To think housing in this country is fundamentally broken?

[BrokenHousingLogic]

Whether you rent privately, rent socially or own, it feels like the system isn’t really working for anyone.

• Rents are high and insecure
• Buying is out of reach for many
• Social housing is under strain
• Landlords and tenants feel pitted against each other
• Local authorities seem overwhelmed

It often feels like people are arguing with each other instead of addressing the fact that the whole structure is failing.

AIBU to think this goes beyond individual choices and points to a system-wide problem?

Well yes, but this isn't news.

Yes.

we need to build more.

There’s insufficient houses. Government isn’t fixing this but people are buying homes and renting. It’s not all doom and gloom. Landlords won’t be able to evict so easily so expect fewer homes to rent. I agree there are issues but we need more homes.

Well there isn't really a solution.

And that's because however you slice it, a lot of people will lose money with any significant decision.

People who want to buy often can't afford to for a number of reasons (location costs and unsuitable housing i.e. First time buyers can't buy 4 bed new builds, which is what developers build to make profit).

People who do own don't want prices to go down due to negative equity.

Landlords are leaving the market now as a result of Renters Rights and property hasn't become more affordable.

We have an aging population and a lack of suitable homes for them because noone builds bungalows, which means more need expensive care sooner and don't move because the move doesn't solve the problem of not being able to live in a dual level building.

Not enough housing.

UK population was 56 million in 1970, 69 million now, and projected 72 million by 2032.

Build baby, build.

Please don’t build any near me , the traffic from the dozen or so new housing estates is utter chaos on the daily , not to mention the hospitals that can’t cope!
Where’s underpopulated in the country ? Build some there …

Its far from the silver bullet though IMO.

We have loads of vacant homes, second homes, empty central offices which, if turned into homes would be suitable first properties for the young people most needing a leg up and who would be spending in town centres and walking to work/wfh.

We also have a massive skills shortage which can't be solved by bringing in people abroad as they will also need housing to live in while building.

I think we will see a return to multi generational living - older parents moving in with thier adult children - used to be common in the past.

There are a lot of emp[ty commercial buildings not that WFH is more prevalen, that could be converted into flats - would help with inner city housing shortages.

We need to stop the population growing as we don't have the infrastructure to serve the housing we currently have.

And not just build more in general, but specifically to build more high quality social housing. And housing suitable for an aging population (bungalows, flats with lifts)

Decent conversions are often more expensive than pulling down and starting again, and regularly end up with poor quality results.

https://ehnetwork.org.uk/read/empty-homes-numbers-rise-again-2025-council-taxbase-figures-released

There are multiple strands to the solution, this could be part of it.

Unfortunately there is a prevalent attitude that secure housing is a luxury and not a right, plus housing is perceived as an asset and linked to wealth and status rather than being seen as homes. So if proposed solutions aren't seen as proven cash cows for those investing, we'll be in Groundhog Day forever.

As long as the government abrogates responsibility to the private sector (BTL, commercially based build to let and housing associations)and financialisation of housing, rather than moving it back to a governmental responsibility it will stay as is/ get worse.
Using the market as a solution will fail - major house builders will build to maximise profit and minimise volume/ social housing provision and BTL investors are highly leveraged in the most part - even if they don’t understand that phrasing - so changes in interest rates directly impact rents, but usually only upwards and current legislative changes will force more smaller BTL landlords out of the market with no replacement (other than large builders/ build to let approaches, which have already failed).
Taking a government approach may also allow the use of pre-fabricated, factory based manufacturing, which is used extensively in Germany and can speed delivery/ enhance quality.

It is not a shortage of housing, it is poor planning. Empty properties everywhere but the planning authority are very restrictive about conversions to suitable residential accommodation. I have commercial property that could provide several homes but I'm not allowed to convert it to residential. Just up the road, they are building lots of big new houses that nobody can afford to buy - it doesn't make any sense.

In addition, the tax system and rent laws incentivise people to let their houses as holiday lets rather than residential lets. Again, there are many properties with planning restrictions stopping them being used full-time.

I was listening to a radio 4 programme on this very topic this afternoon...they didn't mention the gaping inequality in the UK though.

I'm divorced and single. I would be happy in a modern flat with a bit of outside space but due to lease hold fees and annual maintenance fees which adds upto £3000 per year on top of the flat I'll keep saving for a 3 bedroom house.
A 2 bedroom house is approximately £220000 and a 3 bedroom is approximately £260000. So even though the 3 bedroom will be massively to big for me it's still better value than the 2 bedroom.
The government could step in tomorrow and help with the housing crisis but no one with any common sense works in this Labour government.

It’s a population thing surely? It’s increased by millions over last twenty years. The number of people living singly ( which further increases pressure) has gone up too. House building hasn’t kept pace which us C why there’s a shortfall in supply.

If there were 10% less people living in the UK tomorrow would that fix the issue? I do think it’s compounded by second: empty/ holiday homes but main issue is overpopulation.

First post nailed it. Yes it is. I’ve been saying this for 20 years - 20 years ago is when house prices suddenly went up by 400% in less than 3 years and wages of course did not move. I blame the increase in buy to let landlords for the majority of that increase, with the substantial empirical evidence that it happened at the same time, with a small increase being due to all that lovely foreign investment, from Russia particularly that the government of the time wanted to grab, and deregulation of the finance industry. The property market has become a major money laundering sector and the UK is one of the worse countries in the world for that.

No government has given a damn nor have the baby boomer landlords who got rich out of it, nor the idle rich inheriting descendants.

I meant to add, so whats your point?

The possibility of change in the favour of the non-inheriting working class has gone, for decades at least imo, and it has corrupted - and ruined, for most of us -all of British life.

There are too many people living in the wrong house for them. I'd like to see more financial support to help people move up/ down the ladder.

You missed from your list that UK housing is crap.

Small, leaky, poorly built, poorly designed, and not fit for purpose in myriad ways.

What's the point in building more houses that people can't afford to buy?

@bugalugs45 Why do you think people would want to be in the middle of the countryside in the middle of nowhere? What work would they have? What about carbon footprint in getting to work?

Of course a growing population hasn’t helped and we all demand more from services. In my local bigger town there are loads of flats, 2 bed houses for first time buyers. New ones galore. New schools and larger GP practices. It’s not possible to have housing not near anyone.

Of the people I know locally who are renting, what seems like a huge proportion have been given two months notice to get out. It’s happening to people all around me.

Landlords don’t want to do it any longer with all the changes to legislation.

I feel so sorry for them. Meanwhile, prices here are falling, but not nearly enough for the low paid (without a deposit) to be able to buy.

It’s absolutely chaotic at the moment.

I feel so sorry for the renters (not the landlords). That wasn’t clear enough.

Or stop importing the world and his wife/wives.