Ban new home sales to foreign nationals...

[Rotty]

I can believe it - there are roughly 30 new build houses and 2 blocks of flats built in a former field behind my house - the large majority have been bought and rented out while I don't have exact figures every person I know that lives there has a foreign landlord.

may be the case in London but the quote claims 9/10 in UK which is blatantly bull**** , round here the amount is roughly zero

 

[Fishbait]

The house next door to us is owned by a company registered in Bermunda. There hasn't been anyone living in it for years and the owners don't seem to care. I wish I had that kind of money. It's such a shame, it could be a lovely family home.

I have no idea what the solution is. We somehow need to get people out of the mindset that houses are investments and into the mindset that they're homes. I don't know whether that can get done through new laws.

Saw this some time ago, (old) list on a map of places owned by offshore companies.
I knew there'd be a load, but it surprised me that there's some even in tiny out of the way places.

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/registry

 

[adolf hamster]

Surely if the problem is buildings sitting empty as an investment then the law shouldnt be banning who can buy property, but what people must do with property they own.

For example for new builds it could be stipulated that they must be made available for sale or rent if they're not in use for a sufficient amount of time.

Ie if you buy it and dont live in it yourself you've got to let someone else have the chance. Would eliminate the problem of forgeign and domestic investors just sitting on empty properties but still allow foreign nationals to buy new houses to live in if they so require.

 

[Caged]

I'm currently working on a very exclusive development (cheapest studio is 850k) in central london and in a meeting with the client even they estimated only 20% of the properties will be lived in.
The other 80% will be bought by foreign nationals as either personal investments, investment fund properties or to simply say they own an apartment in x.
Every part of the plant I've designed has been concessed down from the design capacity that the building should have. If they ever have more than 30% occupation - they're screwed!

Frankly these sorts of developments should never get planning approval. It's the same with the stuff going up in docklands - thousands of people living in an area served by two roads and no parking spaces - because everybody knows they are just being built as a way for people to launder or hide some cash.

 

[The_Abyss]

Surely if the problem is buildings sitting empty as an investment then the law shouldnt be banning who can buy property, but what people must do with property they own.

For example for new builds it could be stipulated that they must be made available for sale or rent if they're not in use for a sufficient amount of time.

Ie if you buy it and dont live in it yourself you've got to let someone else have the chance. Would eliminate the problem of forgeign and domestic investors just sitting on empty properties but still allow foreign nationals to buy new houses to live in if they so require.

As a nation we are breathtakingly poor at upholding laws such as this. The vast majority would carry on as normal while HMRC would crow about the huge savings they'd made to the taxpayer by managing to find 1% of these properties.

 

[Semple]

We somehow need to get people out of the mindset that houses are investments and into the mindset that they're homes. I don't know whether that can get done through new laws.

The problem is is that they're both (although not a short term investment).

The biggest issue in this country, and a prime reason people wish to buy rather than rent, is that the rental market is not controlled. There is no security with rental. If you take out a mortgage for 25-35 years, you're going to know how much you're paying back each month (+/- X% points depending on interest rates). Apart from demand, there's nothing preventing rent prices shooting up to 2-3+ times over the next 35 years. Which means person A has finished paying off his mortgage, and no longer has an expense for rental/mortgage payments. Whereas person B is paying half their salary for a rental property until the day they die.

Houses are homes, but they're also a long term investment.

 

[VincentHanna]

The problem is is that they're both (although not a short term investment).

The biggest issue in this country, and a prime reason people wish to buy rather than rent, is that the rental market is not controlled. There is no security with rental. If you take out a mortgage for 25-35 years, you're going to know how much you're paying back each month (+/- X% points depending on interest rates). Apart from demand, there's nothing preventing rent prices shooting up to 2-3+ times over the next 35 years. Which means person A has finished paying off his mortgage, and no longer has an expense for rental/mortgage payments. Whereas person B is paying half their salary for a rental property until the day they die.

Houses are homes, but they're also a long term investment.

From the Labour manifesto:

Private renters
We will end insecurity for private renters by introducing controls on rent rises, more secure tenancies, landlord licensing and new consumer rights for renters.

Soaring rents are a real problem – leading to more families living in temporary accommodation, more people sleeping rough, and many not having enough money to save up for a deposit or for a rainy day.

Labour will make new three-year tenancies the norm, with an inflation cap on rent rises. Given the particular pressures in London, we will look at giving the Mayor the power to give renters in London additional security. We will legislate to ban letting agency fees for tenants.

We will also empower tenants to call time on bad landlords by giving renters new consumer rights. Renters are spending £9.6 billion a year on homes that the government classes as ‘non-decent’. Around a quarter of this is paid by housing benefit. A Labour government would introduce new legal minimum standards to ensure properties are ‘fit for human habitation’ and empower tenants to take action if their rented homes are sub-standard.

