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.

Everyone will judge at some point but I honestly don’t know what you’re basing your judgement on?
How do I come across as a person who only questions government spending under certain circumstances? Like what actually leads you to that judgement or assumption based on my original question?

It was your choice of language, 'all this money' for 'all these houses'. All this, all these specifically. It speaks of a certain type of person in my experience. I can't explain in any more detail without being unkind.

You're already annoyed by the very suggestion that landlords shouldn't be allowed to profit from a basic human need. So you're either very rich or just getting by; or poor. It's usually the latter two who have the blustering response to government spending which could benefit them.

It was very evident when Jeremy Corbyn wanted to make WiFi free. The people who would have been able to spend that money on other things, or get WiFi for the first timewere suddenly demanding to know how it would be paid for. Showing their Master's what agreeable little subjects they were going to be.

So that's how you come across as that sort of person and that's what lead me to my judgement and assumption. Don't dwell on it and please don't ask again. Ask yourself why it matters to you so much.

We are decades away from any real changes or improvements for ordinary people. Partly because most of them won't get off their fucking knees.

I think there should be more affordable housing and have been involved in delivering this in my local area as a volunteer.

But Housing Associations receive government funding to build new homes. It wouldn't be affordable for them to start buying up private rentals as its cheaper to build new, especially in the area I live in - a National Park where new builds are very tightly restricted and have to either be social housing or for locals only. This depresses land value.

There are plenty of decent private landlords around. I'm a long term renter and don't particularly want to live in social housing as I don't need it. We have a great landlord who's very responsive, charges a reasonable rent and I get to live I a house I can't afford to buy. My DS has been in a shared house at uni for three years. Often private landlords are filling a gap that can't be met by a Housing Association.

In rural areas big agricultural estates often provide long term rentals which tenants live in for decades and works well for landlords and tenants. I don't know why you'd want to intervene in a situation like that. It wouldn't benefit anyone.

You're already annoyed by the very suggestion that landlords shouldn't be allowed to profit from a basic human need

I’m not annoyed at that and I haven’t commented on that for you to make that assumption, you’ve just made it up. I don’t think I’ve actually come across as annoyed by anything you’ve said because I’m not. I was just wondering hence the questions.

So you're either very rich or just getting by; or poor. It's usually the latter two who have the blustering response to government spending which could benefit them.

It may ‘usually’ be the latter two but this is why I don’t agree with judgement when you have zero facts. I am not poor or just getting by, I am comfortable, I own my house and run a business. So you are wrong with all your judgments. I’m definitely not on my knees waiting for change, I’m out there working and trying my hardest to succeed, no one is doing it for me I’m doing it for myself.

I think we’ve come to the conclusion you and your judgment are completely incorrect.

Fact: Housing Associations and similar providers are allowed to demolish some older housing as uneconomic to repair, but are required to rebuild elsewhere in that local planning authority.
I’d suggest that much housing of the 2 down three up type is also likely to need substantial works before being fit to let. But it’s still the land value the property is sat on the governs the overall price,

Strikes me that many posting haven’t a scoobies about the realities of the wider world. As said above, I’m a happy renter and have been so for a very long time.

We are decades away from any real changes or improvements for ordinary people. Partly because most of them won't get off their fucking knees

@Dreamcatcherat50 what is the solution? Revolution?

Who would have a say on the tenants? There's a shortage of social housing so would those on the waitlist get priority?

Where is the money coming from to pay the private landlords to sell their properties and who would they be selling them to? Housing Associations or Councils? Social housing is terrible in some areas.

What about say those in the forces or expats who rent out their homes when they're overseas but intend to come back? My brother rented his flat out for 4 years whilst he worked abroad. My parents rented out their house when my Dad was posted abroad.

Ok.

No, people need to lose some of their entitlement. Empty properties can house people. If a property is empty, it could be used to house someone homeless. End of story.

I would snatch someone’s hand off who wanted to buy my old flat from me for the price I paid for it. To be honest, I’d seriously consider an offer at half the price I paid for it. I’ve even approached local social housing providers and they’ve had no interest in buying it.

If I wasn’t renting out to some one who wants to live there, I’d have been stuck in a too small flat and had to give up the opportunity for progression in my job that meant I’d move, meaning I’d also be paying significantly less tax (as the job move meant I doubled my salary).

I tried to sell it but it was valued at £0 post Grenfell, and I had a £150k mortgage so I didn’t really have a choice other than to save up a second deposit and buy somewhere nearer to my new job.

But tell me again how I shouldn’t own more than one home.

Well can't say that I didn't try...

Cladding?

Yes!!!, I wonder why no one have thought of that before! You can tell you have been subsidized repeatedly (probably not just your rent) because you don't understand how money/the economy/funding works, clearly, if you can't see any issues with your master plan 🫣 you have no idea

Honestly some of the comments here just show how clueless people are. HA can offer cheap rents because they often receive money and land grants from the government (well, really the taxpayer!!) to build homes, which lowers their overall debt costs compared to private landlords. Do you think HA will go round paying what a privately owned house is worth? Not what it was bought for, because, guess what? people pay hundreds of thousands on interest to banks... Oh and there is this other thing called inflation and also supply and demand, all these factors push a home value up. To think the government, -who btw is in so much debt already subsidising everyone and their granny- will have the funds to buy privately owned homes and provide mega cheap rents is frankly delusional....so OP you are lucky you pay £520 thanks to government subsidies funding by that tax payer, most of us in the real world have to pay a lot more for rent and/or a mortgage.

Yes, although ironically the cladding was fine and other remedial works were carried out - but even now with an EWS form the property has only half of its original value because no property in the building has been sold in nearly ten years, other then under repossession at really low value to cash buyers, so hugely distorting the current market.

Stupid post

💐🙄

I blame the heat

Sorry, what does this mean? The human catastrophe of the failure of communism is very real, recent, and not really a head-pat moment.

At least, shouldn't be for anyone who thinks of themselves as one of the good guys.

So private companies can make a profit but not individuals?

If I form a limited company to buy a house is that allowed?

Terrible idea for lots of reasons but hey at least it's an idea.

I changed to private renting from a council that dragged their feet over essential repairs including rampant damp. Not much difference in the rent and much better service

Our council are offering up to £30k to owners of empty property to upgrade them, lease them to the council for twenty years who will pay market rent to the owner. Owners are still not interested. On the other hand some people are buying up cheap property doing them up with council money signing leases and taking the cheques. They have zero responsibility for damage, they get paid even if the property is empty between tenants.

There would then be no new builds on the UK and developers would take their funds to different countries.

As things are the cost of building is so expensive that little is being built.

You do realise one of the largest private landlords in the UK is Lloyds bank, right?

Private renting will be significantly worse once these corporate landlords have a monopoly.

People rent for all sorts of reasons, for example at the start of my career I was on temporary contracts where I wouldn't have been able to buy and needed to move quickly. This applies to many careers where people need the flexibility of moving, or simply don't want the hassle of buying.

If the housing associations want to buy my two rental properties, they are more than welcome. However, I'd expect to be given market value for them especially if selling with tenants in situ.