Renting - why do tenants get ripped off?

shawtj2 wrote: »

Yes maybe I am being a bit naive. I am just too honest. Ok so if the tenants pay their own gas and electric, but isn't it fair to only expect them to pay the actual mortgage cost each month?? If anything goes wrong with the house - you are the owner of the house say (slates fell off the roof) that is not the tenants responsibility as they are not the house owner. I would feel cheeky charging them more of things they did not cause!


Eg I have a mortgage of £46,000 and pay £350 a month. that is what I would charge them because even if say the boiler goes faulty ? (I would pay that myself out of my own budget while living in and owning the house). I certainly would not expect them to pay for it (so why increase the rent to cover that?)

You're obviously not a business woman with a business brain :rolleyes:

Renting properties out is a business, and a business is about making money. If the money wasn't tied up in property, it would be making interest in a bank, or invested in stocks & shares etc... it's what happens when you have to earn a living to make it in this big scary world.

Money may not equal happiness, but it does buy you nice stuff!

Rent it out at the market rate then buy yourself a new car!

I can (kind of) see where the OP is coming from, not that I agree with it entirely lol. While I understand that renting out a house is a business, and as such those able to do so should be allowed to make a fair profit, there is something just a little 'uncomfortable' about something so fundamental as housing becoming such 'big' business. However you view it, renting a house isn't that same as renting a car ... *most* people could reasonably be expected to manage without a car, but *most* people can't reasonably manage without a home, it's a different thing entirely.

However, LLs just fill a gap, and aren't the cause of the problems, and of course need to make enough money to cover both a profit and the maintenance of their property. But ... there are some countries that have rent capping (and indeed we used to (still do?) have some form of rent control here), so what the OP is suggesting isn't totally crazy ... Wouldn't be popular though lol

It's ok to 'not think about profit' but you would need to charge more than the mortgage interest just to break even.

So, for a £100K house, £600 per month would cover the interest only at 7.2% (100% mortgage). No profit = no tax.

Add in repair costs, redecorating costs, insurances etc., and not forgetting RISK. There is a risk that the property will be empty for some periods of time or that tenants will not pay. There's a risk that tenants will maliciously damage the property.

Running the business as the OP suggests would see all LL's bankrupt unless they could afford to subsidise their tenants forever. That said, I reward good tenants with extra improvements, lower rent and a nice (cash) pressie at Christmas.

GG