Darwinian natural selection will ensure property will once again boom.

chucky

carolt wrote: »

chucky - my landlord has a pretty clear idea of my real opinion of her, I imagine, much as I do of her opinion of me.

She thinks of me as a mealticket - I think of her as a parasite.

Obviously we're polite when we converse, but whatever she thinks I think, she doesn't want to lose me - she knows we're damn good tenants and have never paid a day late in 4.5 years, and look after her property. That's why we've only had 1 rent increase in that time, and it was negotiated downwards.

Your post suggesting that I should be 'as good as pie' is somewhat revealing of your attitude towards landlord-tenant relations. I hope you are 'as good as pie' when it comes to maintaining your properties.

you sound like the perfect tenant Carol - why would a landlord increase your rent!!

previous to this year i would always request a 5% increase on renewal - if they accepted they stayed if they didn't no problem they still stayed. it doesn't have to be a bad relationship and as you know there are pros and cons.

out of interest, and this goes for Vigesimal too - would you ever rent a larger place and not use all of the rooms?

carolt

Um...no - why would I rent a larger place than I need?

Not clear what you're getting at?

Thanks for initial comment - I think we're pretty good tenants. Unfortunately, our landlady is pretty unprofessional.

I'll wait till we move out, but do plan to shop her then - I think she's been taking the !!!! a bit, TBH.

Cannon_Fodder

chucky wrote: »

...i can only speak for Central London. rents seem to be holding out well, on average they would have dropped 2%. a very small drop.
...
if that equates to a price drop or a crash i'm not really sure.
...
as for properties appearing in both rentals and sales, that has always happened. if you're saying that it is happening more, i haven't seen those numbers so would be very intrigued to see them. do you have them or can tell me where to find them?

No need to apologise. Typical poor journalism, trying to make a story out of half the facts!

If there really is a 65% increase in tenants, why on earth are prices dropping at all...? It must be counter-balanced by a substantial jump in properties/landlords?

The picture is indeed a bit mixed, even contradictory, and not very upto date.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7567963.stm

http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2008-08-19-UK-housing-slump-forcing-homeowners-into-rental-market looks very similar, but has;

"Meanwhile estate agent Cluttons said it was already beginning to see rents in London dip as the supply of property overtook demand.

It said during the past month rents had fallen by up to 5% in South Kensington, Chelsea and Knightsbridge, where the supply of property has doubled compared with the same time last year."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/aug/17/renting.property

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/aug/15/renting.property

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/09/08/noindex/ptolet106.xml
comments on the 'Rent while Selling' growth.

But it has also been noticed locally, anecdotally, by family and friends. not something I think the Office for National Statistics has a report on...;)

just found a bit of backup...
http://www.findaproperty.com/displaystory.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&storyid=22407
"There’s an over supply of property - we’ve got 220 properties on our books compared with 85 last year"
"a lot of property that is being marketed for sale is on for rental as a backup"

On the wider picture, the impact of http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/sep/21/renting.property may yet to be felt.

Interesting times. I temporarily rented an "ordinary box" that could well be dropping by now (rightly so), while am currently in a "dream" location (for many, though perhaps not all) that just doesn't come up very often, so can dictate its rent...

You takes your pick...

Conrad

carolt wrote: »

Don't bother, vigesimal.

Of course they're not going to look at themselves and admit - to themselves or us - they are are nothing but parasites on the rest of us.

In the end to some degree or another we are all parasites. The teachers at my sons school exchange thier knowledge and time in return for our Tax money.

There is something more obscene in profiting from property though, in that it pushes up property prices. I wish this was not so, but in the end I have to provide for my family and dont have a nice cushy employers pension to see me through, so I'm faced with having to build a nest egg. I use cash and shares too, but property is my mainstay for now.

As for 'why dont we go do something productive', well for one its too hard, and its also damn risky. If you feel you have the answers, please be my guest and go set up a manufacturing plant, but remember all those MSE types that wont buy your products because you employ expensive UK staff:mad: .

chucky

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

No need to apologise. Typical poor journalism, trying to make a story out of half the facts!

If there really is a 65% increase in tenants, why on earth are prices dropping at all...? It must be counter-balanced by a substantial jump in properties/landlords?

The picture is indeed a bit mixed, even contradictory, and not very upto date.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7567963.stm

http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2008-08-19-UK-housing-slump-forcing-homeowners-into-rental-market looks very similar, but has;

"Meanwhile estate agent Cluttons said it was already beginning to see rents in London dip as the supply of property overtook demand.

It said during the past month rents had fallen by up to 5% in South Kensington, Chelsea and Knightsbridge, where the supply of property has doubled compared with the same time last year."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/aug/17/renting.property

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/aug/15/renting.property

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/09/08/noindex/ptolet106.xml
comments on the 'Rent while Selling' growth.

But it has also been noticed locally, anecdotally, by family and friends. not something I think the Office for National Statistics has a report on...;)

just found a bit of backup...
http://www.findaproperty.com/displaystory.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&storyid=22407
"There’s an over supply of property - we’ve got 220 properties on our books compared with 85 last year"
"a lot of property that is being marketed for sale is on for rental as a backup"

On the wider picture, the impact of http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/sep/21/renting.property may yet to be felt.

Interesting times. I temporarily rented an "ordinary box" that could well be dropping by now (rightly so), while am currently in a "dream" location (for many, though perhaps not all) that just doesn't come up very often, so can dictate its rent...

You takes your pick...

cannon fodder - more and more i feel that mood has very much to do with all of these problems we are having. there are serious problems but some people are in panic - some because they are having severe financial issues others because they are following the herd.

there is lots of examples of bad journalism, just look at 80% of the links posted by the regular doomsters, holes in them everywhere.

the BBC's guy Peston doesn't help really in my opinion. he comes across as an entertainer rather than someone delivering balanced news. he has his own agenda which will develop over time.

a bit like George Galloway does who is more an entertainer than a politician. he has his own radio show, website etc... and is driven by everything anti Governement really.

contrary to the view on here, most Landlords aren't stupid, in an economic downturn they will not ask top prices they will ask reduced prices to cover themselves. if this means drops in prices then that is the case but i don't think it's a serious issue.

you will find that there will be loads of opinions on ups and downs in rentals - i just believe what i feel in my market place and follow this.