Landlords' Lament, the end of Section 21

michaels

Arklight wrote: »

Which is exactly why the private rental market is not fit for purpose. We need social housing for most people, with private housing for some people, who choose it as a preference.

While I doubt that many landlords are going to voluntarily absent themselves from the £25bn a year the taxpayer pours into their pockets to house people who should be in council houses, some probably will be spooked enough to sell up. Of course this will then add to the stock of houses for sale which will push down house prices and benefit renters trying to buy.

Ultimately if we must have a large private rental market hopefully this is the beginning of it moving away from smalltime investors and towards large corporate ownership.

While I hesitate to recommend big business as a solution to this, I've lived in countries where private housing stock is mostly owned by corporations and for the tenant it's day and night compared to the UK. It's immensely more professionally run without the army of small investors and their fat tie wearing "who needs GCSEs?" Gavins from the letting agents.

The tenant is also unlikely to run into the weird petty, overly controlling, spitefulness of some landlords that's a nice feature of renting in Britain.

So the question is why do we have so many small landlords rather than professionals - mostly big business tends to 'win', economies of scale etc mean that most groceries are sold by big supermarket chains not corner shops.

Genuine question, why hasn't this happened with private rentals?

Jackmydad

Majority of households in the England own their own home. 63% according to this.
https://fullfact.org/economy/do-most-people-own-one-house/

We need some social housing, but the reality is that it's expensive to build and run, so governments are glad to have private landlords.

Also remember that the idea that the rental market is all lower end is very much mistaken. There is everything from one bed flats in inexpensive areas to manor houses in the home counties in the rental sector.

Thrugelmir

michaels wrote: »

Genuine question, why hasn't this happened with private rentals?

Whose to say is hasn't already?

Buying property and renting out is not anything new. BTL though has barely been a buzzword for 20 years.

triathlon

Just another stupid knee jerk reaction from a failing government that will in my views just make life harder for tenants. Nothing has changed with me, a tenant messes up my house, does not pay rent, gives me hassle or lip, is rude in anyway to others living on the street, then he/she is history and out of the door, nothing changes here if done right as far as I am concerned.

Yes I will admit you get the odd bad LL, but on the whole 90% plus of the tenants is at fault

Cakeguts

Build to rent is already happening by companies in cities and some towns. The rents tend to be at the higher end though from what I have seen.

Thrugelmir

triathlon wrote: »

Nothing has changed with me, a tenant messes up my house, does not pay rent, gives me hassle or lip, is rude in anyway to others living on the street, then he/she is history and out of the door, nothing changes here if done right as far as I am concerned.

Then worth briefing yourself on what the consultation is about. Rather than assuming.

chucknorris

I don't think that this affects me much, as I'm selling up soon anyway, and for years I've tried to get tenants to sign up for longer than my usual tenancy length of one year. Over multiple properties not one tenant has wanted a longer contract. Although some have tended to stay on for many years (11 years was the longest), currently have one tenant for over 7 years, and they don't look like moving, although last year they asked us if we would sell to them, so they might move if they buy elsewhere. There is usually quite a bit of work at a change of tenancy, so it is much better to have a long term tenant.

Kohoutek

michaels wrote: »

So the question is why do we have so many small landlords rather than professionals - mostly big business tends to 'win', economies of scale etc mean that most groceries are sold by big supermarket chains not corner shops.

Genuine question, why hasn't this happened with private rentals?

My guess is that it increasingly will. The regulatory (and tax) environment for private residential rentals is only going to continue to go in one direction, let alone if Labour win the next election. Margins will continue to be squeezed forcing out the smaller players.

The FCA has done this in the financial services market (e.g. payday loans) - players which cannot afford to comply with new requirements are forced out of the market.

Arklight

michaels wrote: »

So the question is why do we have so many small landlords rather than professionals - mostly big business tends to 'win', economies of scale etc mean that most groceries are sold by big supermarket chains not corner shops.

Genuine question, why hasn't this happened with private rentals?

The reason I've seen given is that in a sense they do. But due to the peculiarities of British tax and financial regulations it's been in the form of banks owning rental properties through the medium of small investors with buy to let mortgages.

Arklight

These landlord types have heard the news on this forum. They don't like it. They don't like it one bit!

https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2019/4/government-set-to-consult-on-axing-section-21