldn't be able to cope. The rest of the Rental Reform bill wasn't particularly worrying for landlords. The Renters Rights bill is extremely anti landlord however.

Why do socialists always complain when they ask for socialism, then get socialism.

Not necessarily you OP, but this is what people on MN ask for all the time. Now it’s happening. And it won’t end well.

Every rental home sold is another house for people to buy. They move out of a rental house which is then let. Small landlords selling up makes no difference to the overall housing stock. Large build to rent businesses actually create rental supply which is why they are not being discouraged

So tell me again why people should give up their SH and secure tenancies?

Just out of interest.

We have been lucky to have good landlords so far, all this hatred against small landlords seems unreasonable.

The point I was trying to make was that the last government promised to ban section 21 notices and never managed to do it. In fact I’m pretty sure it was announced many years ago so it was probably several prime ministers back.

It's pushing people here to Air bnb which is really bad for communities and neighbours next to the party house. We also have huge amounts of students and the rooms they pay through the nose for would be considered 3rd world - mould, stained mattresses, leaking roofs. Those guys own about half the town and split houses into rooms with a 3 bed terraced housing up to 9 students! Those are the guys they should be going after. They also always aim for students from overseas because they can't view the property and don't know their legal rights.

Nobody is asking you to. But shedding a tear for the tenants for whom it's now impossible to find anywhere to live and for tenants whose rents are higher due to the lack of supply is a more appropriate response.

I don't know why anyone wants to be a landlord. I've been an accidental one for 18 months after my parent died, and while waiting for the legal go ahead to sell the property to meet the debts they left behind. There's not been a penny in profit after tax was paid and repairs done. The tenants finally left in arrears and had trashed the property so the expense has been significantly larger than any income. It's been a complete nightmare.

I asked the lettings agent why anyone would want to be a BTL landlord. She said that she had no idea, and that knowing what she knows she would never be a landlord.

I count myself fortunate to be selling the property before the rules change. I've also never been so grateful to own my own home, and that my adult kids managed to get on the housing ladder. I feel desperately sorry for those having to rent these days.

I'd felt terrible for having to give my parent's long term tenants notice. However, that vanished when I saw what they'd done to the property.

This is impacting the building we live in, we have a flat in a shared (old) building in a tourist city.

What is starting to happen is flats which used to be let long term (usually to professional couples or a small family) are being turned into holiday lets.

It's not great, hen parties teetering up the stairs and noise etc, in fact we are unsure of they are breaking the terms of the lease, but I guess it is understandable given the new rules.

In such an old building I doubt any flats would pass the energy efficiency ratings. the pets thing would also be a problem as our original lease does ban pets (anything with four legs apparently or a noisy bird!)

Yes, absolutely it was. But then the Tories realised it was unworkable and so basically shelved it.

So was doing away with mortgage interest relief. Anti small landlord anyway.

Ah yes. That is certainly true.

Yanbu. I'm still a landlord, 'accidental' as I moved area and couldn't sell at the time.

Ten years later I'm preparing to sell. Not allowing mortgage interest to be tax deductible, increasing legislation year and after year, there are soon to be only financial losses in being a private landlord.

The sad thing is I've always treated tenants well, allowed dogs, redecorated regularly, taken pride in the property. I cant afford to keep it though when I'm basically not allowed to make a small profit after all the bills and taxes. Ten years ago there was a decent market for landlords and tenants. Now it is awful for both.

When I had to increase the rent, it was hoovered up by agents fees and VAT and 40% tax (I work a day job as well).

The buyers interested are large corporate landlords, I doubt they'll take the level of care maintaining the building and comforts for tenants that I have.

What a mess successive governments have made.

I own one apartment, rent under market value, keep it in good condition, long term tenants, respond to issues asap. I do make money on renting however. My own view is that more social housing would be better for society as a whole, but more big private corporate landlords will be a disaster

I'm still a landlord as I don't see an easy way out - and I've been doing it for 30 years.

But I'm changing things. Particularly I will never take a chance on anyone. I now need excellent references, a high income and preferably a guarantor. In the past I have happily taken a chance on people without those things if I liked them. Now the risk will be too great.

And when we had Section 21 most landlords used that, rather than Section 8, to get rid of non paying or antisocial tenants. This "no fault" eviction route meant such tenants didn't get a black mark against them that would have made finding another rental difficult. Now all tenants evicted under the new system will find their non payment is recorded and is also likely to result in a CCJ and so will make themselves untouchable.