A lot of landlords quit when they made it less attractive from a tax perspective, then a lot more left during covid. Covid also completely broke the normal annual cycle. Are we surprised that August/September, when hundreds of thousands of people leave or move home, is a blood bath?
Landlords leeching off society. It’s a big part of the reason house prices are so high.
Maybe we need the return of four penny coffins – probably would be a fiver now due to inflation.
At some point the housing crisis will reach a real breaking point. More and more people are going to simply be unable to find housing because there simply aren’t enough to go around, and paying half of your salary for one will become the norm.
“Roads are made, streets are made, services are improved, electric light turns night into day, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains — all the while the landlord sits still. Every one of those improvements is affected by the labor and cost of other people and the taxpayers. To not one of these improvements does the land monopolist contribute, and yet, by every one of them the value of his land is enhanced. He renders no service to the community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare, he contributes nothing to the process from which his own enrichment is derived…The unearned increment on the land is reaped by the land monopolist in exact proportion, not to the service, but to the disservice done.”
— Winston Churchill, 1909
Rent is a tax poor people pay to the rich just to live in society.
but in the next Guardian article they are likely to endorse increased immigration, moan about asylum seekers being sent to other countries – without any mention of any impact on the housing shortage, or how it could be allowed for.
Public services and the welfare state is the best way for a country the size of the UK to develop a good standard of living for everyone.
However due to the type of economy the UK has it’s essential for businesses also. This aspect the wreckers of public services didn’t seem to grasp. So here we are.
I called it.
The change to how rental income is taxed basically has forced a lot of private landlords who have a 2nd home to sell up and you are only left with landlords who do this as a business who have multiple properties.
These landlords do not give a shit about their tennants and are in it for the money and due to the now lack of supply they can charge more for shittier properties. Before when there was way more houses to rent there had to be some level of standards otherwise you wouldn’t get your house rented.
The whole landlord industry is a mess. Its a mess that tenants can basically refuse to pay and live in a property for months fucking over landlords. its a mess that there’s not enough rules in place to ban or deal with poor landlords and even then the penalties are tiny and not harsh enough. There’s also not enough support / payback to the tenants who are forced to have shitty landlords.
Try being disabled and relying on Housing Benefit, you can’t even pass the eligibility tests to be considered for private rental.
And then HB won’t cover the rent.
I’ve played enough tropico to know the only way to fix this problem is building a ton of shanty towns in nice areas the player can’t ignore.
I actually think that would be kinda a cool way to protest. Just keep building little shacks with for sale signs on them that are fairly priced.
My rent went up by almost 9% this year, but looking on rightmove it could be way worse. The audacity of some landlords and what they’re charging right now.
11 comments
A lot of landlords quit when they made it less attractive from a tax perspective, then a lot more left during covid. Covid also completely broke the normal annual cycle. Are we surprised that August/September, when hundreds of thousands of people leave or move home, is a blood bath?
Landlords leeching off society. It’s a big part of the reason house prices are so high.
Maybe we need the return of four penny coffins – probably would be a fiver now due to inflation.
At some point the housing crisis will reach a real breaking point. More and more people are going to simply be unable to find housing because there simply aren’t enough to go around, and paying half of your salary for one will become the norm.
“Roads are made, streets are made, services are improved, electric light turns night into day, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains — all the while the landlord sits still. Every one of those improvements is affected by the labor and cost of other people and the taxpayers. To not one of these improvements does the land monopolist contribute, and yet, by every one of them the value of his land is enhanced. He renders no service to the community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare, he contributes nothing to the process from which his own enrichment is derived…The unearned increment on the land is reaped by the land monopolist in exact proportion, not to the service, but to the disservice done.”
— Winston Churchill, 1909
Rent is a tax poor people pay to the rich just to live in society.
Took it from here and couldn’t agree more.
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/x2ctam/we_really_shouldnt_have_to_pay_to_exist/
but in the next Guardian article they are likely to endorse increased immigration, moan about asylum seekers being sent to other countries – without any mention of any impact on the housing shortage, or how it could be allowed for.
Public services and the welfare state is the best way for a country the size of the UK to develop a good standard of living for everyone.
However due to the type of economy the UK has it’s essential for businesses also. This aspect the wreckers of public services didn’t seem to grasp. So here we are.
I called it.
The change to how rental income is taxed basically has forced a lot of private landlords who have a 2nd home to sell up and you are only left with landlords who do this as a business who have multiple properties.
These landlords do not give a shit about their tennants and are in it for the money and due to the now lack of supply they can charge more for shittier properties. Before when there was way more houses to rent there had to be some level of standards otherwise you wouldn’t get your house rented.
The whole landlord industry is a mess. Its a mess that tenants can basically refuse to pay and live in a property for months fucking over landlords. its a mess that there’s not enough rules in place to ban or deal with poor landlords and even then the penalties are tiny and not harsh enough. There’s also not enough support / payback to the tenants who are forced to have shitty landlords.
Try being disabled and relying on Housing Benefit, you can’t even pass the eligibility tests to be considered for private rental.
And then HB won’t cover the rent.
I’ve played enough tropico to know the only way to fix this problem is building a ton of shanty towns in nice areas the player can’t ignore.
I actually think that would be kinda a cool way to protest. Just keep building little shacks with for sale signs on them that are fairly priced.
My rent went up by almost 9% this year, but looking on rightmove it could be way worse. The audacity of some landlords and what they’re charging right now.