The joy of being a landlord

Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
For some. Lots of houses being bought everyday.

Prioritise right and you could own your own home, just may need to sacrifice some luxury.
The overall trend shows home ownership in decline, and the average age of first time buyers going up.

Which tells its own story.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2006
Posts
5,277
You've lost me completely, there. People are paying a premium to live in slumlord housing? And that's their choice and their fault?

I have no idea, tbh, where you're going with this.

Whomever is paying billions in housing benefit has decided themselves where to spend those billions.

If the govt wants to improve rental standards it needs to enforce it's own standards or better still supply it's own housing.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,934
Perhaps because they have a perverse incentive to maintain a low priority for housebuilding so they have a higher chance of profiting from it that the political parties are more than happy to oblige with as it keeps the big LL's and banks (both in the process of absorbing the entire market) happy that their assets are growing.

What I don't get is why small timers/casual landlords are taking so long to realise the game is nearly up for them, probably permanently.

The sort of are... they reduced in number a while back IIRC but the number of rental properties didn't fall then as IIRC larger landlords stepped in, now there are slightly fewer rentals too and rent is becoming less affordable for people.

The thing is while it's perhaps not a good time for someone to be a *new* landlord some of the well-established ones can just sit there collecting rent, it might not be the optimal return on their capital, especially if they own most of the equity in their property/properties and prices stagnate or fall but they're not necessarily going to be forced to sell any time soon either if they're already well into the green. On the other hand, people who have over leveraged themselves or new entrants looking to make a quick buck may well find themselves regretting it!
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
Whomever is paying billions in housing benefit has decided themselves where to spend those billions.

If the govt wants to improve rental standards it needs to enforce it's own standards or better still supply it's own housing.
Yeah on that we can agree. The govt of the day could fix these problems by making different choices, but since Thatcher they've all failed to do so.

Councils are currently prohibited from increasing their social housing provision, and Right to Buy is still a thing.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2006
Posts
5,277
Except you can (or could last I checked) buy a heap for £500 and run it into the ground, and this would be fairly cheap motoring.

The equivalent to that does not exist in the housing market.

People aren't "avoiding" home ownership, it's completely out of reach...

I'll bet the heap won't meet the standards you expect if renting a car or getting a taxi.

 
Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2006
Posts
5,277
Yeah on that we can agree. The govt of the day could fix these problems by making different choices, but since Thatcher they've all failed to do so.

Councils are currently prohibited from increasing their social housing provision, and Right to Buy is still a thing.

All of that has nothing to do with landlords.

It's govt policy driving the crisis. It's going to be hard to undo the momentum of 40yrs of govt policy.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
I'll bet the heap won't meet the standards you expect if renting a car or getting a taxi.

In a world where cheap bangers exist, car rentals and taxis have to justify being more expensive.

That doesn't apply to the housing market at all, as I said a couple posts ago. There is no "cheap" housing analogous to the banger.

In fact the "slum" accommodation is likely to be for rent...

It's a completely, utterly different situation.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
All of that has nothing to do with landlords.

It's govt policy driving the crisis. It's going to be hard to undo the momentum of 40yrs of govt policy.
Look, I've said my piece, and we're starting to go round in circles now.

I shall bow out here, just in case one of you lot happens to be my next landlord :p In case the glorious socialist revolution doesn't take off in this dog-eat-dog country :p
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,934
The overall trend shows home ownership in decline, and the average age of first time buyers going up.

Which tells its own story.

Not sure about that

2FM3UcK.png


56.6% in 1980 and 64.3% in 2022, the highest % was 70.9 in 2003 but it's increased in recent years from 62.6% in 2017

Of course, Thatcher allowed people the right to buy their council housing, which provided a great opportunity for them but that hasn't been replaced... as we need to build more homes! Not *just* council housing, focusing on one specific area/type of property or having an irrational chip on your shoulder about landlords, isn't it... but rather we need to build more homes in general.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2006
Posts
5,277
In a world where cheap bangers exist, car rentals and taxis have to justify being more expensive.

That doesn't apply to the housing market at all, as I said a couple posts ago. There is no "cheap" housing analogous to the banger.

In fact the "slum" accommodation is likely to be for rent...

It's a completely, utterly different situation.

By "exist" you mean supply (competition) and demand.

It's supply and market forces demand driving the cost of housing. Landlords control neither. Govt policies on the other hand....
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2006
Posts
5,277
Look, I've said my piece, and we're starting to go round in circles now.

I shall bow out here, just in case one of you lot happens to be my next landlord :p In case the glorious socialist revolution doesn't take off in this dog-eat-dog country :p
It's a global economy. If you want to live where theres socialist revolution you can do that. Pack a big lunch though.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,934
In a world where cheap bangers exist, car rentals and taxis have to justify being more expensive.

That doesn't apply to the housing market at all, as I said a couple posts ago. There is no "cheap" housing analogous to the banger.

That's clearly false too...

If you think of what you could buy for £1, a house is not something that would immediately spring to mind.

But this is the reality for residents in the Webster Triangle area of Wavertree, who signed up to Liverpool City Council's ' Homes for a Pound' scheme.

The flagship project launched in 2015, offered a select number of people the chance to buy dilapidated, derelict and tinned-up homes for just £1 and try and turn them into proper homes.

Other countries have run schemes like that too - for example, Italy in southern towns/villages facing depopulation.

You don't necessarily need a special scheme either there's a well-known phrase that can apply here: "location, location, location".

There is cheap housing in the UK on the open market too but the area it is in may be remote or not desirable for some other reason.

Here is a 2-bedroom terrace house in Shildon, County Durham with an auction guide price of circa 50k, plenty in that area for a similar price:

 
Last edited:

NVP

NVP

Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2007
Posts
12,649
The overall trend shows home ownership in decline, and the average age of first time buyers going up.

