How can the government get away with doing this to renters?

[winterwonder1]

So housing benefit if being frozen next year - yet rents are rocketing (because of the increased pressures on BTL taxation and mortgages, among other issues). Surely vulnerable people will become homeless because of this?

Housing benefit payments to be frozen again in 2025 | Kidderminster Shuttle

We need to build a huge amount of one and two bedroom properties and decant social housing blockers into them. I know so many single people/couples hogging 3 bedroom social/council houses for decades as their kids grew up and left home 20 years ago.

E.G My sister/bil are in a huge 3 bedroom Council house and will probably stay until they are carried out feet first. That house should be for a young family and they should be in a one bedroom flat.

We need to stop social housing being a home for life but until there are smaller properties for people to move into, it won't happen.

You should see what’s happening in Australia, buying or renting property is becoming a global issue.

Why is there a housing shortage?

Many people in social housing claim Universal credit to top up low incomes and can't claim UC if savings go above 16k so are effectively trapped in social housing.

@Feb135

I think the vast majority of commentators have no idea about what it costs to be a landlord.

Income tax at 40%+ of rental income.
Management fees around 10% of rental income.
Capital gains tax 18 -24% on the value of the property when sold.
Maintenance.
Statutory checks: gas, electrical, legionnaires.
Now landlord licensing.

And that is all before any mortgage payments/trouble with difficult tenants.

Landlords can sell up and invest the capital in government bonds and receive a risk free, cast iron return. Unsurprisingly many are doing exactly that.

Market forces.

I think the solution is they start building training colleges where they can put potentially young lads who possibly have gone down the wrong path and will end in juvenile court or other unemployed young lads make them live these training colleges have to go there and stay there and train to become builders because we need that Then they can be used to build social housing up and down the country then that will provide cheaper rent for those on housing benefits then the private sector could just be used for those who work

The government needs to put money into infrastructure which means training people up there is a lot of untapped potential in this country. There are many young unemployed lads doing fuck all and they should be able to go to so-called training colleges where they can live there and get an education, possibly a little bit like a Boot Camp where they have to do it otherwise they get no benefits. Nothing I think we need to get tougher because there’s a lot of youth not working.

Of course it's a business.
Nobody is going to go through the stress of being a LL for nothing.
We never put the rent up in 4 years, the tenants still trashed the house and withheld rent.
And this is why there's a shortage, good LL's don't want the hassle anymore and now interest rates are going up we'd sooner stick our money in a savings account.

Dodgy LL's however will always be around, over charging and not maintaining the property.
The government need to provide more social housing.

Point being, we as a Country need to put ourselves in a position where we don’t have to rely on private landlords. In fact the sooner the better.

Because Thatcher sold off council houses and stopped councils from building more with the revenue.

Exactly which my idea means that we should build like so-called colleges that can sleep people that literally will grab these young people who are not in education doing fuck all who going to go on benefits or might even be in prison that they have like a Boot Camp philosophy and they have to train up to become builders or plumbers or whatever we need I don’t understand why we don’t do that because when I am in the local town centre seeing young lads doing fuck all it’s very sad

Why would anyone tell you though?
I don't discuss my income or outgoings with anyone in real life.

Exactly. I claim the housing part of UC. And j work. I doubt anyone would guess that I claim it.

Housing element is nowhere near the level of private rents anyway. I don’t think much is changing here.

Deliberately engineered to make rich people richer + shortage of tradies like builders + red tape + poor running of the country in general + increased costs for materials.

1 in 4 houses in the UK is a cash buy. There is no way 1 in 4 British people can afford to buy a house with cash. Many can't afford to buy at all. If you only allow British citizens to buy houses and only individuals, not put them through companies, you will solve half the problem.

Yes.
It's basic economics.
Supply and demand.
Tomatoes are cheaper in summer.
Rent is lower when there is a greater choice of homes available.

Exactly this. Far too little investment in social housing for decades has led to this. It is beyond me that there isn’t a national social housing building programme, it would save millions in the long term. There shouldn’t be a right to buy social housing either. Instead there should be enough different types of housing built so that larger 3 or 4 bed properties can be freed up for the next generation and those that no longer need larger properties can move to 1 or 2 bed places.

Rents need to come down. Renting is completely unaffordable. My mortgage is <£700 but if I wanted to rent this house out I could ask £1800 a month which is absolutely obscene.

There's nothing you've said I disagree with. I have no beef with landlords as individuals, there are good and bad, but I don't agree with the model we've got in the UK anymore where private rents cost as much as they do and so many are at the mercy of landlords with no other option. I also don't think private landlords should be able to charge as much as they do when it's being funded by UC. If the answer to that is more social housing then so be it.

Yes, I know..

@RedDeadReflection The incentive would be the gain in equity when selling. what gain would the landlords possibly get when rachel reeves has put the tax on it up to 45% when you sell a rental flat?????

Presumably the other 55%.

I don't know what all the ????? are for. I clearly said in my post I don't know what the solution is, other than the current situation is untenable if it continues. We'll be matching London, Dublin and Sydney when it comes to outrageous rental costs.

Well this is the problem, why on earth are tax payers paying for people's housing when they work?!

I was really surprised when my brother told me he's entitled to live in his council house for life (and I think pass it onto his son?). I presumed there'd be some kind of five-year review to see if tenants still qualify and free up council housing for those who need it the most.

Blaming private landlords really isn't the answer. If you try to put on rent caps, even more landlords will sell up and supply will shrink further. My friends who are landlords are thinking about selling up as it is, and, despite having bought their properties more than a decade ago, make a loss most years on the rent less expenses side of things.

Because in lots of areas of the country a single (or sometimes dual income) household working at minimum wage, or even more, is not enough to afford private rents.

I know of plenty of people who get the housing element of UC who work full time in "decent"
Jobs. It's not just people who don't work at all.

Tax credits and UC have allowed employers to pay low wages and landlords to charge high rents.