Renters won’t be looking to downsize unless they get evicted or get stuck with a massive rent hike; who wants to gamble on finding another place at the moment.
There are many views on how to tackle the problems associated with renting. Some would abolish private landlords, and I used to be all for that. But having given the matter some thought over the years I now believe that there’s a much easier solution (albeit one that will never be implemented).
The first thing to do is to toughen rules on MPs, as so many of them are landlords that it creates a huge conflict of interest when it comes to whether landlords get regulated properly or not.
I rented for over 10 years and I saw a lot of the problems first hand. The problem actually isn’t that landlords are under-regulated (although more could certainly be done). The regulation we have in place is actually pretty good *on paper.* The problem is that it isn’t enforced. There are many landlords that owe their profits entirely to avoiding the most basic responsibilities that come with the job.
I am of the opinion that actually enforcing the regulation that we have effectively would put a lot of landlords out of business. It would also put a lot of power back in the hands of renters. I would like to see renters receive a portion of any fines given to landlords for negligence.
Bit of a rant really, and I know there’s more to this article than just rogue landlords, but I wanted to make the point that we ought not to be as helpless as the government is making us. There needs to be a serious shift in the balance of power between the “plebs” and those that own all the property. The Fergus Wilsons of this world wouldn’t exist if landlord regulation were enforced properly.
Even if rent was not rising, wages stagnating was having this effect anyway. Rent could stay the same but with everything going up at the same time, people paying 30-50% of their wages on rent will still be shunted towards smaller properties as that 30-50% does not go as far as before.
Won’t places with deteriorated facilities be cheaper or it does not work as such in the UK?
I think there should be an option to buy the house you currently rent from a private landlord backed by the government. The only exception should be those whose house was handed down to them in a will, and those who only own no more than 3x their bedroom needs (a couple could have two mortgages on a 2 and 4 bed house, or 3 mortgages on 2 bed flats).
Anyone living in a rental property more than 2 years who rents from a landlord with multiple properties should have the property compulsory purchased by the government and then mortgaged back to the tenant or made into council housing for the tenant.
Obviously it’s total pie in the sky thinking.
I’m astonished every time I look at what’s on the market the past 6 months or so. Couldn’t get my sized rental property in the same location for at least £500 more then we pay. I count my lucky stars we have just been able to renew our tenancy. My heart breaks for those who are getting kicked out of the properties currently. How does one find £500 more rent just like that? Plus those on low incomes – the LHA figures are an utter joke and do not reflect reality in the slightest.
AirBnB needs regulating.
Everybody would rather do short term holiday lets than have a long term tenant, I wonder why does this rarely get mentioned anywhere?
It’s a huge, enormous issue. Airbnb is one of the top reasons in some cities and towns, especially coastal or tourist areas.
A simple example to try for yourselves…
Search for available rental properties on rightmove in a coastal town or city.
Then do the same for a random week in the year for AirBnb in the same place. Even choose entire places if you like
10x the properties on Airbnb than rightmove.
There are places in London where properties cost around 50% more to rent in the last 3 years. So say from £1000-1100 to £1500-1600. From £1700 to £2500-2700 etc.
In our street I constantly see people moving recently, I guess agencies kicking up landlords that they can keep rising as much as they want. I also seen shittons of empty renting available 2 years ago, now its close to none.
“Renters being kicked out every 6 months by arsehole landlords raising the rent are finding their money gets them only smaller and smaller properties.”
There are going to be so many headlines about the crisis that will be framed as ‘look at these resilient chaps, tightening those belts and pulling up the old bootstraps by making these choices’ when they’re signs of people’s struggle.
The problem will be compounded once the high earners will start feeling the squeeze and unable to maintain the properties they rent. They may be looking to downsize and then putting pressure on the supply making it more expensive for everyone else.
‘push’ I suspect the word ‘force’ would be rather more appropriate.
11 comments
Renters won’t be looking to downsize unless they get evicted or get stuck with a massive rent hike; who wants to gamble on finding another place at the moment.
There are many views on how to tackle the problems associated with renting. Some would abolish private landlords, and I used to be all for that. But having given the matter some thought over the years I now believe that there’s a much easier solution (albeit one that will never be implemented).
The first thing to do is to toughen rules on MPs, as so many of them are landlords that it creates a huge conflict of interest when it comes to whether landlords get regulated properly or not.
I rented for over 10 years and I saw a lot of the problems first hand. The problem actually isn’t that landlords are under-regulated (although more could certainly be done). The regulation we have in place is actually pretty good *on paper.* The problem is that it isn’t enforced. There are many landlords that owe their profits entirely to avoiding the most basic responsibilities that come with the job.
I am of the opinion that actually enforcing the regulation that we have effectively would put a lot of landlords out of business. It would also put a lot of power back in the hands of renters. I would like to see renters receive a portion of any fines given to landlords for negligence.
Bit of a rant really, and I know there’s more to this article than just rogue landlords, but I wanted to make the point that we ought not to be as helpless as the government is making us. There needs to be a serious shift in the balance of power between the “plebs” and those that own all the property. The Fergus Wilsons of this world wouldn’t exist if landlord regulation were enforced properly.
Even if rent was not rising, wages stagnating was having this effect anyway. Rent could stay the same but with everything going up at the same time, people paying 30-50% of their wages on rent will still be shunted towards smaller properties as that 30-50% does not go as far as before.
Won’t places with deteriorated facilities be cheaper or it does not work as such in the UK?
I think there should be an option to buy the house you currently rent from a private landlord backed by the government. The only exception should be those whose house was handed down to them in a will, and those who only own no more than 3x their bedroom needs (a couple could have two mortgages on a 2 and 4 bed house, or 3 mortgages on 2 bed flats).
Anyone living in a rental property more than 2 years who rents from a landlord with multiple properties should have the property compulsory purchased by the government and then mortgaged back to the tenant or made into council housing for the tenant.
Obviously it’s total pie in the sky thinking.
I’m astonished every time I look at what’s on the market the past 6 months or so. Couldn’t get my sized rental property in the same location for at least £500 more then we pay. I count my lucky stars we have just been able to renew our tenancy. My heart breaks for those who are getting kicked out of the properties currently. How does one find £500 more rent just like that? Plus those on low incomes – the LHA figures are an utter joke and do not reflect reality in the slightest.
AirBnB needs regulating.
Everybody would rather do short term holiday lets than have a long term tenant, I wonder why does this rarely get mentioned anywhere?
It’s a huge, enormous issue. Airbnb is one of the top reasons in some cities and towns, especially coastal or tourist areas.
A simple example to try for yourselves…
Search for available rental properties on rightmove in a coastal town or city.
Then do the same for a random week in the year for AirBnb in the same place. Even choose entire places if you like
10x the properties on Airbnb than rightmove.
There are places in London where properties cost around 50% more to rent in the last 3 years. So say from £1000-1100 to £1500-1600. From £1700 to £2500-2700 etc.
In our street I constantly see people moving recently, I guess agencies kicking up landlords that they can keep rising as much as they want. I also seen shittons of empty renting available 2 years ago, now its close to none.
“Renters being kicked out every 6 months by arsehole landlords raising the rent are finding their money gets them only smaller and smaller properties.”
There are going to be so many headlines about the crisis that will be framed as ‘look at these resilient chaps, tightening those belts and pulling up the old bootstraps by making these choices’ when they’re signs of people’s struggle.
The problem will be compounded once the high earners will start feeling the squeeze and unable to maintain the properties they rent. They may be looking to downsize and then putting pressure on the supply making it more expensive for everyone else.
‘push’ I suspect the word ‘force’ would be rather more appropriate.