Why so much hate for Landlords on MN?

[coulditbeme2323]

Who do LL's get so much hate on MN?

It seems so much more hate than there is any real life.

Probably because the renting industry is perceived as extortionate and predatory.

LL's do not consider property a home. They consider it an investment. We all need a place to live and the more property is bought up by LL's the higher the prices go because of scarcity. LL can charge what they want for bare minimum and you're ultimately at their mercy. If your LL decides to sell up, you're out on your arse. Good luck and thanks for paying someone else's mortgage.

Nah, no-one who owns 13 properties is good.

I own more and I’m fabulous. 💅

Any ordinary person who is arrogant enough to refer to themselves as a "lord" in 2026 deserves to be hated. Its a relic of the feudal system. There is nothing wrong with the term owner or property owner which implies a commercial relationship. Landlord connotes a hierarchical social relationship which is completely inappropriate for the 21st century.

Time we dropped the old fashioned and classist terminology.

They aren’t being arrogant - it is the legal term for it.Landlord and Tenant Act etc.

What about pub landlords? Or landladies of guesthouses? Do you think they are arrogant?

It doesn’t bestow privilege upon them. It’s just a noun. Calm down.

This is the bizarrest objection.

Next you are going to have to stop renters describing themselves as ants.

Of course Landlord's can't charge what they want.

The last property we let our was a one bed flat for £1250 - what do you think would have happened if I put it on the market for £2500?

I don't think anybody is trying to be good, it's a business investment.

I wondered this, having not rented since being a student, until we ended up renting due to a break between selling and buying.

Absolutely awful experience, a poorly maintained property and they were unresponsive to requests for basic maintenance. Once we’d bought and given notice to move out, they seemed to think they could carry out viewings at anytime of day without any regard to our schedules.
They also tried to make massive deductions from the deposit that were completely unreasonable.

Thankfully due to be older/wiser, potentially more financially stable and not needing a reference it was relatively easy to deal with them, but I can see how they would bully people in more vulnerable positions.

And if it wasn’t for landlords, I would have been homeless for most of my adult life. I have never been in a position to buy a house so what would people suggest in that situation?

Its the usual spite against people who have more than others

If you've ever heard the problems students get into with landlords who don't return deposits or deal with prolbems in the accommodation, you'd understand why people hate landlords!

Landlords don't hold deposits.

Well, they used to then.

Not for many years.

Fine but the point still holds about students and beastly landlords.
Are you a landlord by any chance?

I am, but never have been a student LL.

Good friend is a LL. Owns 2 flats & a house.Raking it in. Talks about the money all the time, treats her tenants well I think, but is always saying how unbelievable it is that she can charge so much on a 1-bed in our area etc
On the flips side of that is a couple paying £1500 a month for a flat and unlikely to be able to ever be able to buy around here. While my single friend, no kids, owns 4 properties.
I can see why people get pissed off.

Your friend isn't a charity.

I just did a quick search. I'm in the north West. There are 600 properties ranging from studio to 3 bed house within a ten mile radius. My maximum budget on the search was 100k.
Plenty of those properties are tenant in situ.
The landlords are not stopping anyone from buying in my area

Apparently it’s quite stressful owning 4 properties but she won’t hear of selling - also has a well paid FT job and is near retirement.
Not sure what the point of hoarding houses/flats etc is TBH.

Deposits are held in a secure account

Absolutely not. She’s a LL rolling in the dough and gleeful that some family money has enabled her to be in the position.
I’m just saying - one woman, no kids with 4 houses/flats etc- massively profiting from the housing market while younger generations can’t find somewhere affordable to live. I get why people are pissed off sometimes.

Exactly

I know!

I have seen so many posters claiming that landlords can charge whatever they want when it's blatantly untrue. It's like Landlords claiming that banks can charge whatever they want when it comes to remortgaging. Ultimately unless you have a monopoly, which housing definitely isn't, then you will be at the mercy of market forces. If demand exceeds supply then rents will go up. This suggest though that you need more landlords, not less. If existing landlords sell up then yes, an owner occupier might buy the house but it will also contract the supply of available rental properties further. This is bad news for renters.