Which tells its own story.
If I recall you're older than me by some margin...

Also, it doesn't sound like you can be bothered to attempt it and simply enjoy moaning about it.
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
29,182
Location
Ottakring, Vienna.
Look, I've said my piece, and we're starting to go round in circles now.

I shall bow out here, just in case one of you lot happens to be my next landlord :p In case the glorious socialist revolution doesn't take off in this dog-eat-dog country :p
A socialist revolution where my money and assets get stolen by the government and given out to other people doesn't sound that glorious to me!
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
That's clearly false too...



Other countries have run schemes like that too - for example, Italy in southern towns/villages facing depopulation.

You don't necessarily need a special scheme either there's a well-known phrase that can apply here: "location, location, location".

There is cheap housing in the UK on the open market too but the area it is in may be remote or not desirable for some other reason.

Here is a 2-bedroom terrace house in Shildon, County Durham with an auction guide price of circa 50k, plenty in that area for a similar price:

FYI, a banger is a cheap car, not much to look at, possibly with a bit of rust, but it still runs.

A banger is not a burned-out wreck, or a shell rotting in a yard that needs a new engine and four new wheels and a new windscreen.

Those £1 houses (on one single street in Liverpool) were not habitable.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,934
FYI, a banger is a cheap car, not much to look at, possibly with a bit of rust, but it still runs.

A banger is not a burned-out wreck, or a shell rotting in a yard that needs a new engine and four new wheels and a new windscreen.

Those £1 houses (on one single street in Liverpool) were not habitable.

LOL should have known you'd retrospectively try to narrow what you mean by a banger... generally, it actually means old and in very bad condition! Yes, bangers can require some work too.

You've ignored the fact you can by cheap 2-bedroom terrace houses up north that are perfectly habitable though...
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
LOL should have known you'd retrospectively try to narrow what you mean by a banger... generally, it actually means old and in very bad condition! Yes, bangers can require some work too.

You've ignored the fact you can by cheap 2-bedroom terrace houses up north that are perfectly habitable though...
What I think from your posting, is that you generally have no idea whatsoever how people with little means live. I get the impression you've never been there in your life.

You talk about things with the dismissive air of someone who has never experienced hardship, and thinks it can only happen to people of poor character. But I'll happily wager you have no actual experience of being at the thin end of the wedge.

Students and the low-paid buy bangers to get around, but they don't buy husks to do up themselves unless they have relatively minor problems and/or a friend that can fix them on the cheap. The people buying complete wrecks are the people buying vintage cars and spending an absolute fortune on restoring them.

A shop worker buying a cheap runabout is in no way even slightly similar to buying a delipidated shell of a house which needs extensive and immediate work just to stop the thing collapsing into a pile of rubble. I watched the TV programme about those £1 houses, btw. Quite a few people didn't manage to satisfy the requirements to get them for £1. There were strings attached. They had to have financing in place and complete all work within a set timescale.

It was nowhere near as simple as "buy house for £1, housing crisis solved!"

But I don't expect you to do anything else than dismiss every single issue anybody raises, because you simply can't empathise with anyone below your station.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,934
If I recall you're older than me by some margin...

Also, it doesn't sound like you can be bothered to attempt it and simply enjoy moaning about it.

It seems to be a combo of that and some entitlement issues, he lives in Cornwall (a desirable area) and the reality is that that means competition for homes there both for people who want to live there and for second homes.

Of course, I doubt second home owners will all be scrambling over some random terraced house or flat in one of the cheaper towns but they will be snapping up the ones by the beach etc.

The council can, of course, tax second homes a bit or indeed schemes can be made available for affordable housing but you're not going to satisfy any "blood and soil" esq nationalism of some of the locals who may desire such homes to be only for pure Cornish people by whatever standards they come up with. In reality, such schemes may have a requirement to have been residing in the local area for the previous 5 years say.

I'd agree that more social housing is needed but I disagree that that's *the* solution here, more housing in general is needed. I doubt they're going to build tower blocks in a small fishing village and so some areas will always fetch a premium and not much you can do about that other than, well, get over it. But the government and local authorities ought to allow for way more development in various towns, especially say the building of high-density accommodation near railway stations.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NVP
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,934
Students and the low-paid buy bangers to get around, but they don't buy husks to do up themselves
[...] It was nowhere near as simple as "buy house for £1, housing crisis solved!"

But I don't expect you to do anything else than dismiss every single issue anybody raises, because you simply can't empathise with anyone below your station.

Nah, plenty of people buy bangers and fix them up, just because you're incapable of pulling your thumb out and doing anything for yourself doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

And again you're ignoring that there are also cheap houses that don't require work... they're just in less desirable areas. You made a claim that there was no housing equivalent to bangers, there clearly are, there are undesirable, cheap homes here.

Of course, such a thing is more plentiful in countries like the US, it still doesn't help matters on say a state or county level if say loads of people want to live in California and local authorities there are anti-development... then you have a real issue with the affordability of housing because there is a lack of supply.

It was nowhere near as simple as "buy house for £1, housing crisis solved!"

No one said it was, you claimed there wasn't a housing market equivalent of bangers and you were shown that was clearly false, both via schemes like that house for £1 in Liverpool *and* the existence of cheap housing up north. Your response to that is just pure cope ackchually that's not a banger because [insert excuses] but in reality if we built more homes in this country then there would be plenty more of these "banger" equivalents that you desire (such as the cheap terrace houses up north you're conveniently ignoring). You'd be able to find cheaper, less desirable houses at more affordable prices in more locations if we had sufficient supply and that's what you want as most counties have some naff, less desirable areas. And indeed there would likely be some more incentive for schemes such as the ones in Liverpool and Italy too.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom