Renters rights

sazz1

Hopefully housing associations will buy some to help the housing crisis. Starmer may put a time limit on selling empty properties and compulsory purchase you never know......

In April this year a time limit was issued on selling empty properties. Is called the empty property premium and means that if a property is left empty for longer than a year the owner must pay at least double the council tax each month, rising to treble the council tax if longer than 2 years.
Talking to an estate agent whilst looking for a property in Brighton he said that the reason we could see so many rental properties for sale on rightmove was because small landlords are getting out before they are penalised even more.
Some are assured tenancies being sold as a going concern but interest in these is at an all time low. And some are being sold to be converted back into a private dwelling.
Either way this is a really bad time for small time private landlords, and tenants who are seeing an ever dwindling stock of rental properties.
If Rayner wants to provide more affordable housing she should be making it easier for small time landlords as well as the tenants.

If renting is so full of pitfalls, why do people do it?

Hopefully housing associations will buy some to help the housing crisis. Starmer may put a time limit on selling empty properties and compulsory purchase you never know......

The problem for landlords is that it’s not all profit, you may get good tenants and the place does not need redecorating between tenants, or long term tenants who pay the rent on time, very often you don’t!.
Then you pay income tax on the rent and CGT on the sale of the property, in between you have any mortgage you have on the property and agents fees. With short term tenants agents fees are significant, never let to friends, they are the ones that are going to trash the place.

Been there, done that, it really is not worth the hassle. If you are willing to be a tough professional with a dozen or more properties you might make money.

fluttERBY123

Does anyone have an answer to this?Let's assume:-
There are x number of homes in the country. Some are owner occupied and some are rented. All are occupied. Big panic and the landlords sell up. Who to? If so who moves in? Someone who was previously renting? Renters have nowhere to rent? First time buyers can't afford a mortgage? My question is what happens to the homes renters sell and who do they sell to?¹

They get market value for them when they sell to renters, and as speculators, landlords know that just as markets can push up prices and make landlords a fortune, they can also make prices fall and lose them money. The chances are that house prices will fall for a while if the market is flooded as the rental/owner occupier balance shifts. On the whole, though, unless someone has only recently invested in property they will still be sitting on a profit, even if it's not as high as they'd come to expect.

Meanwhile, renters get a chance to buy a home more cheaply than before, and remaining landlords have to lower the rents to attract new tenants. They (landlords) will still make on the deal as property almost always rises in value over time, but they might lose the double bonus that they've been used to - that of high rents paying the mortgage with some left over as well as the appreciation in value when they come to sell.

So, win win, really.

Very different rules re selling here. Tenants have to be given a few weeks notice and then they have to leave. Many , probably most, leave very quickly.

We are able to rent out our family home as my DH's has a job with tied accommodation. We will have to return to the family home at some point.

Our latest tenants have left recently. Because of the state that they left it in we are having to pay out several thousands of pounds in repairs. Their deposit will cover hardly any of it.

We are not greedy landlords and were charging well under the going rate.

It was so upsetting to see our family home so uncared for.

We have been renters in the past due to my DH's job. We always left the house in a better state than we found it. I suppose people have different standards when it comes to cleanliness etc.

I am so worried about our what our next tenants will turn out like. We use an agent so hopefully we will get someone decent. We used an agent last time though. They said they did inspections but the tenants made an effort to clean and tidy before the agent arrived.

I also agree that it should be up to the landlord to decide if he wants pets or not.

At the moment things seem unfairly favoured towards the tenants. Most landlords don't have a property empire but the bad landlords are making it harder for the decent ones.

Those who have HMOs, for private letting to students or others, can make very handsome profits very easily.

When my daughter went to Brighton Uni she didn’t make it into halls, she was directed by the Uni to go to some particular estate agents and her first room in a rented house was truly quite awful! A semi detached house, with every room, bar the kitchen and tiny adjoining conservatory (meant to be used as a living area, not big enough for a table to eat at and two pretty shabby sofas) so two people staying downstairs and three upstairs, each paying £500 per month plus all bills.

This was a bus journey away from Uni and damp and was at least 6 years ago.

icanhandthemback

Maybe the Council can stop telling tenants that they should stay until the eviction notice or they will make themselves homeless where there are good reasons for the recovery of the house. Personally, I think that is immoral.

I completely agree, it’s not good for the landlord and even worse for the tenants.

It might not be "traditional" work but renting out a property is very time consuming!

icanhandthemback

growstuff

JenniferEccles

Buying property to rent out certainly isn’t a ‘get rich quick’ scheme.
Although there have been some years of rapid growth, it’s necessary to see it as a long term investment for some point in the future, to provide an income in retirement for instance.

It also provides an asset ie. wealth.

It only really becomes wealth when you sell it, whereupon you are charged quite heavily for any profit you have made. To buy that asset you pay more for stamp duty than anybody else buying property. It is hardly a get rich quick scheme.

