The joy of being a landlord

[OpenToSuggestions]

what I actually said was that I should be able to choose not to rent my property to unemployed chavs.

Landlords will just make up another reason, just like employers cannot legally refuse someone a promotion because they got pregnant. There is a big difference between what the law says and what people can prove. Sad, but that is how it is.

I have toyed with the idea of having a BTL but as time goes on it seems less and less appealing. I think my mind was made up when the tax rules changed a few years ago. Then with the no-eviction nonsense during Covid - I wouldn't sleep well if I had a tenant who did not pay. If I was responsible for the house as a landlord (upkeep and mortgage) I would 100% be having a say in who lives there. My risk, my rules.

 

[Mesai]

Isn’t that already a thing?
My agent has always fully photographed my property before any tenant moved in, and also does it on a yearly basis during an inspection.
Maybe my agent is better than some?

90% of property agents are useless - I don't see why a lot of them earn more than minimum wage given the amount of "work" they do.

I'm sure some agents do do it, and if you did it all yourself, you'd be mad not to take pics, but I more meant as an almost legal/process requirement.

 

[413x]

Landlords will just make up another reason, just like employers cannot legally refuse someone a promotion because they got pregnant. There is a big difference between what the law says and what people can prove. Sad, but that is how it is.

I have toyed with the idea of having a BTL but as time goes on it seems less and less appealing. I think my mind was made up when the tax rules changed a few years ago. Then with the no-eviction nonsense during Covid - I wouldn't sleep well if I had a tenant who did not pay. If I was responsible for the house as a landlord (upkeep and mortgage) I would 100% be having a say in who lives there. My risk, my rules.

I also thought it would be an aspiration. But I'm not so sure either. Friends who do have said don't. Especially with ERC thing.

It would be an option for me in 2-3 years time. But at the moment there doesn't seem to be any particularly good places to invest onshore.

 

[StriderX]

Property isn't really an investment either as it's not producing anything to garner a wider benefit to the country, so obviously there aren't any other prospects for domestic investment because it's all tied up in something that does nothing.

 

[adidan]

Now I've sold up the only time I'd consider renting anything out again will either be holiday lets or a field for campers.

It's not worth the hassle renting houses out.

 

[413x]

Now I've sold up the only time I'd consider renting anything out again will either be holiday lets or a field for campers.

It's not worth the hassle renting houses out.

That's my plan!
I'd love to live super rural with a lot of land and a small house and have camping pitches.

Unfortunately it requires a lot of land and probably a lot of regulation. Or the rules will change and make it unprofitable.

 

[platinum87]

Landlords will just make up another reason, just like employers cannot legally refuse someone a promotion because they got pregnant. There is a big difference between what the law says and what people can prove. Sad, but that is how it is.

I have toyed with the idea of having a BTL but as time goes on it seems less and less appealing. I think my mind was made up when the tax rules changed a few years ago. Then with the no-eviction nonsense during Covid - I wouldn't sleep well if I had a tenant who did not pay. If I was responsible for the house as a landlord (upkeep and mortgage) I would 100% be having a say in who lives there. My risk, my rules.

I see a lot of people focus on choosing who you rent to, but ignoring the ban on no fault evictions.

Banning no fault evictions converts the property into a long term bond which is forced to hold to maturity in effect. Risk increases a lot and i expect BTL mortgages to disappear pretty quickly.

I expect the majority of private landlords to be dodgy

 

[NVP]

Not really, with fixed term tenancies.

 

[FoxEye]

So are landlords bad or good?

The housing market is fooked beyond belief, and we're not doing anything to fix the problem.

Private landlords aren't the solution, not even the good ones.

Neither Labour nor the Tories have any kind of plan, and neither have the stomach to take any kind of corrective action.

We'll just watch and watch and watch as the situation gets more and more and more untenable. It's what we do.

 

[Quartz]

Private landlords aren't the solution, not even the good ones.

Rubbish. If you massively increase state housing, people have to suck up to the politicians and profess the right political views and you make private housing rarer. If you massively increase corporate housing you make it more difficult for private citizens to own their own homes.

There is nothing wrong with being a landlord. Being able to let your home is massively useful. Consider the diplomat sent abroad for several years. Or the person working abroad. Or the person working abroad. Or the person working the other end of the country; out of commuting distance, anyway. Do you really want them to not have a home to which to come back? Do you want to force them to sell their home? A house that may have been in their family for generations. Selling a house is neither quick nor cheap.

