Cameron's Christmas message

Copied and pasted, more like. Looks more impressive than a link.

Just horrible. They'll take money for tenants with no obligation to ensure that the tenants are in safe, habitable house. I think they should also be obliged by law to do whatever they can to improve the energy efficiency of their properties as well, as huge numbers of tenants are living in fuel poverty.
We downsized and now let out our "main residence' and want to keep it in the same condition it was when we lived in it. I can't imagine wanting to do anything else.
But for the hard-headed landlord... When property prices are high, and rising there is no financial incentive to maintain property - as it still goes up in value. And when there is a shortage of property, as there is in some areas, then unscrupulous landlords can rent disgusting housing to desperate people.
It's in their interests to have a housing crisis in fact.

There must be a reason they voted against it ( they won't be getting much rent for a hovel will they?)

It seems that individual LAs have the power to deal with any problems with rented property conditions.

Are you really that naive, roses?
Can you think of a good reason for them voting against it, other than the fact that they do not need to bother about the houses they rent out?

I remember when we had the guest house in York, that one of the guests was telling me he was a builder, and was coming up North because there was a housing estate in Middlesborough for sale by auction, starting at £1 a house. He was hoping to get at least 500 of them to rent out. I felt like kicking him out of the guest house.
No idea what happened.

As I said, Local Authorities already have powers to crack down on rogue landlords and insist on rental properties being fit for habitation.

The vote was against a stalling technique amendment proposed by Labour.

I doubt that is the reason at all djen possibly more of 'an Englishman's home is his castle' and not wanting to be nannied. The image you prefer is of the evil landlord rubbing his hands as he takes the last penny from a tenant in a rat invested tenement.

Thanks Ana I knew there would be a sensible reason.

How was it a stalling technique, Ana? Please explain. That is not a sensible reason, it's just a statement that has not been justified.

It's self-explanatory.

Are you disputing the fact that Local Authorities already have powers to crack down on rogue landlords and insist on rental properties being fit for habitation?

They do not have the money to take landlords to court. The Tories have made sure of that.

In the light of huge cuts to their budgets, some local authorities might choose not to impose regulations because it will give them more responsibility, require higher staffing levels and consequently cost more money. In areas where there is a lot of rented housing and problem landlords, I think it is more likely that a council will introduce such measures as they need to represent the many people who are affected by sub-standard housing. I suspect that in areas where the majority of people have above average incomes, the much smaller number of people who are being exploited by landlords are of less concern to their councillors.

rosesarered You seem to take a very amused approach to the notion that this country has a problem with rogue landlords. This is an extract from an article in the Sunday Express in 2012:

"We uncovered cases in which people were living in filthy, mouldy and damp housing without access to heating or hot water.

"We saw homes with rat droppings, and blocks of flats where soiled and grimy communal toilets, baths and showers had no locks and were out of order.

"One 64-year-old ex-serviceman died from carbon monoxide poisoning after using a faulty heater because his gas supply was out. His inquest was told he had recurrent problems with his boiler.

"We visited 15 dwellings operated by Dave Wells Properties which generates £10million in rent a year in southern England.

"Founder Mr Wells, who lives in Sandbanks, Dorset, known for some of the most expensive property in Britain, went to jail for three years in 1974 for ­conspiring to ­pervert the course of justice.

"In one of his properties, a bedsit in Bournemouth, a 24-year-old ex‑soldier was living amid rat ­droppings and mould. He had no hot water and his heater was ­broken. There was a shared shower for six bedsits that was out of order.He said: “I wear my coat and jumper to bed it’s so cold. I can’t get a girlfriend because I could never bring her back and my ­prospects for work are harder because I can’t wash properly.”

"In another of the same landlord’s block of flats, a resident said he had not had enough water pressure to have a shower for nine years, despite complaints. In one of his bedsits, the ­communal bath was broken and a family who cleaned their child in a washing-up bowl had to pay extra for showers."

You won't have to look very far to find similar reports.

Yup a friend of mine nearly died because her oil boiler was kicking out carbon monoxide. Landlords are supposed to have a gas safety check but no other regulations. And yes there would be a cost to regulation.

It seems right wingers live in a different world where the givernment cares fir the vulnerable, there is no increase in homeless, food banks, everyone forced to work in zero hours contract jobs are happy bunnies and Cameron our Christian PM cares for the poor

Not so Eloethan you say that ' I take an amused approach to the notion that there is a problem with rogue landlords' when actually I take an amused approach to the notion that djen thinks the list of Conservative MP's that she printed are rogue landlords'. A big difference.

anniebach you must be aware that we had a Labour government not very long ago, and there were homeless people, food banks etc then.

Everybody on here who is not a socialist ( the majority I would think) is called a 'right winger' by you, which echoes what Team Corbyn is calling moderate Labour MP's right now.Corbyn used to be labelled ' a friendly Trot'
In Westminster, I doubt they think he is friendly now.

Rosesarered, there has always been poverty but under this government it is rapidly increasing. Yes I refer to right wingers just as you refer to the few here are to the left

The difference is, that you and djen seem to think that even Labour voters and Lib Dems are right wingers, which is exactly what Corbyn and his cohorts think ( and is wrong.)

I'm a Labour/LibDem voter and I don't think that of Annie and jen . But I am confused by right wing comments by people who profess to be Labour/LibDem voters.

Are you saying that Blair was not right wing, roses? He is most definitely not a socialist.

By the way, I know lots of Labour voters who are not right wing. Where do you get your ideas from?

"At least 73 of the MPs who rejected proposals to ensure rented homes are “fit for human habitation” are themselves residential landlords...
The Roll of shame- these M.P.s voted for slums and against the measure and had recorded “Income derived from property: over £10,000 in a calendar year”:"

RESIDENTIAL landlords, not ROGUE landlords. I can tell the difference even if you can't.

Isn't it possible to have more moderate views than extreme left or extreme right? That area is probably where the majority of UK voters actually are, and why there is so much effort put into trying to swing them one way or another at election time.

No doubt that is a jibe intended for me Tegan as I have said on the forum that I am a LibDem voter ( probably the only one who has) so at least have the courage to say it to me by name.
the fact that you don't see that a few others on the forum are very left wing, leaves me baffled! Maybe there are others too on here with socialist leanings, and why not, we all have our own political views.
Right wing comments? Thinking that sink estates should be improved?
All LibDems may not think in the way that you do ( or I do) it's a broad church as they say.Neither do I think that all the Tories do is bad simply because they are Tories, nor do I think that all they do is good, and when Labour were in power, the same applied to them.I am not narrow or rigid in my political thinking.

Of course Blair was not a socialist djen who said he was? we have never had a socialist government.As a matter of fact, I sometimes wonder where you get your ideas from as well ( the little red book?)