Rents Frozen In Scotland From Today

molerat

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-62807578

Good or bad ?

Will this force more landlords to sell up making the rented housing shortage worse and putting more strain on local authorities ?

Will more properties get "refurbished" or will more landlords want to live in their property - 2 of the grounds for eviction ?

Another SNP knee jerk ?

london21

Interesting but don't think this is the solution.

The landlords are not charity.

In a business, you have to at least break even to have a chance of making profit. 

ProDave

It is not the rent freeze that has me spitting feathers, but the ban on evictions "during the winter"  I fully intend to serve notice on my tenant on 1st January, they have had 12 months informal notice of this intention.  I need to find her definition of "winter" for this.

TBagpuss

Yes, I can see the rationale for the rent freeze as a way of protecting vulnerable individuals in the short term, but a complte ban on evictions seems less reasonable 

I would have thought it might be more sensible to have given courts discretition to delay the actual date of eviction, perhaps subject to conditions, for isntnaceto give the tenant an extra month or so to vacarte subject to them paying rent / paying a fixed amount, which would allow the most vulnerable or those being targetted by bad landlords to be protected,.

I don't have much sympathy for landlords, as a general rule,  but on the face of it this would suggest that even where a tenant was acting in bad faith, for instnace causing damage to a property, or where the eviction was as a result of antisocial behaviour etc it would still be banned (the legislation may say differently, of course) 

I think most landlords will still be breaking even particuarlly looked at over time , even if they may find they don't for the few months of the ban if their mortgage interest has risen.

housebuyer143

Crazy. I sold my rental in Wales last year after the covid ban made me realise how little power I had over my private asset. 

The Welsh government will likely follow if Scotland do this and it will be the final nail in the rental sector. 

With interest rates soaring for landlords, how are they proposing that they remortgage or afford payments if the rent does not cover it 

ProDave

Does a "ban on evictions" mean I can't serve notice to end a tenancy?

I am hoping I can still serve notice and it would only become an issue if the tenant did not pack up and leave and it had to go to a tribunal for an eviction order?

If the ban is for "winter" then March is the start of Spring, so I could wait until then for an eviction order?

This new legislation has not come into force yet, it is only proposed (but probably will be passed)  so if i serve notice right now, would notice serve now be exempt from this ban as the intention had been stated before the law changed?

Sarah1Mitty2

housebuyer143 said:

Crazy. I sold my rental in Wales last year after the covid ban made me realise how little power I had over my private asset. 

The Welsh government will likely follow if Scotland do this and it will be the final nail in the rental sector. 

With interest rates soaring for landlords, how are they proposing that they remortgage or afford payments if the rent does not cover it 

Cut back on holidays, phones, expensive coffee out?

Sarah1Mitty2

Smart landlords buy when house prices are low, they keep the rent low to attract long term tenants and they don`t rely on the property gaining in value to cover a bad business model.

ProDave

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

housebuyer143 said:

Crazy. I sold my rental in Wales last year after the covid ban made me realise how little power I had over my private asset. 

The Welsh government will likely follow if Scotland do this and it will be the final nail in the rental sector. 

With interest rates soaring for landlords, how are they proposing that they remortgage or afford payments if the rent does not cover it 

Cut back on holidays, phones, expensive coffee out?

You mean run the rental business at a loss and subsidise it from other income?

housebuyer143

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

housebuyer143 said:

Crazy. I sold my rental in Wales last year after the covid ban made me realise how little power I had over my private asset. 

The Welsh government will likely follow if Scotland do this and it will be the final nail in the rental sector. 

With interest rates soaring for landlords, how are they proposing that they remortgage or afford payments if the rent does not cover it 

Cut back on holidays, phones, expensive coffee out?

Banks lend for buy to let based on interest rate and rent achievable. If the interest rate goes up a landlord will need to achieve a much higher rent to get the same loan he might have got last time on the lower rate. 

Hardly seems right the landlord should make a loss to subsidize the tenants in his property? Some might actually be better off than the landlord. 

housebuyer143

ProDave said:

Does a "ban on evictions" mean I can't serve notice to end a tenancy?

I am hoping I can still serve notice and it would only become an issue if the tenant did not pack up and leave and it had to go to a tribunal for an eviction order?

If the ban is for "winter" then March is the start of Spring, so I could wait until then for an eviction order?

This new legislation has not come into force yet, it is only proposed (but probably will be passed)  so if i serve notice right now, would notice serve now be exempt from this ban as the intention had been stated before the law changed?

No one knows anything but I can imagine the Scot government will see this rush to serve evictions from a mile away and close the loophole....
Serve the notice and see what happens if you need the house back.