To think we should ban private renting?

[honeyrosesandwich]

AIBU to think this is a great idea?

Imagine if private renting was banned. All rented houses were done under social housing / housing association. There are already over 4.5 million houses rented under social housing, so it's on a huge scale already.

It would mean rent would be affordable for everyone and effectively help the cost of living prices. I live in a housing association house and my 2 bed is £520 a month. My brother, who private rents, pays £1100 for a 2 bed in the same area.

Repairs for my house are done by the HA's own company. I just put in a request online for it.

People that want to stay in their privately rented home will be free to do so but they put a ban on any new tenancies. The owners will have the opportuntiy to sell the house to social housing or keep it for themselves, but not rent it out further. If sold, the tenant will be allowed to stay.

I've been thinking about this randomly today and haven't come up with any negatives so far. Is it bad to monopolise housing? Well, there are already certain housing associations which own hundreds of thousands of houses.

or they could crack down on airbnbs…

@UrOutdoorswhy?

Sounds idiotic. May have been mentioned but how will people who don't qualify for social housing yet need to rent get anywhere to live?

wouldn’t it be better putting a cap on what rent could be charged by private landlords depending on area etc

As is usual in MN, those that have, or those that have not, forget those of us who make life work for us anyway.

You would if you had loads of money or suddenly win the lottery and wanted to buy more than one house
Thankfully we have freedom. Nobody is ever or will ever impose that thankfully.

Thankfully people rent out their houses. It's a service for people who can't afford their own. Where would everyone live if no rentals
There is no way social housing demand could keep up.

They would rent out then would they. They would just sell up.
You can't tell people what to do with their own properties. It's their property not the governments.

Exactly. Just ignore it, adjust an I'll thought out silly post . Yelling people they can't own more than one house 😂 😂
Are they only allowed to go on one holiday a year, and have one car too? 😉 😂

So basically landlords, no different to the people you want to ban from being landlords?

Both my partner and I own a house, we each bought long before we knew each other. At what point after moving in together are we forced to sell the other house? We'd not lived together so it could all have gone wrong when we moved in together and then one of us would have been suddenly homeless.

Or the fact that my grandmother lives in a house, free of charge, owned by my two cousins who inherited it when their mother, my grandmother's daughter, died. She's lived there for years with her daughter. It is her home. The cousins each own their own house in which they live. Should my grandmother be evicted? I don't think any mortgage company will give my nonogenerian grandmother a mortgage. And she certainly doesn't have quarter of a million in her bank account to buy it. But she should be uprooted and forced to move as my cousins would have to sell.

The cost would be astronomical and unfeasible. Tenants have a lot of rights now and I'm sure it suits some people to have the freedom to pick and chose where they live, more so than they'd have with housing association properties.

Why would I want or need more than one (presumably fuck off) house if I win the lottery?

I just can’t see the issue with a restriction on a name being only on one set of deeds.

The OP did not read history at school, university? Either history history or modern history? Not familiar with the USSR and how it fell? Seriously?

Didn’t realise there were so many commies on MN

I believe it is called Communism . How did that work out in Russia and China .

Utopian thinking but unrealistic.

Where does the state get the money to buy these houses? Your state owned home is subsidised. It is supposed to be for people in need so ideally you would move into private rented releasing your council house for someone who needs it more. Making private rented more affordable depends on supply. So we need more private rented properties with strong regulation.

In Wales Central government at the senedd is giving local councils the money to buy empty properties and purchase properties on new housing estates. I've no idea how it works elsewhere in the UK

If nothing else, state-own houses should be a temporary solution, or a solution for people who have gone through life-changing events and for essential workers. Not a lifestyle choice, not a long term solution, not a "forever home" unless specific circumstances. That would free houses for those who REALLY need them.

Your firefighter spouse is injured or even killed in their job, then yes, by all means the family should be entitled to a council property for as long as they want. It's the least we can do.

You are a nurse or a cop and your salary doesn't allow you to live anywhere near your work place? Then yes, you should be entitled to council homes. (I am aware they are!)
Or we pay you enough so you can afford to live. Private companies and private business might be able to relocate, central London cannot function without essential workers.

Might as well go the whole hog then and have everyone rent from the government? Why let people own one house?

What has that got to do with anything whether I’ve asked a question or not about government spending elsewhere? You don’t know if I have or haven’t but there you are judging again. I’m asking OP a question, not sure why you don’t think it’s genuine? It’s how a chat works people say something and people ask questions or chat back

I prefer your plan.

Please please please - don't mix up Russia and China. USSR did have proper socialism (communism was never achieved in history - communism is Utopia), but this proper socialism did not work out just because it can't, due to people's nature. However China has capitalism economically, but socialism ideologically, so China is doing great exactly because of its capitalism.

USSR was screwed just because of what the OP suggests.

That's theft. Unless people are open to selling

My brother and wife are in China. They have an apartment in Shanghai, house near another city and their retirement home in Kunming.

So not everyone in China is living 12 to a room.

This is exactly what I mean - do not mix up the USSR and China - totally different - China embraced economic capitalism, that is why it is flourishing. The USSR killed itself.

People ask questions and chat back and sometimes they judge you. It's ok, my judgement can't actually harm you.

You come across as a person who only questions government spending under certain circumstances. For that I judge you.

It helps to have at least a little understanding of the subject you're talking about, don't you think?

"Why would I need to know the intricacies of Bristol to know there are thousands, if not millions, of empty properties in the UK?"

You confidently state that there is no housing shortage, only an empty homes problem.

The reality is more complex. Some empty properties are part of the problem; many are not. One of the main issues is having the right type of home, at the right price, available in the right location. The right type/price of home in Blackpool does nothing to help someone who needs that home/price but in Bristol, or any other area where there is a huge issue with both the availability and affordability of homes.