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.

I worked very hard to be in the fortunate situation to be able to help out a close family relative with secure housing and affordable rent.

And there's millions of people working hard while paying extortionate rents while paying off the mortgage of some leeches on this thread who are having a tantrum about new legislation to protect them

😂 honestly you couldn’t make this up. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Here’s the facts. You’re not entitled to live in someone else’s private property. They are entitled to charge what they please and reject who they wish, or not rent it out at all. You want cheap not for profit rents. Then get a council house.

oh wait.

I've got 11 btl properties split over a ltd company I own shares of and some in my name and a couple in joint names with my dh and I already give 2 months notice of price increase. I do give 1 year contracts but I have always offered tenant the option to renew. I'll have to give periodic tenancies which makes me uneasy just in case I get a nightmare tenant. Most of my tenants have been renting from me for years. I've got a small team of a trusted general maintenance man, an electrician, a plumber and a gas sage engineer I use for ally houses. Any maintenance and repairs get DC one quickly. When a tenants washing machine broke she got another delivered the same day and plumbed in too. I increase rents a small amount each year because tenants tell me they prefer this to a bigger jump every 4 or 5 years. I've got 4 houses that are EPC D grade and I'll probably sell 3 of those and buy a couple more EPC C ones instead. I can move the other house up to an EPC C quite easily as only 1 point below C grade and I can just get cavity wall insulation for that one. The older 3 Victorian houses would cost over £14k each to get internal cavity walls and save tenant about £50 a year so it would not be worth me upgrading those. I've never used a section 21 anyway. LL don't usually get rid of good tenants unless they want to sell. I allow tenants to have cats because I love cats and 2 tenants who have been with me for years I agreed to a dog for them. 1 tenant has a rabbit but it's in a cage outdoors. I have a phobia of snakes and I would never agree to a tenant having a snake in the property and I have a clause stating so in the contract. I won't move houses in my name into ltd company as I'd be paying so much in CGT. I will probably try to wait labour out. I think they'll be gone in 5 years.

Tenants have to pass credit checks which look at income and outgoings. They have to show payslips. EA's also look for past CCJ's and bad credit risks. If tenants still work for the same employer in the same roll several years later it's fair to assume their income will be similar so if they passed initial credit check they should still be able to pay. Plus more LL will simply ask tenants for a creditworthy guarantor.

Really it's up to the government of the day to provide more social housing. LL are not stopping them from doing this. I personally know of many LL's who have a portfolio of about 6-10 houses who have already sold some and are selling one house off each year. Several others who are thinking of selling. I'm only thinking of selling ones at EPC D in 2-3 years. Most of my houses are already EPC C. I won't be selling those unless interest rates go through the roof. I know some tenants are nervous though I've had 2 tenants already ask me to give them plenty of notice if I'm going to sell up.

CGT rates are half of income tax, 10% basic and 20% higher rate. For property it is 18% basic and 24% higher rate. Unfortunately you can’t sell a property bit by bit every year, so the whole gain falls into one year. If you have a job as well, you are likely to end up higher rate on most of it.

The rates are likely to increase and not just on property.

If she is increasing CGT on selling businesses, it will impact investment.

Credit ratings can deteriorate over time, logically given the recent inflationary/COL cycle. Prudent therefore to introduce annual checks as I have done until now. So, it’s more on the debt side than an income issue.

Agree re guarantors (I would never act as one personally so….)

No tantrums here.

Just hard nosed business decisions. Soon your leeches will be US private equity. But that’s ok presumably? Enjoy their margin and return hurdle requirements.

Oh and another thing.

Institutional landlords will be providing rabbit hutches predominantly- not the housing that most people want. So you can forget your twee Victorian cottage etc.

Its a brave new world.

LL don't usually get rid of good tenants unless they want to sell

this is a huge truth, and a very important one. No landlord gets rid of a good tenant unless they wish to sell or move back in.

i have rented, I have also rented the family home out during a temp work relocation, and my daughter currently rents. In each instance the landlord be it us or someone else, grasped onto a good tennant. Even held off on increases, to keep them. It’s the big companies who just do major increases. The ones who will be left in.

My daughter rents In a major city centre, she currently pays about 25% of the current rental value, the landlord is overseas and has a number of properties, he hasn’t increased her rent as he’s told her she’s a great tenant. She’s a young single lawyer living in a fab two bed apartment, that she keeps immaculate. For him that’s more important than the extra 250 a month. He’s selling the rest now and when she moved out, likely towards the end of next year, he will sell that too. He is experienced enough to know, if she leaves due to a rent increase, he may get a nightmare tenant in there, so he’s happy to forego the extra rental for the piece of mind of a great tenant. Many landlords are the same.

when we rented our home out, we were the same, we held off on increases to keep the tenants, as every new tenant is a huge risk. And when we rented our landlords did very minor increases as they also wanted us to stay.

lamdlords aren’t idiots, they know the value of a good tenant. Yes there is shit landlords, but absolutely there are shit tenants.

