The housing crisis, a ticking bomb

[MrsVidic]

Hi, I work in the housing sector and to be quite Frank I'm worried that the lack of affordable housing is just the tip of the ice berg in the crisis. I work in supported housing and our referrals have gone through the roof! What is going to happen? The denand is so much higher than the supply?

edwardo - if tennants had more rights you would have no landlords and no rental properties. its risky enough already and is not as lucrative as many people think - especially if you have a dodgy tennant who trashes the place or owes you rent.

Having been a tenant for 25 years with private landlords I think that both tenants and landlords need more protection.

The current situation of typical 6 - 12 month shorthold tenancy agreements is rubbish but it is also bad that landlords have so little protection from tenants who fail to pay rent or trash their property.

Bottom line is that residential renting should be like commercial renting with a minimum 5 year term and the right to sublet if you need to leave early.

dreaminofsun utter nonsense. Tenants have far more rights in the US, Germany etc. they can even redecorate! and have pets! and sublet!

Those countries all have active rental markets with professional landlords and in fact it's far more normal to rent, and not seen as second-best as it here.

hogsback - perhaps the cost of property is lower and the returns (rental) are better in those countries.

a tennant who redecorates is a joy. no way would i agree to subletting - you would have absolutely no control over who moved in.

we would stop letting anyway...obviously couldn't speak for other landlords

beenbeta- they do have protection! They can evict them and keep the deposit.
Also re:council houses, there are long waiting lists because some people dont have access to the private sector (deposit/previous history/pets/DCs) and some people want security of tenure, which you get in the public but not private sector.

niceguy- you are right in that the solution is wage inflation to 'catch up' with house price inflation. I think that is inevitable, the question is 'how long will it take?'

Dreaming of sun- if tenants had more rights you wouldn't have 'no' landlords you'd have no 'rouge' landlords. But people should be encouraged to move out of oversized properties.

Paul88- I agree about getting rid of the London weightings. We need to decentralise the economy and be like almost every other country in the world which has different cities for different functions eg finance, politics, media, culture etc

Hogsback- The UK actually has less urban sprawl than USA eg if London had the urban sprawl of Los Angeles then it would stretch from Brighton to Cambridge! it is the restrictive planning laws that have caused this. Our 'green' belts aren't actually good for the environment as they mean people commute further to work.

For some reason British people like to live in houses with a garden instead of flats, as most other global urban families do. I dont know why this is.

"they do have protection! They can evict them and keep the deposit."

The deposit is pretty cold comfort when a tenant does thousands of pounds worth of damage, and buggers off owing 6 months rent and having cost you large amounts in eviction costs.

Agreed. There is not really enough protection for either landlords or tenants.

TBH, the mortgage industry cause part of the problem. They are very reluctant to lend on any property where a tenant has any right of tenure. They want an absolute right to kick a tenant out at a moments notice if the mortgage is not paid.

In my view tenants should be allowed to stay in a property until the end of their tenancy as long as they keep paying the rent to the mortgage company - even if the landlord defaulted. In fact, as a tenant, I would much prefer to be paying my rent to the mortgage company so I am sure the mortgage is beig paid by my rent and not just being kept by the landlord. That would give tenants and mortgage companies more security.

"For some reason British people like to live in houses with a garden instead of flats, as most other global urban families do. I dont know why this is. confused"

Because children need space to play. In some areas parks are full of broken glass, condoms, dog mess and antisocial youths.Transport to the seaside/countyside is expensive and not everyone can afford to run a car.Other active hobbies are expensive too.

Poor kids in flats in urban areas are cooped up and this isn't healthy. There are a lot of cars on residential streets now making them less safe places to play out. More poor children are killed in road accidents than affluent ones. Outside space would a necessary feature of decent housing in this country IMO. Can't speak for the urban landscape/situation in other countries as I don't have enough knowledge to make a comparison.

child poverty and accidents

With reference to the talk of other countries, As far as I am aware in Germany they have 100 year mortgages which makes the properties more affordable. The idea being that the house is passed onto family when the owner dies and the family continue to pay the mortgage. Not too sure how this would work over here though

I hadn't heard that about Germany but I do know the percentage of people renting is much higher than the UK. Tenants have a good security of tenure as long as they pay the rent as agreed.

Germany has also had very lttle house price inflation in the last 10 years.

Many people rent when they are young and middle aged before buying a piece of land in the country to build a house on.