Is there any help for tenants in these to ugh times?

TriggerCut92 · 18 March 2020 at 11:18PM

n1guy said:

And there it is. A 3 month mortgage holiday. My landlord will be pleased. Suck it up for us renters it seems.

It’s typical tories really. The poor and less well off are falling through the cracks as usual

I was told by Skipton that it's only for residential mortgages. I told them that makes zero sense at all. How can I pay my mortgage if I'm not being paid? I have savings, but that defeats the purpose of the whole thing. Landlords being punished here when people live month to month

TriggerCut92 · 18 March 2020 at 11:21PM

afis1904 said:

Murphybear said:

This is fine as long as something will also be done for the landlords who have a mortgage and haven’t got savings to cover loss of rent

Maybe they shouldn't be landlords then if they can't even afford a short-term shock?

Landlords will be helped but that really shouldn't be the first thing on anyone's mind.

Maybe tenants should have a rainy day fund incase stuff like this happens. Yeah landlords should be able to take the hit, but that's the second link in the chain. The first is people living month to month cause they must drink, eat out and socialise. I know a lot of people are in unfortunate positions, but you should always have a pot you can go into incase anything happens

jimmyjammy001 · 19 March 2020 at 2:24AM

If you are a landlord taking people's money then you are a business, you should have reserves to cover losses like any business does, if not then you will no doubt be forced to sell up if you can not meet payments. That's just the way it is.

afis1904 · 19 March 2020 at 8:26AM

Exactly. Of course any private person should also have a rainy day fund but criticising them for not having one and saying it's down to their lifestyle is disgusting as it absolutely ignores any other reason why that might be the case.

However, if you do run a business you should have cash reserves or you shouldn't be running a business. No one is forcing anyone to rent out a property whilst living in one is a human rights necessity.

Bossypants · 19 March 2020 at 9:21AM

Landlords should have cash flow to cover contingency, but like any business they should then also have the freedom to deal with the issues causing the issue so that their business remains profitable. You wouldn't expect any other businesses to start operating for free, right?

In any case, let's see what the legislation says. It wouldn't make sense to just give renters a payment holiday, because many people wouldn't be able to pay it back over the course of their term, which would lead to a spate of evictions and CCJs once the three months are up, which isn't in anybody's interest. Hopefully the government will come up with something more practical and less time limited (the discussion right now is about self-isolation but if people's jobs are being put 'on hold' it may be longer than that).

n1guy · 19 March 2020 at 9:40AM

The reality is he did nothing to help anyone. For tenants he pushed the problem down the road 3 months and after 3 months you’ll be out of your ear with a ccj in tow. For the landlord you’ve no money for 3 months.

Bossypants · 19 March 2020 at 9:59AM

To be fair, he hasn't actually done anything at all yet. All he's done is answer a question in PMQ and then one in the 5pm press conference (where he actually referenced 'no fault evictions', which don't cover non-payment of rent and for which there was already legislation planned even before COVID19). We really have no idea what the final package will look like yet, but if it's as simple/black and white as people here seem to be expecting, I'll be even more disappointed in the government's lack of foresight than I already am.

hallmark · 19 March 2020 at 10:04AM

That's highly unlikely to be correct. There is no way that "3 months" won't become at least a year. He's pulled the rug from under landlords by taking away their only means of dealing with non-payment of rent, whilst putting nothing in place to protect them. A "mortgage holiday" won't help any landlord without a mortgage, and even for those who do, it's still a legally enforceable and easily recoverable (by the bank) debt. The landlord has to pay eventually or be repossessed. The tenants on the other hand, may now choose to simply stop paying rent and there's basically nothing any landlord can do about it. If this "3 months" is extended say to a year, lots of tenants will live rentfree for that time and at the end of it all the landlords will be able to do is chase the debt via the courts & probably write off most of it.
Horrendous idea that basically assumes landlords are all scumbags who would evict their tenants unless they're legally prevented from doing so. By taking away the incentive to pay (the nuclear deterrant if you like) the Govt has hamstrung landlords here. Vote Boris get Corbyn.

silvercar · 19 March 2020 at 10:35AM

I don't understand how no evictions for 3 months can possibly work. Any tenant nearing the end of a fixed term contract just stops paying the rent. By the time they would be evicted, they will have moved on. I'm particularly thinking of tenants in HMOs who tend to move often and students, especially now their academic year has finished.

Bossypants · 19 March 2020 at 10:41AM

^ They move on but with a CCJ in tow, which restricts their ability to rent or get a mortgage in the future. Same for well-intentioned tenants who want to pay back the rent owed, but simply can't afford to make up the difference when they're coming off three months (or more) without a paycheck. This idea helps literally no one.