 

[Dis86]

Surely if the problem is buildings sitting empty as an investment then the law shouldnt be banning who can buy property, but what people must do with property they own.

For example for new builds it could be stipulated that they must be made available for sale or rent if they're not in use for a sufficient amount of time.

Ie if you buy it and dont live in it yourself you've got to let someone else have the chance. Would eliminate the problem of forgeign and domestic investors just sitting on empty properties but still allow foreign nationals to buy new houses to live in if they so require.

The problem with that though is they'll intentionally set prohibitive rental rates. They're living within the law then...if not necessarily the spirit.

 

[Tone1979]

ewww, I agree with a Tory policy.

I am going to scrub myself with bleach.

 

[Luckystrike123]

I'm not too sure about targetting foreigners as these "mega rich" people spend an absolute fortune when visiting.

I feel that more of a problem is unoccupied homes, whether second homes, those languishing in probate, or abandoned. Doing something about these properties would do more to improve the housing situation without being a xenophobic policy.

 

[Yaayuh!]

How about implementing a system whereby certain residential property cannot be owned by a company. Make it so houses and individual flats etc must be owned by an individual or individuals and for each property on top there is extra tax applied. That way, one person cannot own many properties through a set of companies, avoid tax and buy up everything.
That's a fag-paper idea that I'm sure has many flaws and issues, but you get my thinking.

 

[Maccapacca]

Being in the industry the response developers have is that the British don't have a long enough investment view, very few are willing to sign up to an apartment today that will be ready in 2020+. Overseas investors are happy with this. That's why they are marketed overseas years before construction has even started.

 

[VincentHanna]

ewww, I agree with a Tory policy.

I am going to scrub myself with bleach.

Nevermind, thought you were referring to my quote.

 

[Jamauk]

Being in the industry the response developers have is that the British don't have a long enough investment view, very few are willing to sign up to an apartment today that will be ready in 2020+. Overseas investors are happy with this. That's why they are marketed overseas years before construction has even started.

Perhaps that would be the easiest way to stop it then, rather than banning foreign nationals buying them, stop the advertising overseas until they are completed. That could although have quite the negative impact on the UK economy and house prices.

 

[Panos]

Well, 'foreign nationals' doesn't mean foreign investors. It means UK residents couldn't buy home without naturalisation. Madness. Pure madness.

Yep.

I'm not a fan of the Torys, but this one seems to talk a lot of sense IMO:

''Foreign nationals should be banned from buying more than 50% of homes, a Conservative MP has proposed. South Croydon MP Chris Philp says the cap would help meet the Government’s target of 300,000 homes a year and ensure more new homes end up with first-time buyers. It comes after stats revealed as many as nine in 10 new homes in the UK were going to overseas buyers.''

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/ban-foreign-nationals-buying-new-houses-says-tory-mp/

You condone racism then? The Tory MP wrote "'Foreign nationals should be banned from buying more than 50% of homes".
Everything else is an extrapolation of what he means.

 

[Panos]

Being in the industry the response developers have is that the British don't have a long enough investment view, very few are willing to sign up to an apartment today that will be ready in 2020+. Overseas investors are happy with this. That's why they are marketed overseas years before construction has even started.

Exactly. This is called investment!

Cannot understand, how the biggest pillar of capitalism, is been targeted by a what could be called right wing government. Except they have no clue what they talk about, and given everything else they do, leaves me that understanding.

 

[UTmaniac]

Preventing overseas individuals and businesses from buying UK homes, while supply exceeds demand, is only the tip of the iceberg.

Ban families from buying further homes to rent out, if they already have rental properties. A huge amount of rental properties in Southampton, especially in student-ville, are owned by Singhs. I'm not upset they are owned by people of Indian origin, I'm upset that they are profiteering from a basic right to have a roof over your head, which then gives them more money to buy more rental homes as house prices continue to rise. Currently, the dice are very loaded against first time buyers.

Once a home has had enough rental income to cover its mortgage and upkeep, should the rent be capped, to stop people using rental homes as businesses?

Too many landlords are getting away with not upkeeping rental homes to a decent standard, while charging silly high rent, effectively trapping would-be first time buyers in the rental market because they cannot save enough deposit... Which will mean they will pay more for a shoddy rental home over ~30 years than if they had been able to get a mortgage.

 

[TheGentry]

the rich get richer

 

[Glanza]

Surely this is only happening in certain areas, I really can't imagine any foreign investor buying up homes in my area for example.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Surely this is only happening in certain areas, I really can't imagine any foreign investor buying up homes in my area for example.

I assume it occurs where it's most profitable and/or convenient.