You trust the Local Authority? !!! I admire your faith in them
& when the council rent all of these houses, where are all the private tenants going to live, especially as prices are likely to rise with fall in supply.
We need more houses, not just a change of who owns / operates the existing ones.
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Hopefully itās not too long before we see this actually tested.
I do this with a migrant housing charity that Iāve worked with for about 10 years. I know them personally and trust them so happy to sign over a property (commercial lease) for that period for BMV but guaranteed income, albeit 5 years not 10 but with an option to extend. Happy so far. Feels like a weight off to know that I donāt have to do anything in regard to that property anymore.
I wouldnāt do it with the council
Rent to rent arrangements are rarely in the landlords interest and not recommended.
Well government really messed up on this. Iām on UC and am paid a month in arrears so the one month in advance only payment brings it up to date. In theory can a landlord say ā are you (willing) to pay more in advanceā rather then demanding. Then write that into a tenancy stating tenant offered x amount in advance. If tenant says no they canāt or thatās illegal, do not go any further.
My understanding is the tenant can offer to pay in rent in advance. As long as the landlord hasnāt requested it in the terms of the tenancy. This has been raised many times with student tenants in mind who often pay their rent in advance for the term rather than monthly because they receive their maintenance grant at the beginning of each term.
At the moment, a landlord can ask for as much advance rent as they want, but they cant then take any further rent until its used up.
The Renters Rights Bill proposes to limit the amount of advance rent to 1 month, but parts of the proposal are still under debate.
The tenants do not pay the landlordās mortgage from the rent. Most landlords have interest only mortgages. From the rent money, the landlords pay rent (bear in mind they have paid a deposit to purchase the property. The landlords have to pay for all the certificates required for renting the property, maintenance, maybe furniture and license to the council.
It is like saying that when you hire a car from a car hire company, you are paying for the car. Similarly to shop in a supermarket, one is paying their mortgage interest or even mortgage capital. The tenants need to be careful what they say. If they feel they are paying their landlordās mortgage, they can buy their own property by having 2 to 3 jobs and saving for the deposit. Once they purchased their own property, they can take care of their boiler, furniture and all maintenance themselves and find it more exciting way of living as they will pay their own mortgage. The crucial aspect is for tenants to find the deposit.
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I would not trust the council at all. Tehy do nto ahve economies of scale. It is just the opposite. A lot of builders and handyman take council for a ride. They know council needs them, they do nto charge less to the council. The council cannot manage the property themselves, usually pass it on to the housing associations. Councils do not have in-house workmen as they would not know how to manage them. They will never inspect the property. They will all sorts of people there and the property the landlord get back after 10 years will cost the landlord a lot more money then what they made in 10 years.
I have rented out one of my proeprties to a charity. It worked well for 3 years, so extended for 5 years. A change of manager and I find it has not been looked after. They are supposed to keep the proeprty clean and not remove any lighting etc. The basic maintenance they should be doing but they have not done so. When the 5 years are over, I shall not be renewing the contract. I do all the certificates and all the repair work and as they made the contract, I cannot increase the rent a lot, only the inflationary rate but no more than 5%. The insurance premium are higher as the tenants are not in my tenancy agreement and no control over them. I have noticed the tenants banging the doors when I have been there with a gas engineer. I have complained the the charity. The doors etc looks pretty bad, no painting or any maintenancy in 7 years. I hate to think what condition I shall get it back next year. This is in one of the expensive areas of London, near the hospital, near a station and university. If I rented it out to private tenants I would get 100% more as I have 2 similar properties but less value and get double the rent. They have messed up the house under a new manager.
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We absolutely need more homes building! I have no argument with that.
I think this might depend on the council. I think Iām realising they are all quite different. Itās only a thought experiment from my perspective, but Iām looking for possible solutions or at least points of common argument between LL&T
There are trades in some areas I know well who do work directly, salaried for the council. Iām not sure if they then sell the products to private landlord (epcs etc) but presumably if you have enough houses to keep people busy having them on a salary is cheaper than job by job for the reasons youāve provided. I suspect they do council run schools and other buildings too.
It might make sense that this isnāt the case in smaller borroughs, but in that instance perhaps they build a team with a neighboring council, there seems to be a bit of a trend for this since they now have less resources and responsibilty.
There seems to be a lot of mistrust for councils. Iām not sure how that gets improved, has there been any good experiences?
I have dealt with councils for 50 years as a builder and 40 or so as a landlord . When dealing with the Building inspectors .great bunch of people , very helpful. As a landlord increasingly worse in terms of helpfulness and honesty and I do not mean the building inspectors
Just to clarify, you mean the support for you as a landlord is not there (in terms of legislation and queries about tenancies etc?)
(As opposed to anything building related)
Hi Tigerlillies,
It sounds like you have a fairly tough situation. Iām wondering why you have both no control over the contract and full responsibility for the maintenance. That sounds like a recipe for stress. I hope they offer it back to you in a reasonable condition.
I was proposing that for the time it was entrusted to a third party it wasnāt your responsibility at all, but you would also forego your claim to it. If it had nothing in it and before and when it was returned it was:
Freshly decorated in a neutral colour and had the certs done.
Nothing fancy, but functional and saleable. You would hand it to them in that condition too it would be basic so minimal stress.
No control over the contract as it was written by them as they do with all their landlords. They believe as it is helping a homeless charity, I have agreed to all the maintenance, which I have not and will be sending them the invoices. This is because they did not know that an electrical certificate was done on the due date and passed it to them. However, one of their staff left for a maternity leave and did not bother to store the electrical certificate when sent to her and the manager there. So 10 months later they carried out the electrical testing and found to be nothing wrong so they asked me to pay for the certificate and I not only sent them the certificate done 10 months previously and also the work that was done and forwarded the certificateswhich were emailed to them in the previous year to 2 people. I shall send them the invoice to pay for the work carried out like cleaning of the fan, the light shade taken out by them in the bathroom etc.
They will be leaving in about 16 months as I shall give them plenty of notice. The house is worth to a million pounds. The rent is way less than Ā£2k per month.
i shall also add they are a lot better than the council as they do have a handyman, cleaner and gardener, who are employed to do some work, as the bathroom and kitchen is the way it was, just the rooms probably are not.
but presumably if you have enough houses to keep people busy having them on a salary is cheaper than job by job for the reasons youāve provided. I suspect they do council run schools and other buildings too.
One would think so, but council dont wish to take this responsibility of hiring and firing and getting the department going. No tradesmen will wish to work as salaried staff, only as an outsourcing companies, who charge the councils or any government bodies, more tahn the going rates. Best business they get is from the councils. The councils are happy to fritter away other peopleās money in the process or pass on the responsibilities to a housing association.
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You didnāt pay my mortgage. I hadnāt got one.
Not in north Bristol