Landlord gave notice - just a sad little rant :(

WTF?_2

Guy_Montag wrote: »

Difference is HM Govt will cover your rent* through housing benefit if you are made redundant, they will only cover your mortgage interest payments after 37 weeks.:money:


*perhaps not fully, but they will cover some of it.

Indeed - and if you are in negative equity when you have to sell up you face having to make up the difference. Potentially tens of thousands of quid if the market has fallen significantly.

This is why there are going to be an awful lot of people sweating it out pretty soon. A downturn in housing market means a downturn in the economy. Likewise, a downturn in the economy means a downturn in the housing market. Whichever happens first, it's gonna leave a lot of people in the situation where if they lose a job, they lose their house and they end up maybe tens of thousands in debt too.

I hope it doesn't come to this but as far as I can see the fortunes of the housing market and the general UK economy are now absolutely inextricably intertwined. One will take the other down, it's just a matter of which goes first :eek:

Lavendyr

macaque wrote: »

I am afraid the housing boom has created the age of the bungee investor. Greedy and thoughtless people are piling onto BTL bandwagon and then bailing out without warning. People put down roots when they move into a house. One has to question the morality of renting a property to someone only to turf them out six months or a year later.

Good point, in our situation the landlord believed he was leaving the country, and thought he would make more money out of renting than selling - and it would be far less hassle for him as well (the house being in the state it was in), simple as that. He never pretended to be interested in doing any of it himself, he just handed it all off to the agency.

I wouldn't question the morality had he made it clear that it might be a short-term let to begin with, but he did say to us he hoped we would stay for at least 2 years. Still, plans change. The reason we didn't ask for a longer contract when we first moved in was that we were moving to an unfamiliar area and wanted to be sure that it was right for us - turned out it was absolutely perfect, we love the place. In future we will be looking for a 12-month contract or possibly even more, I expect that's generally a good thing for a professional landlord?

barnaby-bear

Lavendyr wrote: »

In future we will be looking for a 12-month contract or possibly even more, I expect that's generally a good thing for a professional landlord?

Mortgage companies frequently prohibit longer than 12months and often longer than 6 months fixed terms.... so need to find a LL without a mortgage on property

Lavendyr

Hmm, didn't realise that - OK, will definitely take that into consideration. Many thanks

poppy10_2

barnaby-bear wrote: »

Mortgage companies frequently prohibit longer than 12months and often longer than 6 months fixed terms.... so need to find a LL without a mortgage on property

Why?
I've never heard of this before. I'm on a 12 month contract and my LL has a mortgage.

Lavendyr sorry to hear about your situation.

surfcat

barnaby-bear wrote: »

Mortgage companies frequently prohibit longer than 12months and often longer than 6 months fixed terms.... so need to find a LL without a mortgage on property

I don't think that's correct. More often the letting agency prefers shorter contracts as they get renewal fees more often.

barnaby-bear

poppy10 wrote: »

Why?
I've never heard of this before. I'm on a 12 month contract and my LL has a mortgage.

Lavendyr sorry to hear about your situation.

Because if a mortgage company gives permission to let they are effectively agreeing to honour the AST (which is why a tenancy is worthless and you can be evicted immediately with *no notice whatsoever* if LL doesn't have permission to let regardless of contents of tenancy) - if the landlord stops paying the mortgage - they don't want to be sitting around waiting for 2 or 3 years before they take possession and recoup loses.

coal9011

I have learned that a Sorthold Assured Tenancy can be for any period (even 21 Years). The only condition is that it must be able to run for a "minimum" period of 6 months.

barnaby-bear

coal9011 wrote: »

I have learned that a Sorthold Assured Tenancy can be for any period (even 21 Years). The only condition is that it must be able to run for a "minimum" period of 6 months.

Yes but the person who owns the property i.e. the mortgage company can put any additional constraints they want on the term and usually that's a maximum of 6 or 12 months which is why it can be difficult to get longer.

Buffy_the_Vampire_Bat

Having rented for the past six years (and moved 3 times in that period!) I believe all initial lets are for six months. We have been told previously that in cases where the landlord still has a mortgage on the rented property, then the maximum rental contract is 12 months - although in most cases this can be renewed. So you might well found yourself in the same house for 5 years, but if your landlord has a mortgage, you will quite possibly find yourself signing 5x 12 month rental agreements in that period.