Renters rights bill

[MoneyNeverSleeps]

A question for LL’s please - what changes will you make in preparation for Labours Renters rights bill please? And what do you see as the wider consequences?

For those who simply wish to hate on LL’s, please don’t bother posting.

Wow that’s just batshit. I’m assuming you don’t need to rent? Are you thinking you should get to live in other peoples houses for free?

I think what renters want is to have a reasonably stable and well maintained HOME, while they are paying up to 50% of their hard earned money on rent?
Thats not quite the same as “wanting to live in someone else’s house for free”
I think that’s the issue. Landlords don’t seem to very often understand that for most tenants the place they rent is their actual home, even though they don’t own the building.
It’s a weirdly UK thing. I have rented in 2 countries in Europe, and in the US and generally buildings are owned by businesses or some kind of co op and the perception is very much that the flat is the tenants home while they live there.

Yes it’s a problem, approx 1 million rental properties have been sold and the amount of properties available has declined by approx 1m since 2021 in England alone. And irs about to get so much worse.

where will the renters go. Where will they live. There is not enough social housing for those on the list now. People are already struggling with increased rents, or finding properties to rent, I feel so sorry for them, what’s the point of additional rights if it means you live a hostel or some other form of emergency accommodation. You can’t force people to be landlords. And if they want to get out as it’s not worth it, who can blame them, and they want out.

which means as the amount of property available to rent declines. Rents go up. The goverment just slows house building so house prices continue to increase.

it’s such a shame.

Well, if the retail owners get pushed out, and institutional money replaces it, you may well have that. Be prepared to pay for it though - US funds and their ilk demand a decent return, and there will doubtless be management fees etc.

It’s a weirdly UK thing. I have rented in 2 countries in Europe, and in the US and generally buildings are owned by businesses or some kind of co op and the perception is very much that the flat is the tenants home while they live there

that’s very odd. I rented in mainland Europe and the us for several years, as do many of my colleagues. Other than longer rental contracts the myth that renters are more protected elsewhere is not my experience at all. Genuinely. And the landlords were similar demographics to the uk. Some companies, some private.

I hope the government install
some real plans for solving the housing crisis. They need to build council estates mixed with low cost houses that are available to buy ( fully buy, not some part rent scam).
There just hasn’t been the appetite to do this as half the UK is terrified fixing the crisis will decrease their property values. Which it might. But God we need a real solution and hapless renters being left to the mercy of Little Englanders and their pension generating property portfolios ain’t it.

With what money. They’ve given it all in pay rises, we are so in the shit they tried to take pensioners fuel allowance. Where will they get the money to build council houses. They don’t even have the money to pay all the pay rises they’ve given.

that’s very odd. I rented in mainland Europe and the us for several years, as do many of my colleagues. Other than longer rental contracts the myth that renters are more protected elsewhere is not my experience at all.
Well, for one thing in the US state I was in my rent could not increase by more than 4 % per year. There NO CAP on UK rent increases, which is NUTS.

Rent control is like a bloody unicorn and if you lived there you’d know it.

With what money. They’ve given it all in pay rises, we are so in the shit they tried to take pensioners fuel allowance. Where will they get the money to build council houses.
I said houses to buy as well. Developers make money building houses. A lot of money. There’s no reason the government couldn’t build houses. They did it following WW2, estates in their thousands.

Oh and of the 50 states only 6 have rent control. The other 44 is like any other bloody country.

Rent control is like a bloody unicorn and if you lived there you’d know it.
Yes. Rent Control IS. Rent stabilisation not so much ( maybe is now I don’t know) but at the time I never had my rent increase.

There is already a restriction in place and the tribunal option is also available. No-one uses it because they would get a section 21 if they tried.

I am a LL and have no problems with the abolition of Section 21. I have never used it and for problem tenants there are other avenues which should become quicker to enforce.

LL started selling up long before Section 21 abolition got anywhere near approval, it is mostly those with large mortgages coming out of cheap fixes as they can’t make money. A potential increase in CGT will lead to a lot more selling up if there’s time that is.

Fair.

There is insufficient time to crystallise a gain but potentially losing control of xxxk asset, is not an option for many, including me.

If the tenant thinks the proposed new rent is above the market rate for the area they can ask the First-tier Tribunal to determine whether the amount is reasonable.

Limit supply and the market rate will be higher for the whole area

No sh*t Sherlock.

Oh dear what happened there. Why so aggro

The policy is a bad one due to that outcome

But you are not losing control of the asset only the right to willy nilly turf out your tenants with 2 months notice. Apart from slum landlords, why would anyone have an issue with it?

Sorry didn't mean to come over as 'aggro' but the supply/demand cost thing is self evident.

I've done enough advice work down the years to know that S21 is not fit law. Perhaps it was in 1988 when rent controls and tenancies the LL could not easily end were still a recent memory. It's too easy for landlords. I've also seen the odd instance where LL and T have contrived S21 to improve chances of Social Housing.

Changes to rental legislation are just one of a number of factorsincluding interest rate, treatment of rental income for tax and sales proceeds in capital taxes as well as how repair and maintenance costs are treated. The arrival of Air B&B is another factor.

Sorry didn't mean to come over as 'aggro' but the supply/demand cost thing is self evident.

Well you may say that but it seems to be eluding many, including politicians who will limit supply

OK, so.

Restrictions on rent level - you advertise x, you cannot subsequently increase, and you really think it’s two months to evict - more like 12 months plus
given the courts.

And you are long a labour govt with whatever reforms come next.

We are in the process of selling. At a much reduced price because our tenant has been involved in nasty disputes with neighbours. He and the neighbour were arses and both behaved like giant toddlers. As a LL I got caught in the middle.
Tenant had been with us for 12 years, with a change of partner and therefore names of tenancy half way through.
In the end I felt like I was refereeing and looking after an extra child.
We maintained the property brilliantly - new boiler this year, and the rent didn't once rise.
I hate being a LL and will be glad to be rid, with or without renters reform. Tenant (who is on a basket of benefits, one of which relates to being ex-services, has found somewhere else nice to live. I pleased for him, but happier still for myself who'll be shot of the responsibility

@Startingagainandagain speaking again as someone from both sides (a tenant who works in the industry on the landlords side)

There are also too many tenants who CAUSE mould and damp for a variety of reasons - not ventilating the property adequately, not heating the property adequately, drying washing inside etc - and then complaining that their home is damp/mouldy. It can't work both ways. And it isn't always the landlords responsibility to fix it.

I'm a LL. We have two properties. The only thing that worries me about the bill is the registration aspect - how much is that going to cost? When you rent out small properties in old mill towns you don't exactly make a fortune and I don't want to pay a year's profit to register.

We will however be selling both before the new energy performance requirement comes in in 2030. When a house is worth 80k, nobody is going to pay 10k to get it up to a C - and they will both obviously be off the rental market then. I have no idea where the tenants will go, one has been on benefits for years and the others are pensioners. I just hope they'll choose to leave in the next couple of years but I doubt it.

@Josephinesnapoleon exactly what I tried to explain to the same poster upthread.

Still, you can't explain what people just don't want to hear 🤷‍♀️