To consider distancing myself from a friend over her views on renting and benefits?

[TheGentlePoet]

I’ve had a conversation with a friend that’s left me a bit uncomfortable and I’m not sure if I’m overreacting.

She’s a landlord and was saying that with the changes to renter rules and the abolition of Section 21, she’s planning to sell up and “claim benefits as it’s the only way forward.” It just didn’t sit right with me - the tone of it, more than anything and it’s made me question our values a bit.

I’m now wondering whether I’m being unreasonable to consider distancing myself over this or whether it’s fair to feel put off by it.

AIBU?

Presumably she'd get quite a lot of money from selling so she wouldn't be eligible for benefits anyway.

Well she can't simply sell up and claim benefits anyway so I probably wouldn't be friends with her based on the fact she doesn't know what she's talking about yet so confident with it.

Despite having to pay tax she is going to realise quite a bit of money which will debar her from benefits. Even if she is saavy enough to park it in an offshore account she would have to account to the benefits people as to how she went from being a property owner to being unable to support herself.

Well if she sold up, she wouldn’t get a penny of benefits so it’s irrelevant.

OP, did she mean it literally, or was she saying it as she’s hacked off with the changes to rules for landlords? How good a friend is she? You don’t actually have to agree with every last opinion a friend holds - I have a very dear friend but there are a couple of things we just don’t talk about as we know our opinions are diametrically opposed.

Selling up because of the changes to renting rules isn't unreasonable, if it's now higher risk, less profitable, or possiblely loses money (quite possble if she was only scraping by before) then it's no longer a sensible investment.

The benefits comment was a bit odd, unless maybe she's unable to work and the rental profit was her only income. She could potentially have very high mortgages and very little capital, so it's not impossible that she would go from living off rent to benefits, but it would be a pretty unusual situation.

I don't think she meant it literally, just venting her frustration on her current problems as a landlord.

Sounds like she’s in for a rude awakening as by the sounds of it she’ll be entitled to the grand sum of fuck all.

I expect ages venting about all the hurdles put in the way of people trying to actually work and save and pay tax. Landlords have had huge demands put on them for little return . And it IS frustrating to see the amount handed to those who don’t work or chose to have more kids or chose to only work 16 hours - we should all be challenging that as it’s simply not sustainable

She tends to feel quite strongly that people on benefits get a lot and that landlords are being treated unfairly. So her comment about claiming benefits came across more as “this is the only way forward and I should get what I’m entitled to,” rather than just a throwaway line. It felt like more of a mindset thing than just frustration in the moment.

Agree with @sesquipedalian - doubt it was a literal comment and don't need my friends to all share the same views. Echo chambers are part of the problem with all the intolerance in the world these days on all sides. But if she's not really a friend anyway, you can distance yourself for whatever reason.

if she sells her properties and has capital then she will get exactly what she is entitled to nothing.

What's your issue?

Tbf it tends to sit fine with most people when landlords get routinely slagged off en masse, so it's not hard to see where the mindset has come from.

I would assume she means the rent she was getting was contributing a large portion of her monthly income, which will disappear if she feels she is forced to sell up because of the new legislation. It sounds like a comment based more on frustration and worry, rather than a desire to actually want to be in a position of having to claim benefits.

I think people are just exasperated with this government take take taking from people who have achieved what we’ve been raised to do . Get a job and provide for yourself . There’ll be many more evicted from rental properties and then where do people go , insufficient housing is being built and developers don’t want to build social housing .

She is not wrong.

I know a couple of people who have let property for a number of years, been good private landlords, recognised a good tenant when they had one, stuck with them when redundancy struck and they couldn't pay full rent for a few months etc. One has already sold up and the other one has decided that the current tenant will be the last one.

Tell her to go ahead and try it.

What is she planning on claiming benefits for?

She's probably a millionaire so good luck explaining her sudden deliberate deprivation of assets.

What's she going to spend all her money on? Maybe she'll give it away? Tell her you'll only accept it in cash and maximum 500 at a time. 🤣

Am pretty sure plenty of people on benefits would love to be in the position of being a landlord and having that financial security behind them. Funny when people can't see how well they are doing.

Let her crack on if she thinks being on universal credit is such a genius move

It’s just a stupid comment people make. The reality of living on benefits is very different to what some people believe. I would take it with a pinch of salt.

There's a general lack of empathy on both sides and reluctance to imagine other people have their own problems. This is how it gets when everyone's squeezed. But someone wiser once said that there's the same amount of air in the balloon for most humans, the balloon is just squeezed in different places. That feels truer to me than - 'I'd love to be that millionaire their life must be so easy'/'I wish I was on benefits having it all handed to them'. Most people are in the middle, managing some shit or other, and with more in common than they might think.

You can own multiple properties and claim benefits. The systems a bit of a joke.

Landlords receive millions of tax payers cash every year. It's not unlikely that some of your friends tenants have been in receipt of housing benefit and therefore her mortgages have in part been paid by benefits so she will actually have received have quite a lot in 'benefits' if she's been a landlord a long time.
She must be stupid if she can't see how the benefits system has benefited her!

Do you distance yourself from every single person who says something dickish out of frustration?

If so, you must be very lonely.