The legislation will not protect them, what it will do is make LLs sell, increasing the local market rent.

the very limited protections within the proposed bill is put the enforcement onto councils, who have no money to enforce dogs, litter, planning or even tree preservation orders, so whats going to be enforced?

the problem is successive Govts, inc Labour have decided not to build council housing, until there is a huge increase in these, then tenants have no choices and rents will increase as more LLs leave the sector.

This is consistent with our position.

There is one additional point though. The quality of good tenants can deteriorate through job loss, relationship breakdown etc. Your ability to evict them then becomes the issue, and there is no doubt that is about to become more difficult.

That’s true, a once good tenant can become a bad one.

as much as there is terrible landlords, there are very many good ones. And as much as there are good tenants there are very many bad ones. Because some people can be and are arseholes.

for landlords to stay in the bill needs to be more balanced. Yes good tenants should have more rights, but landlords should have an ability to fast track a bad one out. the ability to get their costs back for damage caused.

Labour are basically trying to make private rentals like social housing by stealth, as there is such a shortage, and it is the most short sighted thing ever. Well unless we count giving everyone pay rises then trying to take pensioners fuel allowances as they can’t afford to meet their promises.

renting is a risky business for both landlord and tenant . And when you unbalance it too much in favour of one side it breaks.

The fundamental issue is renting is seldom a choice. Being a landlord always is. So if you make it too difficult for landlords then they stop being landlords, take their money out and toddle off into the sunset.

The Decent Homes Standard will also be applied, one condition in this is that Kitchens must be less than 20 years, regardless of working condition and bathrooms under 30 years old.

Quite why a perfectly good kitchen should be ripped out is beyond me and yet another reason to sell up.

Surely, whether new facilities are needed should be based on condition, same as might happen in the owner occupier sector?

There is also the financial ‘sleeve’ element.
Many renters are unable to secure a mortgage,
hence they are compelled to rent.
The LL becomes lender of last resort in effect.

Something that has passed Labour by.

TBF The Tories Renters bill was pretty much the same thing.

Both parties are putting the cart before the horse, need far more SH built first, so renters have genuine choice.

You are actually losing control of your asset if tenants with children decide to stop paying the rent - it will take up to two years to get your property back and you have to subsidise your tenants by paying the mortgage on rented property. Happened to my friend and it was before the new bill. She couldn't get her own flat back which was rented out to partially cover the mortgage while she was renting elsewhere with her child due to family circumstances. That was a good lesson for her.

That’s right.

LL’s are facing increasing risk on all fronts, including:

Fiscal risk
Credit risk
Operational risk
Compliance risk

So, they either price that risk, or they exit.

So I rented out my home in Scotland
I knew within months my tenants were bad. Not heating, damaging things, and not looking after the garden.

couldnt evict, coz they weren’t “bad enough”. They have caused thousands of pounds of damage, Into the 10’s. And all because I wasn’t allowed to take any action at all

The tories scrapped that bill. As they knew it would cause landlords to sell up. Which is already happening, close to a million less rental properties in last 3 years .

And when they all sell up it causes renters and the goverment a much much bigger problem as there is no social housing, the waiting lists are decades long. So they scrapped it. Where will people live? If you habe a shortage of private rental properties and no social housing where will people live?

labour has now dusted it off, polished it up and went back at it.

they are trying to make private landlord social landlords by stealth, whilst planning to tax them up the wazoo. forgetting it is already not profitable for many and too difficult, and it’s a choice, so if you make it worse, landlords just sell up, the tories recognised this and binned it. Labour has resurrected the problem.

if this bill gets through, in a couple of years so many people will be absolutely fucked and homelessness is going to be a huge problem in the uk. Way way bigger than it is today.

I’m past caring tbh.

Will call my second tenant today to tell him we
will be serving a S.21 whilst we still can.

I just want out.

I agree.

People have the choice and they will make it. People will be in absolute trouble with homelessness and the costs to the tax payer will also go up to provide the little that can be.

The bill isn't due to become law until next Summer. It seems a bit harsh to evict your tenants over the winter/Christmas period . Poor things.

Faux outrage.

My assets, my decision.
My profit, my tax liability (you are welcome)

PS the UK is a secular country so don’t make assumptions.

It should never become law, its a stupid bill and needs revising.

So many LLs are going to get out of the market before then and i doubt a single SH will be built for years.

Registers, Decent home standards, Evicting bad tenants and Enforcement, all need looking at again.