No Fault Evictions

[Blackswanwood]

@Jacob - I’m understanding your proposal is to not have private landlords.

How would you see this working where someone goes abroad to work for a couple of years and wants to rent their property out until they get back? What about where a couple get together but decide to rent one property out as it’s subject to negative equity or as a fall back in case it doesn’t work out?

I personally think what Andy Burnham seems to be suggesting in the article you posted earlier is a sensible move i.e. codify what is best practice for landlords. If enforced regulation can then deal with the bad landlords.

 

[deema]

Regardless of who owns a rental property, every single piece of new legislation that creates additional cost is…….paid for by the tenants. Awesome!

 

[John Brown]

In a democracy we wouldn't be governed by a government elected by one person in five.

Of course not, we should be governed by a party voted for by one person in eight.

 

[monster]

In a democracy we are the state.
https://www.ipu.org/news/news-in-brief/2021-09/you-may-not-know-these-7-quotes-democracy

Not if you don't vote.

 

[monster]

Seems we have a deeply-rooted culture of making money from property in the UK. In my experience, it really kicked off in its popular form in the 80s when you could buy a council house cheaply and sell on for a profit (as happened with the hitherto publicly-owned utilities). No need to bother with an education, just buy a wreck, do it up and flog it for a profit or rent it out and make more longer term, then do it again. It's still there every day on our TVs, no end to it. That culture has little or nothing to do with providing homes for people who need them.

Surely these people are providing a service by renovating houses - Do you think people should do homes up for free?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I personally think what Andy Burnham seems to be suggesting in the article you posted earlier is a sensible move i.e. codify what is best practice for landlords. If enforced regulation can then deal with the bad landlords.

and bad tenants?

 

[Ozi]

No not at all. Housing is an essential service but having people just seeing it as a way of supplementing their pensions isn't the best way to provide it.

And that is the critical difference. Either it's an investment with assets or a business with customers

 

[Chris152]

Surely these people are providing a service by renovating houses - Do you think people should do homes up for free?

No, I'm just pointing out that it's part of a deep-seated culture in this country, a mindset created by politicians and supported by the media. I think my point is that if we could see housing less as a vehicle for profit and more as just a place to live, some of these issues might diminish.
As for the OP, that situation sounds horrible. I always figured other people are ok so long as you can walk away from them whenever you want - becoming embroiled with how others live their lives and handle their finances wouldn't work for me.

 

[Scruples]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-67914836

I think others have already mentioned that a lot of damp, or mouldy, homes are down to the way the occupants live in them. You don't hear too much about people in private homes having the same trouble to the same extent, right?
I worked in the electrical industry for many years and visited a lot of council houses, as they called them then, and a large proportion of them were in a sad state directly as a result of the tenants. I doubt that's changed much over the years except, in this modern age, it's always somebody else's fault.

 

[Yojevol]

In a democracy we wouldn't be governed by a government elected by one person in five.

Would a government elected by 5 people in 5 be a democracy?
I don't think so.
So, what would be an acceptably democratic proportion, 2, 3 or 4 out of 5?
And how would it be achieved?

 

[John Brown]

I think others have already mentioned that a lot of damp, or mouldy, homes are down to the way the occupants live in them. You don't hear too much about people in private homes having the same trouble to the same extent, right?
I worked in the electrical industry for many years and visited a lot of council houses, as they called them then, and a large proportion of them were in a sad state directly as a result of the tenants. I doubt that's changed much over the years except, in this modern age, it's always somebody else's fault.

As far as damp and mouldy are concerned, I believe a lot of it is simply down to money. Tenants( and owner/ occupiers for that matter), can't afford to heat their dwellings sufficiently. It's become more of a problem as newer houses are more airtight.

 

[selectortone]

The proportion of rental accomodation vs owner occupied in Germany is significantly higher than in the UK and has been for many years. It seems to work well there.

 

[John Brown]

Pointless argument, in my opinion. There are good tenants, bad tenants, good landlords and bad landlords. We rented our previous house out for a year, because we'd already bought this one when the sale fell through. It was a nightmare, and the tribunal/ombudsman (I can't remember the term..) accepted that they'd had the place professionally cleaned when they finally moved out, even though it was obvious it'd not been cleaned at all for over a year. I know know several people who rent out a flat or two(I have a half share in one), and none of them are bad landlords, but that's meaningless, as I'm fairly selective about the people I mix with. I'm not flat-out against private landlords, but I do think something's gone wrong when landlords were able to get massive BTL mortgages, with tax relief on interest, while their tenants were paying rent that exceeded the mortgage repayments they would have made, had they been in a position to find the deposit.
I believe that situation has shifted slightly in recent years.

