Landlords from Hell - Channel 4 tonight at 8.30

poppysarah

jamie11 wrote: »

I have never had a grant for anything to do with my properties, I think you are thinking of HA's

I'm pretty certain Manchester CC did give grants to private landlords not so long back.

All I can see at the moment is this
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=1138&pageNumber=1

Great pdf on poorly administered grants here
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:5_f6fpNrIZsJ:www.lgo.org.uk/GetAsset.aspx%3Fid%3DfAAzADAAMAB8AHwAVAByAHUAZQB8AHwAMAB8AA2+oldham+council+provate+landlord+grants&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgABZsYidCrD2xtgyX1p0OMuniwSSPw1yOmTlqckUE_rM0bpvVBVQhfmQur3C7Wu5CmEKjRSQpBg0rZgfimOg2uKy5ue00fXkykBD9XUHVvMxAFx6PJOkCxCmJ00iilZMb_2kLO&sig=AHIEtbQEbuSsRJOTucwfk4bJ7ZBIEYIuhA

And nice landlords can get freebies from various councils
http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/housing/private_housing/private_landlords.aspx

louisa_84

jamie11 wrote: »

I have never had a grant for anything to do with my properties, I think you are thinking of HA's

my old landlord was given 2/3 of the cost of double glazing by our local council, thankfully, after the window frames fell off on the outside of the room my baby daughter was sleeping in [old rotten wooden frames, the top and sides just fell to the ground, leaving a small amount of age old putty holding the glass in place!] and the refused to do anything about it until I did the leg work and discovered the grants.

poppysarah

louisa_84 wrote: »

my old landlord was given 2/3 of the cost of double glazing by our local council,

(I know some grants are repaying but suspect lots of money given isn't)

Is it right though?

Landlords are running a business and if that business model doesn't work, then should the tax payer prop it up?

louisa_84

No, i agree, they shouldnt, however, in the situation i was in [3 children in a rented house, partner lost job a few years back and his new job didnt cover everything, so we had to find a cheaper place to rent, that was it, and the window falling off is the tip of the iceburg!] im very gratefull they did! The people we rented could afford NO repairs, they took the profits from one house, to buy another, and so on and so forth. In the 3 years we rented off them for, they went from letting 7 houses, to 18, all of them in the same, sorry, inhabitable state, they flung around some magnolia paint and lino, and then let them out, to people like us, who had fallen on hard times. The grants are there to help the tenant from what i can see, who in some cases, dont really have the option to move. At that time, we had no way of leaving, we couldnt afford rent on houses big enough for us, that were in a better condition.

mustrum_ridcully

lighting_up_the_chalice wrote: »

Housing is NOT a human right.

The world begs to differ...

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”

propertyman

jamie11 wrote: »

I have never had a grant for anything to do with my properties, I think you are thinking of HA's

Grants were introduced back in 85 to help get properties back for renting.

Though as usual the payback amount was silly in higher value areas and not worth the delay.

propertyman

mustrum_ridcully wrote: »

The world begs to differ...

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”

The question is how to achieve it; aspiration and vegetarian cyclist lefties think that it should be comparable to private housing, and encourage the aspiration as it serves their funding and getting elected "vote in or out your landlord"

In practice public housing is often as substandard as the private landlords featured, and estates become "sink estates".

How does a sink estate or any person trying to work but afraid to come back to an empty flat or to be mugged on the way home because they are wearing a suit,or be kept awake all night from loud music, drug dens activity next door achieve article 25?

Perhaps single people and single mums need housing in the modern poor house equivalent, strictly managed hostels with a creche, and workfare to repair council estates and these private hovels. Don't pay PFI firms to repaint hospitals or these homes as the trade knows if you can pee straight you can paint!

And prisons on a moor of your choice on bread and water and vitamin pills for those that do not comply with sorting out their lives and respect those of the majority of others. Have them build the railway to Birmingham.

BigAunty

What really stood out for me with this program (aside from the awful living conditions) was hearing how Croydon council had nearly 2,000 households in emergency and temporary housing:-

"There is a huge pressure on housing of all forms in Croydon, where there are 1600 people in temporary accommodation and more than 300 families in emergency accommodation..."

I found some statistics on Croydon council website which indicated that "There are currently almost 8,000 families waiting on the housing register and only around 1,300 homes become available to let each year."

So they seem to have a real bottle neck, particularly if the 2,000 in temporary/emergency accommodation are priority cases. I'm also surprised that there are 1,300 voids per year as that indicates a churn of around 16% of their stock.

I wonder why some of the residents in those nasty hotels had been there a year plus despite the bugs, mould and drunk visitors (thieves...) - is it because they are holding out for social housing rather than continue in private accommodation so will put up with the substandard conditions in the interim? Or is it because Croydon council have no decent schemes to assist them into other private accommodation, such as a deposit guarantee scheme or so on? Again, their website claimed that there is a good supply of private accommodation in Croydon and they had various schemes to help those in need secure it. Is it the usual case that most landlords won't consider LHA tenants?

propertyman

BigAunty wrote: »

Or is it because Croydon council have no decent schemes to assist them into other private accommodation, such as a deposit guarantee scheme or so on? Again, their website claimed that there is a good supply of private accommodation in Croydon and they had various schemes to help those in need secure it. Is it the usual case that most landlords won't consider LHA tenants?

UK Borders Agency Asylum Screening Unit
Lunar House, 40 Wellesley Road, Croydon CR9 2BY ?

Ulfar

The problem is that council housing changed from being somewhere for the working class to live with long term secure tenancies to somewhere to dump those on benefits.

With working people paying rent the council makes money out of its housing which can be re-invested into its housing. With the secure tenancy and lower rents came the responsibility of the tenant to decorate the property.

Without secure tenancies and lower rent why should a tenant maintain someone else's property that they can be thrown out of with a couple of months notice.

When it became the place to put people on benefits the council is losing money as it is paying its own rent. In addition people on benefits don't have the spare money to decorate or maintain a property.

To be honest the woman from the council who stated people didn't want to live in those areas and wanted choice should get a reality check. In most cases the council forced people out of those homes, if they didn't want to live there why did you have to force them.

Plus homeless people would be glad to have those properties unfortunately you have to fit exacting criteria to get specific properties. Maybe if the councils relaxed the criteria such that if they have spare properties that are two bedroom and lots of single people on the waiting lists you let them move into those properties. If a couple have two kids give them the option of whether they move into a property and put up with the overcrowding until a suitable property is available.

Also if you are on benefits then no you shouldn't have a choice of where you live, if you turn down a property then you should go to the back of the housing list.