Private landlords provide flexibility on both sides.

 

[FoxEye]

Rubbish. If you massively increase state housing, people have to suck up to the politicians and profess the right political views and you make private housing rarer. If you massively increase corporate housing you make it more difficult for private citizens to own their own homes.

There is nothing wrong with being a landlord. Being able to let your home is massively useful. Consider the diplomat sent abroad for several years. Or the person working abroad. Or the person working abroad. Or the person working the other end of the country; out of commuting distance, anyway. Do you really want them to not have a home to which to come back? Do you want to force them to sell their home? A house that may have been in their family for generations. Selling a house is neither quick nor cheap.

Private landlords provide flexibility on both sides.

You'll have to explain how council housing is allocated on the basis of political affiliation, because that's entirely illegal as I'm sure you know.
Again, it's not an unknown, untested or brutal Soviet-era policy - it was tried as was very successful in the post-war period, here in the UK. When almost 1/3 of housing was provided by the state, and there was a huge drive - by the state, not by private landlords - to eradicate slum dwellings and increase the standard of UK housing.
Today, as many commentators have said, we are slipping back towards a proliferation of slum dwellings. Mostly peddled by those honest, kind-hearted landlords who all make huge losses to provide a service to humanity.
Right now, home ownership is in steady decline, as the age of first-time buyers is going steadily up.
The status quo is a worsening situation, and we have to try something different.
Adding more private landlords (or making it attractive for landlords to increase their portfolios) doesn't address any of these things.

For every poor underpaid diplomat (my heart bleeds) who needs to supplement his income by renting out his UK house(s), there are a few hundred thousand low-paid workers being shafted by current housing policy. It's a question of priorities. Because I'm not a Tory voter, I don't care to craft housing policy to exclusively benefit the wealthy or even the middle classes. The low-paid would be my priority. Making decent housing a human right would be my goal.
And in any case, if you are a UK citizen and only own 1 UK property I couldn't care less what you do with it. You aren't exactly the problem.
The problem is the BTL landlord, the slum landlord, the opportunist.

The problem is everyone who thinks housing should be a revenue stream for the middle class landlords, and not a human right.

 

[dowie]

No-fault evictions to be banned in reform of rental sector

The government is introducing a new law designed to overhaul the rental sector in England.

www.bbc.co.uk

"The law would also make it illegal for a landlord to refuse tenancies to families with children, or those in receipt of benefits"

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but surely it's up to the LL to choose who they want in their property?

It's a crude filter tbh... some of the worst tenants are more likely to be on benefits so some landlords just go down the no DSS route and exclude all of them to save the hassle. Making that illegal doesn't mean they couldn't conduct background checks or ask for references etc.

They do need to make sure that bad tenants can be evicted swiftly though, (ideally, you need local councils to be able to be more productive here too re: having emergency accomodaiton available) it does seem like a total farce at the moment where some tenants can not only not pay rent but also basically trash a house/flat and the landlord ends up having to go to high court enforcement officers even after securing an eviction... because of some messed up system where the local councils will often only rehome people once they've been physically evicted.

Really, things like right to buy should neve have happened.

Local councils should own a load of Property to be able to help control rent and also provide those who need with a basic home with low cost rental.

That would probably nearly fix the issue.
Private landlords would have to be competitive. Local councils would bring in some extra income. A deluge of private landlords leaving wouldnt drive existing rentals up so much.

Probably wouldn't unless you fix the supply issue too. Also if scrapping the right to buy then this stuff needs additional reform too like means testing and stopping people from passing it on etc.

Private landlords aren't the solution, not even the good ones.

Clearly false, people need rented accommodation and that requires there to be some private landlords... Of course that doesn't negate that more homes in general for people who want to buy and indeed more social housing is needed.

This is a general supply issue.

 

[NVP]

The housing market is fooked beyond belief, and we're not doing anything to fix the problem.

We'll just watch and watch and watch as the situation gets more and more and more untenable. It's what we do.

The problem is the BTL landlord, the slum landlord, the opportunist.

You know what would help? Moaning. Really useful trait, that.

Blaming the housing market issue in this country on landlords is ignorant nonsense, as has been pointed out multiple times in this very thread.