 

[deema]

Pointless argument, in my opinion. There are good tenants, bad tenants, good landlords and bad landlords. We rented our previous house out for a year, because we'd already bought this one when the sale fell through. It was a nightmare, and the tribunal/ombudsman (I can't remember the term..) accepted that they'd had the place professionally cleaned when they finally moved out, even though it was obvious it'd not been cleaned at all for over a year. I know know several people who rent out a flat or two(I have a half share in one), and none of them are bad landlords, but that's meaningless, as I'm fairly selective about the people I mix with. I'm not flat-out against private landlords, but I do think something's gone wrong when landlords were able to get massive BTL mortgages, with tax relief on interest, while their tenants were paying rent that exceeded the mortgage repayments they would have made, had they been in a position to find the deposit.
I believe that situation has shifted slightly in recent years.

There is no tax relief on interest, that was stopped years ago.

 

[Jacob]

...... I'm not flat-out against private landlords,

Nor me - given a good standard of quality control and security for tenants.

but I do think something's gone wrong when landlords were able to get massive BTL mortgages, with tax relief on interest, while their tenants were paying rent that exceeded the mortgage repayments they would have made, had they been in a position to find the deposit.
....

BTL was government way of shifting responsibility for housing to private sector instead of state. Just another bit of Thatcherite ideological lunacy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_to_let
Like most of their interventions it had zero benefit, and merely cranked house prices up. The catch is that any change could bring house prices down, people losing their "pensions" and be a vote loser.
It's a poisoned chalice for the new govt. hence their avoidance of the issue and emphasis on changing planning regs instead - pie in the sky.
Like so much of failed tory govt policy the cost of putting it right could be astronomical.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I think others have already mentioned that a lot of damp, or mouldy, homes are down to the way the occupants live in them. You don't hear too much about people in private homes having the same trouble to the same extent, right?
I worked in the electrical industry for many years and visited a lot of council houses, as they called them then, and a large proportion of them were in a sad state directly as a result of the tenants. I doubt that's changed much over the years except, in this modern age, it's always somebody else's fault.

My neighbour's son's a sparkie, he's worked on housing association (which is owned by the council, so council) houses that have needed total gutting two or three times in the same year, one within weeks of being let.

I researched electric hobs years ago and bought one, it's been fine. I read stories of their cracking, but when I looked into it very nearly ever incident was in a rented property. Curious.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Regardless of who owns a rental property, every single piece of new legislation that creates additional cost is…….paid for by the tenants. Awesome!

Ultimately it is but that’s the same with most if not all legislation - it gets factored into the price paid by the end use consumer. I’m not sure what your point is. Are you saying legislation should not be used to ensure tenants get a safe property from the landlord?

There was a lot of uproar when the cost of referencing was moved from prospective tenants to landlords a few years ago. I think that was the right thing to do as many letting agencies were encouraging multiple applications and charging a fee (which was profitable for them). It was “no skin off the nose” of landlords that this was happening. The change rightly put the negotiation of the cost of referencing to the landlord who unlike the tenant had some influence.

 

[niemeyjt]

My agency added 1% to their charges for all Mr Osborne's changes a few years back, including refence checks etc (and also nationality checks, let's not forget). Anyway, we just increased the rent £100 to cover it - so the tenant just pays in a different way. Nice one George!

As I say, there is no situation a politician cannot make worse.

However, one addition to the discussion - AES can correct me if I am wrong - but here pension funds build apartments and the rent is used for the pensions - with the benefit to the pension company that the asset survives the death of the pensioner.

 

[John Brown]

There is no tax relief on interest, that was stopped years ago.

I know. Read my last sentence.

 

[JackEasy]

Used to run a company there and one in Beijing. Very very familiar along with the commute! I suggest you try it!

Lived 10 years in China. Surprised you aren’t frustrated with the UK in the same ways I am. In 10 years, Wuhan went from one subway line to 14, 1 elevated ring road to 5. Major improvements to the city’s infrastructure. Glasgow, my hometown, in comparison has the same underground loop that was built end of the 19th century.
I still think the 15min city with vertical building is the way to go.