No Fault Evictions

[AJB Temple]

It will be interesting to see what effect the labour law changes will make. Labour have said that they will ban zero hours contracts. Probably no bad thing overall as they can be exploitative, though some workers like them. For example a friend of mind owns a small restaurant with rooms in a pretty village about 10 miles away. Trade is patchy and mostly pre-booked: he doesn't open now if bookings are insufficient. He employs 8 local people on a flexible basis. They don't all work at the same time and are mostly wanting short notice flexibility because of study, children etc. Usually he has two of them "on shift" for each night he is open and they rotate as a group. It is effectively zero hours contracts and he has notified all of them that if the rules come in outlawing this, then none of the roles will be available from that point on. I'm not sure what he will actually do to cover the evening service labour need. Have labour thought it through properly?

Two tier is getting a lot of negativity the MSM. His honeymoon period is over.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Have labour thought it through properly?

Have they thought anything through properly?

 

[woodieallen]

It will be interesting to see what effect the labour law changes will make. Labour have said that they will ban zero hours contracts. Probably no bad thing overall as they can be exploitative, though some workers like them. For example a friend of mind owns a small restaurant with rooms in a pretty village about 10 miles away. Trade is patchy and mostly pre-booked: he doesn't open now if bookings are insufficient. He employs 8 local people on a flexible basis. They don't all work at the same time and are mostly wanting short notice flexibility because of study, children etc. Usually he has two of them "on shift" for each night he is open and they rotate as a group. It is effectively zero hours contracts and he has notified all of them that if the rules come in outlawing this, then none of the roles will be available from that point on. I'm not sure what he will actually do to cover the evening service labour need. Have labour thought it through properly?

Two tier is getting a lot of negativity the MSM. His honeymoon period is over.

Sadly I think he will have to fold. I can't see how he can survive.

 

[woodieallen]

.... intelligent left wing politicians.
....

Surely that is an oxymoron ?

 

[niall Y]

I always thought an "oxymoron" was a "silly cow".

 

[AJB Temple]

Sadly I think he will have to fold. I can't see how he can survive.

I'm inclined to agree. These rural places struggle to get staff anyway now. Most pubs with high quality food tend to run restricted days unless they want to make a big quality compromise by using frozen ready meals or SV pre pack for low demand days. The rot sets in quickly. We operate a small restaurant ourselves but are in the fortunate position of owning the premises and having a family farm that supplies some produce. Our main business has ceased all hiring and will be taking no chances on new employees unless they have perfect references and qualifications, and unimpaired social media history etc. We are also having a lawyer review our policies on supervision clear needs (WFH defence) and other protection matters. Labour is good for lawyers.

 

[Spectric]

Millions of people actually choose to live on benefits rather than work....this isn't fake news, it's reality. Why do you think they do that?

Not sure of the actual numbers but I know of people who have chosen a life of being unemployed because it suits them, I just assume they have little motivation or get up and go but apparently there are other reasons like getting up early in the morning and having someone telling you what to do. The sad thing is that they will end up with a full state pension the same as if they had worked and if they reach the point of needing a care home it will cost them nothing but for many they will have to sell the home they worked hard to buy to fund it.

 

[John Brown]

This is hilarious. Your Tories effed up so monumentally that Labour couldn't fail to get elected, and now you're all whinging about it, and using silly playground names for members of that party. Keep it up, it's very entertaining.

 

[AJB Temple]

The choosing to live on benefits aspect is probably more complex. There are areas where employment opportunities are scarce, schooling is poor and expectations are low. In a way it is similar to being homeless. For example, we volunteer periodically at a facility for homeless people. We start at 4am and serve 400 - 600 breakfasts to people living on the street. Many of them are regulars. In fact most are. They can be difficult to talk to, for various reasons, but I was surprised to learn that some actively choose to live on the streets. One of the workers there who helps in the kitchen, is homeless and he wants it that way. Zero ties, no one tracking him, no responsibilities, but clearly a social conscience as he works hard to help fellow homeless. He's a key cog in the machine because he is one of them and knows what it is like. It's hard to comprehend. Society is actually more complex than many realise. There is a lot of abuse of all kinds on the streets and a lot of abuse at the more disadvantaged end of the social housing strata too. If labour manage to get a grip of this then they will have my respect. Taking freebies when you have a salary and office expenses account and gold plated pension of well over £200,000 is not a good look though.

 

[Jake]

You appear to have forgotten the IMF being called in a few years before when Labour ran out of other people's money.

The first big IMF bail out was during the Suez crisis when Conservatives ran out of other people's money.

 

[Jake]

I'm inclined to agree. These rural places struggle to get staff anyway now. Most pubs with high quality food tend to run restricted days unless they want to make a big quality compromise by using frozen ready meals or SV pre pack for low demand days. The rot sets in quickly. We operate a small restaurant ourselves but are in the fortunate position of owning the premises and having a family farm that supplies some produce. Our main business has ceased all hiring and will be taking no chances on new employees unless they have perfect references and qualifications, and unimpaired social media history etc. We are also having a lawyer review our policies on supervision clear needs (WFH defence) and other protection matters. Labour is good for lawyers.

Think he might be getting some advice from scaremongers, perhaps the press is making him fear the worst. Perhaps he should read the manifesto pledge? It's not a ban on zero hours per se, it's a ban on *exploitative* zero hours contracts. I assume your mate isn't deliberately exploitative, so perhaps doesn't have so much to fear as he thinks.

 

[monster]

What, is she going to take her 15 properties with her to France?
If she sells them won't they be occupied by 15 other people or families?