Either way, you carry on watching whilst others utilise.

 

[Quartz]

You'll have to explain how council housing is allocated on the basis of political affiliation, because that's entirely illegal as I'm sure you know.

It's very simple: you make yourself known to your local councillor, or their party, make sure you volunteer etc "I can't afford party membership but I can give some of my time...." and when you need accommodation you ask for their help. Preferably not in writing. Job done.

The problem is the BTL landlord, the slum landlord, the opportunist.

There are bad council officers too. Humans are humans.

 

[dowie]

You'll have to explain how council housing is allocated on the basis of political affiliation, because that's entirely illegal as I'm sure you know.

Every so often there are stories that make you wonder, like this bomb maker who bagged a council house in Islington while serving time:

Corbyn 'helped jailed IRA bomb-making pal net cushy council flat'

JEREMY Corbyn helped his IRA bomb-making pal bag a cushy council flat after he was released from jail, according to reports. Gerard McLaughlin and his fiancee Val Cardwell skipped the 12,000-strong…

www.thesun.co.uk

JEREMY Corbyn helped his IRA bomb-making pal bag a cushy council flat after he was released from jail, according to reports.
Gerard McLaughlin and his fiancee Val Cardwell skipped the 12,000-strong queue for the flat in the Georgian terrace in Islington, North London, in December 1983.
The Derry-born IRA terrorist had just been released from a four-year sentence for possession of equipment capable of making radio-controlled bombs - similar to those used in the devastating Hyde Park attack.
While in jail, McLaughlin had glorified the 1982 bombings, which killed 11 people including four members of the Royal Household Cavalry.
As a result of the attack, hate was continuing to grow against the IRA - with McLaughlin desperate to leave his home in South Wales, The Daily Mail reports.
The couple moved in to the flat, now worth £500,000, in December after Val applied under her name while McLaughlin was still banged up.

Also apparently landed a publicly funded job courtesy of Corbyn too.

 

[StriderX]

Every so often there are stories that make you wonder, like this bomb maker who bagged a council house in Islington while serving time:

Corbyn 'helped jailed IRA bomb-making pal net cushy council flat'

JEREMY Corbyn helped his IRA bomb-making pal bag a cushy council flat after he was released from jail, according to reports. Gerard McLaughlin and his fiancee Val Cardwell skipped the 12,000-strong…

www.thesun.co.uk

Also apparently landed a publicly funded job courtesy of Corbyn too.

Not that it's unique to any one party, but I sincerely doubt it's more than a few cases at best across the country and even it were more housing would stop it being an issue.

 

[LeeUK]

Move council housing back into the control of councils. Round my area all the council housing was offloaded to some large housing association a number of years ago. This HA have recently built a new head office worth £millons and the CEO drives around in a new Bentley. While half the housing stock are in major disrepair including 50 year old kitchens and bathrooms which are not fit for purpose.

 

[Welshman]

Move council housing back into the control of councils. Round my area all the council housing was offloaded to some large housing association a number of years ago. This HA have recently built a new head office worth £millons and the CEO drives around in a new Bentley. While half the housing stock are in major disrepair including 50 year old kitchens and bathrooms which are not fit for purpose.

And you think councils would do a better job loooking after them……theres a reason they got 50yr old kitchens and bathrooms, because the council couldnt afford to replace them. Just because the ceo drives a bentley, doesnt mean the HA has money for renewing the assets.

Also HAs can borrow money against the asssets, where as councils cant……

 

[StriderX]

And you think councils would do a better job loooking after them……theres a reason they got 50yr old kitchens and bathrooms, because the council couldnt afford to replace them. Just because the ceo drives a bentley, doesnt mean the HA has money for renewing the assets.

Also HAs can borrow money against the asssets, where as councils cant……

Yeah but there'd be less pretentious pricks getting the ol' nepotist handshake merely so the council can sidestep accountability whilst still paying the council leader ridiculous sums of money for rubberstamping central government diktat.

 

[Welshman]

Yeah but there'd be less pretentious pricks getting the ol' nepotist handshake merely so the council can sidestep accountability whilst still paying the council leader ridiculous sums of money for rubberstamping central government diktat.

Doesnt help the tenants though does it…..if council cant afford the up keep of the properties, it helps no one. At least HAs can borrow against the housing stock and try and make good of the disrepairs.