I didn't claim it's a "get rich quick" scheme. However, property is an asset and assets can be used to provide income without having to do traditional work.

growstuff

JenniferEccles

Buying property to rent out certainly isn’t a ‘get rich quick’ scheme.
Although there have been some years of rapid growth, it’s necessary to see it as a long term investment for some point in the future, to provide an income in retirement for instance.

It also provides an asset ie. wealth.

It only really becomes wealth when you sell it, whereupon you are charged quite heavily for any profit you have made. To buy that asset you pay more for stamp duty than anybody else buying property. It is hardly a get rich quick scheme.

I'm glad my landlord didn't read your comment nanna8. I've lived in the same rented house for 10 years and he's never had any grounds for accusing me of trashing it. However, he would have been pushed to earn about £100,000 over the 10 years anywhere else.

I wouldn’t rent a property out, too many horror stories. I have friends who did and they say it is very,very difficult to get rid of bad tenants who trash their houses. All the rules are supporting the renters. In the end they had to sell the property to get them out. At this stage that is allowed but who knows what could happen in the future ?

JenniferEccles

Buying property to rent out certainly isn’t a ‘get rich quick’ scheme.
Although there have been some years of rapid growth, it’s necessary to see it as a long term investment for some point in the future, to provide an income in retirement for instance.

It also provides an asset ie. wealth.

Buying property to rent out certainly isn’t a ‘get rich quick’ scheme.
Although there have been some years of rapid growth, it’s necessary to see it as a long term investment for some point in the future, to provide an income in retirement for instance.

Rosie51

growstuff

Rosie51

Somebody has to own the house in order for it to be available to be rented. Not everyone can or wants to buy a house. Where do you think students are going to live if there are no houses available to rent?
I don't own any property to rent out, just for clarity.

In university-owned accommodation maybe.

How many universities own enough accommodation to house every student? Certainly with my own children, nephews and nieces and a grandson, none have been able to secure university owned accommodation beyond the first year.
What about non-university people, where should they find a place to rent? There isn't enough social housing for all, so private rentals are required.

Well, they should! They've been forced to recruit more students (especially overseas ones) to balance their books. When they make those kind of decisions, they need to factor in accommodation and plan for new building. The local market can't absorb a huge increase in numbers.

Allira

Rosie51

I see Allira had made the point about halls of residence already, I didn't refresh the page before typing.

That's OK!

A couple of years ago, students studying at a university near here were sent to accommodation nearly 30 miles away because there was insufficient for all of the first year students.
Not a good experience for first years.

No, it's not, but that's more to do with universities having their recruitment caps lifted. I don't really understand how taking housing out of the market for selling to increase the number of units available for students improves the housing situation generally. Unless universities build more of their own housing (or subcontract to organisations who will build new), all it does is push up the price of homes for sale.

Boz

Where are Councils going to get the money to build Social Housing? Many LA's have handed the problem over to Housing Associations.
Some enterprising guy has bought up an old office block and converted to little flats which are now being criticised for being too small and poky for a family. You can't win.
The problem is family lets. People don't seem to want to let for people who might have a lot of children and pets.
Everything come back to money.

My local council set up its own independent not-for-profit housing association and has borrowed the money to build social housing. Apparently, that's within the rules for councils.

Boz

Where are Councils going to get the money to build Social Housing? Many LA's have handed the problem over to Housing Associations.
Some enterprising guy has bought up an old office block and converted to little flats which are now being criticised for being too small and poky for a family. You can't win.
The problem is family lets. People don't seem to want to let for people who might have a lot of children and pets.
Everything come back to money.

I agree with you too Cossy.

Steelygran

I agree with Mollygo and Ilovedogs22. Everyone should have the right to safe, warm, affordable shelter. We need to get back to houses being somewhere for people to live, rather than an investment or "get rich quick" scheme. As I see it, the only way forward is a huge scale social house building scheme.

👏👏👏😊

We lived in California for a year, my parents let our family home, via The Armed Forces. They were meant to inspect every three months and leave the house as they found it and they did nothing.

When we returned home the house and sofas stank of (human) urine.

Some carpets and furniture had to be replaced and it was most upsetting to know our lovely family home had been mistreated.

On the flip side, I have friends who’ve had to move several times, with small children, because Landlords needed the properties back (two to sell, two to give to family)

It’s a hard balance.

Where are Councils going to get the money to build Social Housing? Many LA's have handed the problem over to Housing Associations.
Some enterprising guy has bought up an old office block and converted to little flats which are now being criticised for being too small and poky for a family. You can't win.
The problem is family lets. People don't seem to want to let for people who might have a lot of children and pets.
Everything come back to money.

Ilovedogs22

I'm not sure I agree with people buying- up property to rent out! When we were selling our little terrace a while ago a load of nun's came a calling, wanting to potentially buy said house to rent -out to the university students up the road. It just seemed odd / un-christian even, to want to make money out of people's basic human need for shelter. 🤔

I hope you have the same opinion of the Church of England who have a property portfolio of almost £2 Billion
I grew up in a house owned by the church.
We couldn’t use 2 of the rooms because of the damp.