Many landlords response to the impending legislation is to take their properties out of the rental market and switch to airbnb!

So the property is then lost to the residential market and becomes a holiday let.

I'm seriously considering doing this myself.

 

[ey_tony]

Not sure of the actual numbers but I know of people who have chosen a life of being unemployed because it suits them, I just assume they have little motivation or get up and go but apparently there are other reasons like getting up early in the morning and having someone telling you what to do. The sad thing is that they will end up with a full state pension the same as if they had worked and if they reach the point of needing a care home it will cost them nothing but for many they will have to sell the home they worked hard to buy to fund it.

If I'd been a lazy so and so throughout my working life, squandered everything I earned and never made provision for my retirement I could have had everything paid for me by the government but because I followed the idea that you saved for your retirement I've effectively lost out simply because I can't claim the benefits that the workshy can in their retirement.

I'd advise young people not to bother saving for their retirement because you will be no better thought of and effectively penalised because you did the responsible thing so why bother when you will be looked after even if you were totally irresponsible with your finances.
It's no wonder that so many thousands of migrants want to come here.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's not a ban on zero hours per se, it's a ban on *exploitative* zero hours contracts.

Who decides which are exploitative?

 

[Scruples]

What astonishing ignorance!
They were always there but hidden away.
Babies were often forcefully adopted, if not illegally aborted with risk of mother's death too.
Many died in "orphanages" and there have been some notorious cases uncovered over the years - literally so with discoveries of unmarked graves of unnamed children.
Others lived their lives pretending that their mothers were their elder sisters...and so on.
I've known many cases and some with happier endings where mothers and children have been re-united.
I recall helping to search for a local girl gone missing - her parents said maybe better to find her dead rather than pregnant. P.S. this was in the early 60s, not some long ago backwards era, and nothing to do with religion either - just some very awful normal middle class parents.
Attitudes were appalling but have changed dramatically for the better in my lifetime, thanks also to the welfare state.

If single mothers were hidden, Jacob, how do know they were there?
Our recent culture, and benefits packages, have increased the ability of married couples to split, without acrimony, and move on.
I think you are in error with that one.
And think, for every split family there are now two houses/flats off the market, hence the demand.

 

[Scruples]

If I'd been a lazy so and so throughout my working life, squandered everything I earned and never made provision for my retirement I could have had everything paid for me by the government but because I followed the idea that you saved for your retirement I've effectively lost out simply because I can't claim the benefits that the workshy can in their retirement.

I'd advise young people not to bother saving for their retirement because you will be no better thought of and effectively penalised because you did the responsible thing so why bother when you will be looked after even if you were totally irresponsible with your finances.
It's no wonder that so many thousands of migrants want to come here.

On the contrary, ey_tony, we have both saved and started, or belonged to pensions schemes that have, on retirement, provided a pretty comfortable life. I don't feel penalised because some slackers get handdouts. I do, however, enjoy the ability to spend money I earned, without worrying about the future, on things like holidays, entertainment, trips around the UK and my workshop. Can't do that on benefits, can you?

 

[Scruples]

If you want to blame somebody I'd go for the bad landlords first. They are the problem, not the government, not the socialists, not even the bad tenants.
All you perfect landlords can count yourself as collateral damage. Tough luck you happen to be investing in a free market jungle!
Who are these bad landlords then? Well you could start with the Royal Borough of Kensington they currently hold the prize.

My observations from life indicate to me that there are far more bad tenants than there are landlords. If rentees treated their accommodation as if it was their own, there wouldn't be such a poor state of rented properties and more landlords would abound. But that's an idealogical idea and, we know, nothing is ideal, is it?
The government isn't to blame for the upsurge in social housing demand. Our culture has changed and the demand is now greater because of that. The quality of rented properties, which seem to start off as acceptable, soon degrade into the usual damp-ridden, mouldy homes we hear so much about. The reason? Poor home-making skills from the tenants.

 

[Ozi]

It doesn't matter which side is the most in the wrong in this, we need good laws that protect those who keep to their side of the contract from those who don't.

All I ever hear from politicians is the popular chant of protect tenants from bad landlords.

It's very obvious what needs to be done, we need to improve the infrastructure in this country including the housing stock. Give people the option of good quality social housing and bad landlords go out of business. The problem is it's expensive and you can't cut tax to buy elections at the same time. Would YOU vote for a party that said "income tax will go up it needs to". If not you are part of the problem.

Good housing designed and built with such things as solar and rainwater harvesting, built to be heated by heat pumps. Here's a radical idea from the "National Socialists" why don't we design a peoples house in the way they designed a peoples car.

I used to live in a two bed mid terrace house built around 1903. It was the right house for the time it was built (they built thousands) and it's still being lived in. A lot has been upgraded the toilet is no longer in a shed in the garden, coal fires have been replaced first by gas then by central heating, gas lights by filament bulbs, probably now LED. The roof slates replaced with concrete tiles then the roof insulated.

There nice solid houses - parking is a nightmare.

Redesign them, factory built in modules to keep costs down and control quality - lets have a British Standard.

Rent goes to the council to support local services, tenants have the right to buy AT MARKET PRICE and if they do the money builds replacement as required.

They need to go in with ALL the required infrastructure, schools, shops, doctors surgeries, water and electricity supply it's a long list - if we are getting new towns as suggested now is the time to get this right.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Nine or ten tears ago I did some research before buying a cooker with an induction hob. Numerous reports of the hobs cracking - in every single case I read it was in a rental property.

 

[Jacob]

If single mothers were hidden, Jacob, how do know they were there?

Read what I wrote.