Why do people resent buy-to-letters so much?

Generali

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35110421

If you type "buy-to-let landlords are" into Google, its auto-complete function adds a very uncomplimentary word to the end of the sentence........Visit the comments at the bottom of a news story and you'll see a wave of hostility. One reads: "I really cannot wait for the stampede as the BTL parasites all start panic selling when the bubble bursts." Another: "BTLs are just another business created for greed, not for homing people." Someone comments: "The worst type of human - those greedy, vulture like exploiters."

Over and again, words such as "greed" and "parasites" come up. And when many of the landlords reply on the same forums saying that they have worked hard all their lives, saved up some money and that this is to be their pension in old age, those claims are dismissed as "'I provide a service' baloney".

An interesting piece I thought.

p00hsticks

Personally, I have no problem with what I would call 'professional' BTL people who treat it as a full time business, recognise what their obligations are and charge a fair market rent for the property that gives them an acceptable but not extortionate return.

The ones that I (and I suspect many others) take issue with are the many 'amateurs' who often seem to have fallen into it almost by accident (e.g. by not selling an existing home when they move).

Many of these people seem to treat BTL just as an 'investment' to be viewed on the same lines as stocks and shares or savings account- you simply stick your money in and do nothing but wait the return, ignoring the fact that you are dealing with providing homes for real human beings who you should provide with a good service and treat decently.

Donnie_Darko

BTL drives up prices and removes properties that other people could buy.
There is NOT a housing shortage in the UK, but there's not enough for more than one each.

p00hsticks

Donnie_Darko wrote: »

BTL drives up prices and removes properties that other people could buy.
There is NOT a housing shortage in the UK, but there's not enough for more than one each.

This ignores the fact that not everyone *WANTS* to own their own house, even if they could afford it. There is a section of society who, for various reasons, do not wish to commit themselves to such a major purchase and responsibility - perhaps because they move location frequently.

wotsthat

I'd guess it's jealousy.

michaels

I would have thought food shops should generate much more hatred: after all food is even more of a basic need than shelter, food shops are concentrated in a few players who have some market power unlike rental property (Fergus excepted. Corner shops charge outrageous margins in return for convenience etc etc

No one seems to get very upset when builders make a profit from the supply of housing nor that some people get extremely subsidised housing from the state whilst others with identical circumstances get none (unless that subsidy is given as a single dose via right to buy rather than drip fed over decades with assured tenancies).

Some of the haters seem to base their hatred on 'rogue landlords' but I suspect the incidence of these is much lower than rogues in other industries.

chucknorris

Generali wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35110421



An interesting piece I thought.

I found this bit interesting:

Teacher Helen Kinsey, 50, recently had to leave her home in south London, after living there for 21 years, when her landlord demanded a 30% rent rise. "I think people feel this animosity towards landlords because there are so many stories like mine," she says. Greedy landlords and greedy developers and greedy agents are seeing an opportunity to keep pushing the rent up. So normal people like me are being pushed out.

Early this year we put the rent up on a 3 bed flat from £1,545 to £1,800 (16.5%), to be able to increase the rent by so much (not as much as her rent was increased), meant that we had previously been renting it well below the market rent (and for some time). What she seems to be oblivious to, is that she benefited from a rent 30% below the market value (probably for many years), yet her reaction is to call her landlord greedy, for wanting to charge the market rent, I think she is extremely ungrateful for the years she enjoyed renting below the market value.

There were a couple of reasons that we increased it so much:

1. The tenant had been there over 10 years and we tend to reward long staying tenants, he was the lead tenant in a flat shared, when someone left he would organise a replacement. When he gave notice we saw it as an opportunity to get nearer the market rent. But a couple of days ago I noted that another 3 bed flat in the same block is being marketed at a whopping £2,300/month (and a 4 bed at £2,708/month).

2. The recent tax changes drove us to seek to get nearer the market rent, so even if the tenant had not gave notice, we would have increased the rent above the rate of inflation. But it seems we are going to have to have another look, as rents are climbing again.

chewmylegoff

I think a small group of people believe that BTLers are the sole reason they can't buy a nice house in a nice area for peanuts and they systematically post nonsense all over the Internet about how unfair this is. I should imagine that the vast majority of people don't spend a lot of time worrying about BTL landlords.

[Deleted User]

Perhaps because BTLs are in direct competition with those trying to buy their first house - as they often go for small, cheap, easy to rent and easy to maintain houses? Another demand just pushes prices up, so that first time buyers are often priced out of the market. I know someone in his 50's who has just bought a small terraced house for cash (and so outbid the first time buyer who also wanted it but couldn't top his price) and plans to let it out "for my pension". When I asked him why he didn't just invest the money, he pointed out that renting it out (even after putting money aside for maintenance, etc) would yield about 5% on the money; the most he could get my investing it would have been 2.5% so, over a number of years, the difference was huge, in terms of his retirement income. With final salary pensions disappearing and very low interest rates, it's not surprising that people are choosing this route rather than putting their money into pensions. Sad for first time buyers though.

Carl31

Theres probably loads of factors, but you cant deny that the introduction of BTL has influenced a change in the mechanics of the housing market. The same houses that would have been for sale are now retained by former owners, increasing the rental market, reducing the for sale market

By how much is debatable, but there would be more houses for sale if BTL hadn't been introduced, even if its just a few

The other factor of course is the the fairly UK centric view that you HAVE to buy a house, else you have failed in life (generally spouted in this forum for example) - anything preventing this is obviously evil

chucknorris

Corona wrote: »

Perhaps because BTLs are in direct competition with those trying to buy their first house - as they often go for small, cheap, easy to rent and easy to maintain houses? Another demand just pushes prices up, so that first time buyers are often priced out of the market. I know someone in his 50's who has just bought a small terraced house for cash (and so outbid the first time buyer who also wanted it but couldn't top his price) and plans to let it out "for my pension". When I asked him why he didn't just invest the money, he pointed out that renting it out (even after putting money aside for maintenance, etc) would yield about 5% on the money; the most he could get my investing it would have been 2.5% so, over a number of years, the difference was huge, in terms of his retirement income. With final salary pensions disappearing and very low interest rates, it's not surprising that people are choosing this route rather than putting their money into pensions. Sad for first time buyers though.

I'll be glad to have sold mine by the time I reach state pension age, but if I wait that long (8 years away), by then I would have been a landlord for 33 years, enough is enough, I look forward to not hearing about plumbing leaks, broken this and that etc. But I can understand someone wanting just one property to let out for the reasons that you gave.