Another push for rental regulation..

chucknorris

drc wrote: »

LL's already have redress (S21) and then go through the courts for any damage/lost rent etc.

When we are talking about bad tenants we are talking about those who refuse to move out after the two months notice, the procedure can then take quite a few months to physically get them out (when they might not be paying any rent and not have the means to pay even when the court finds in favour of the LL).

Luckily when I sued the the one tenant that I had a problem with, she had only stopped paying the rent 'because she needed the money because she was buying her own place' (yes she actually gave the judge that as an explanation!). So she had money, some would not though.

chucknorris

Callie22 wrote: »

One of the biggest problems in renting currently is that there is a tension between what (most) landlords appear to want, and what letting agencies want. We're told that LLs want long term tenants (although in my experience that tends to mean that landlords want tenants who'll stay, but they don't want to have to invest in their businesses to make the tenants want to stay ...) but LAs tend to want tenants to leave - in my experience they seem to value the large lumps of cash they can make at the beginning and end of a tenancy over a longer term steady management income (which generally does tend to involve effort on the LAs part). Lets face it, if you get two lots of tenants in a property over a year, that's two lots of check in and check out fees from the tenants, fees from the landlord ... Probably adds up to more than the 8% (or whatever) a month from management ...

I think that there are lots of LLs out there who would be very surprised a how many tenants they've lost through bad agents, and I really believe that regulation of renting has to take look at letting agencies as much as landlords.

I don't tend to use agencies because they just seem to p*ss off my tenants all the time (when I have occasionally used them in the past).

FTBFun

A swift glance at the sensible house board shows you the problems that occur with letting agents.

Charlatans the lot of them.

lostinrates

chucknorris wrote: »

I certainly would wish for longer tenancies as a lot of work is generated at a change of tenancy. Although I don't think my target market of young professional sharers would want this, we usually give them a 12 month contract and then let them run onto a periodical, if they wish to stay. The problem is at that early stage of their career they tend to move about a bit and usually do not want to be tied into a longer contract, although break clauses could of course be introduced at suitable intervals to address this issue.

I also don't mind about giving a longer notice period generally, but my fear would be that take a lot longer to eventually evict a 'professional tenant' who has stopped paying the rent.

Dh and i really did benefit from being ale to be mobile and go at the drop of a hat. The sime answer might be to offer break clauses to tenants but not landlords unless under certain circumstances (as we experienced in italy) or simply to give a very much longer notice period requirment to landlors while keeping tenants as are?

Fwiw, i also think it should be easier to deal with non paying tenants, a very unfair scenario for the landlord, whether professional or accidental.

AdmiralX

Graham_Devon wrote: »

In the hand wringer...

I agree with everything he says.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jan/21/families-forced-to-rent

I do agree too.
It is disgusting that a family with children at school is given 2 months notice to get out... to where? The landlords profit.. of course and I know some people who do these things. But the rest of society pays for this, we do pay with our taxes this injustice done to families and children.

Road_Hog

AdmiralX wrote: »

I do agree too.


It is disgusting that a family with children at school is given 2 months notice to get out... to where? The landlords profit.. of course and I know some people who do these things. But the rest of society pays for this, we do pay with our taxes this injustice done to families and children.

"Longer tenancies, with predictable rent increases"

Do you agree with the second bit as well? Longer tenancy agreements but built in rent increases in return?

AdmiralX

Road_Hog wrote: »

"Longer tenancies, with predictable rent increases"

Do you agree with the second bit as well? Longer tenancy agreements but built in rent increases in return?

Rents are not predictable always because they depend on: the markets, the demand, the area and condition of property. I have seen properties in bad repairs with declining rent whereas the rent of the next door flat which is in same building went up because it is in better condition.

Road_Hog

AdmiralX wrote: »

Rents are not predictable always because they depend on: the markets, the demand, the area and condition of property. I have seen properties in bad repairs with declining rent whereas the rent of the next door flat which is in same building went up because it is in better condition.

It's not my quote, it's from the article and it was in a response to someone else.

lostinrates

Re rent predictablilty, that ime outside uk tends to mean terms like 'rental increases of not more than x amount/percentage and at times of break clause. So, for exame in italy on a 4 plus four year contract, the rent can be increased after the first four years. That rent is set in the property for four years means rent has to both look value at the time taken out and stops rapid rent inflation. At four years the contracts i saw showed the possibiltiy of a rent increase by up to known percentage....cannot rememebr what that was...not doubling the rent or whacking it up by fifty percent. It also doesn 't mean your rent will go up, just that it could, and in a healthy economic climate probably would.

IveSeenTheLight

Road_Hog wrote: »

As a landlord, I want my tenants to stay put as long as possible. Mine have been there over 10 years. I incentivise them by not putting the rent up.

I agree.
I'd happily let my tenants sign up for longer tenancies.
The question remains how many tenants want to tie themselves into longer term rentals?