Getting a mortgage is going to get even tougher.

doire_2

Hopefully this is a wake up call to all those FTB hoping for a return to easy lending. They better get saving.

Percy1983

doire wrote: »

Hopefully this is a wake up call to all those FTB hoping for a return to easy lending. They better get saving.

Personally I could see that the return to lax lending would also mean more competition to which of course higher prices.

In short I thought either lax lending isn't coming back so get saving, or get saving to buy before it comes back. Either way I got saving and its all worked out quite nicely.

JimmyTheWig

I agree with Batchy and Conrad.
Nothing's really going to change in the here and now.
Just when the economy starts to get better, getting a mortgage won't get any easier.

moneyinmypocket

House prices have withstood great strain over last few years but remained stable. They will start rising again soon buy while u can, things like the above article will only make it harder for a morgage

Graham_Devon

It's a fair point that this may increase the demand for rental, as this will continue the problems obtaining a mortgage, or indeed, make them very slightly worse.

With the euro crisis and Basel II, it could make getting a mortgage even harder.

Therefore you could conclude that landlords will be able to jack up rents, and buy up the exisiting stock for sale.

But.....and this is the big but. It's one large gamble. Why? Because as the FSA have done with mortgages, we could easily see the same damaging (for landlords) regulation applied to rentals. More and more are calling for regulation in the rental sector now, and the press are devoting more column inches to it. It's only a matter of time IMO. Something will have to be done...and it will be done.....but only when the whole system is at breaking point and housing benefit funds are overwhelmed.

It will be another locking the stable door exercise well after the horse has bolted. I think that's all any of us can expect, as it's all that seems to happen.

Might be a very good couple of years for landlords for the time being looking forward though. Thing is, getting out before it inevitably hits the fan is the most important part.

nearlynew

This idea that BTL will increase because of these changes and therefore price out FTBs is nonsense.

The vast majority of BTLers (particularly more recent entrants) do not have a pot to p1ss in and are unable to finance their purchase without remortgaging an existing property and, effectively, need a 100% mortgage.
They never mention that and it often gets overlooked.

They will therefore be up against the same strict lending criteria and will be unable to proceed.

There will be some "wealthy investors" looking for a better return on their money and using cash, but the majority will be over-leveraged chancers and will be disappointed when they lose out to FTBs with a healthy deposit and fewer liabilities.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

But.....and this is the big but. It's one large gamble. Why? Because as the FSA have done with mortgages, we could easily see the same damaging (for landlords) regulation applied to rentals. More and more are calling for regulation in the rental sector now, and the press are devoting more column inches to it. It's only a matter of time IMO. Something will have to be done...and it will be done.....but only when the whole system is at breaking point and housing benefit funds are overwhelmed.

More housing is needed otherwise house ownership will become concentrated amongst the rich. I don't think the government stand much chance of introducing rental controls - they are struggling to ensure that social housing is not underoccupied.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/14/housing-benefit-cuts-lords-defeat

Defending the proposals, Freud told peers:..... "In England approximately 420,000 households in the social rented sector underoccupy their accommodation by two bedrooms or more while over a quarter of a million households are overcrowded," he said.

Graham_Devon

Rent controls and regulation as a whole are two different things.

Regulation could include tightening up tenancies. Doing more about deposits. Etc etc. From both landlord and tenant perspective. And getting rid of the god awful, nigh on scam, admin fee's that the agencies charge.

A lot less would dive in if, unless the tenant and landlord agreed, 3 year terms were the norm.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Rent controls and regulation as a whole are two different things.

Regulation could include tightening up tenancies. Doing more about deposits. Etc etc. From both landlord and tenant perspective. And getting rid of the god awful, nigh on scam, admin fee's that the agencies charge.

A lot less would dive in if, unless the tenant and landlord agreed, 3 year terms were the norm.

I'm all for anything which takes the cost out of housing rather than making it more expensive. Starting with letting agencies would be good - they overcharge both landlords and tenants. My view is that tenants shouldn't have to pay any fees to letting agencies and instead they should be charged to landlords.

In reality most of these will be passed on to the tenant but the landlord is at least in a better position to dispute some of the rip-off charges. Landlords are more likely to want to keep tenants happy if they know they've got to argue about a load of mickey mouse charges each time they get a new tenant.

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

I'm all for anything which takes the cost out of housing rather than making it more expensive. Starting with letting agencies would be good - they overcharge both landlords and tenants. My view is that tenants shouldn't have to pay any fees to letting agencies and instead they should be charged to landlords.

In reality most of these will be passed on to the tenant but the landlord is at least in a better position to dispute some of the rip-off charges. Landlords are more likely to want to keep tenants happy if they know they've got to argue about a load of mickey mouse charges each time they get a new tenant.

Exactly.

I've read about how the fee's mount up for the tenant on the house buying board. Inventory checks on the way in and inventory checks on the way out...£200 thanks.

Of course, if they are moving, theres likely an inventory check on the way in to the next rental too. Could be £300 in the space of 6-8 months which the tenant has to find, because the landlord and the agency both want to protect themselves.

That's like Tesco asking you for a fiver before you are allowed into the store to pay for their Health and Safety requirements. Of course you wouldn't....You'd move on to Sainsburys, Asda, or Morrisons. But tenants don't have that choice.

Those sort of costs should lie solely with the person running the business....the landlord. As it is, and the whole game is unregulated, everything hits the person with the least say, and in many cases, the least means to be able to afford it, and the one party who gets nothing out of it.