Why are you talking about the 90s? Since the housing boom of the early 2000’s, property prices have increased on average by over 300%. Even if you bought a house in the 90s, the value today would vastly outweigh the initial investment by multiples.
Keep trolling with and hominem attacks. Shows the depth of your argument and your true financial understanding.
Here’s a question for you. When were you a tenant, if ever?
What a meaningless rant.
Of course landlords profit from renting, but they aren’t martyrs for doing so as so many seem to act as such. When you have landlords with portfolios of housing, they’re just making the housing market extremely difficult for first time buyers.
What’s the solution? Rent control and house owning limits. On top of that, more enforceable and financial punishments for negligence.
Wow, this is the most amazing troll fight ever. There is absolutely no discussion or reasoning going on here at all. Just troll-bait. Choice quotes
- some tenants live like pigs
- I’m sick and tired of seeing campaigns by shelter
(Yes, charities are bad people?)
- tenants do have a choice, they can work, stay with parents longer
(He knows I’m an orphan, troll-bait? Not the first time)
- You need to go back to basic maths and get that chip of jealousy off your shoulder
- You’re the kind of landlord someone would be cursed to have.
To address some real points raised
- The deposit is not supposed to cover all damage, you can claim for excessive damage through the courts. The deposit is designed to reduce the workload of the courts by providing a solution for the majority of the cases.
- It would be reasonable to say that the government policy of allowing children to be fed by the charity of footballers, whilst diverting money to help new house buyers, has been the cruelest and most Dickensian policy for over a 100 years. BUT… landlords do not make law, so this is not the right place for that kind of discussion.
In general though, if you want an effective debate in online forum, it helps to…
- Separate facts from opinion. Once fact is established, debates generally are more productive.
- It helps to post links to external websites to give your posts context.
- It helps to avoid personal attacks, like repeatedly attacking orphans - (you know who you are)
- Avoid ganging up on a single poster. This is playground behavior and only encourages more child-like responses. It may make you feel good to be part of a “gang”, it makes you feel powerful, but it’s destructive. A good landlord should have embraced the chance to hear what the other side (the customer) feels like. It’s why companies do customer surveys. It doesn’t mean they are right, but the fact they have a different opinion is exactly what you want. You go further in life by allowing your assumptions to be questioned, than only listening to people who voice what you think is already true.
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Well said Colin, an agitator and of the Woke brigade no doubt too!!!
Nigel makes a perfectly valid point that as most landlords expect a guarantor (who 90% of time would be parents) then that makes renting very hard for orphans. To make jokes about this is embarassing to be honest.
Matzy’s original comments about landlords complaining about safety legislation are also valid. Are landlords saying if they didn’t need to do gas and electrical safety checks and make homes reasonably energy efficient they wouldn’t bother? The costs are tiny in the scheme of things
EPC £60 every 10 years = £0.50 on monthly rent
EICR £200 over 5 years = £3.33 on monthly rent
Gas safety cert each year £20 (when done with a service) £1.66 on monthky rent
Reference £20 (can be free) over say 2 years £0.66 on monthly rent.
Collectively that comes to £6 a month. The average rent is circa £900 a month and the average rental property probably went up circa £15k last year in value. The safety costs are insignificant and is just a cost of business. I fully get tenants who pay the majority of their income on rent going mad at complaining landlords when they are struggling to pay rent and heat homes and pay for food. Landlords have the choice to be a landlord, tenants have to have a home, often they dont want the flexibility renting gives but are just trapped in it by the state of the housing market through no fault of their own and which even with good jobs they have little chance of buying in large areas of the country. While a lot of tenant anger may be misdirected towards landlords as housing market is largely government fault, a lot of landlords could do with being a lot more sympathetic.
On other threads you have said you wouldn’t consider being a guarantor for anyone other than close family, I feel the same, it is a huge ask for a friend which could result in a liability of £10k plus. In any case if close friend is in a similar financial position which is likely they wouldn’t meet guarantor requirements…
I have tenants who have been with me 6 years plus (since I started), while that’s a sign I’m probably a good landlord and keep rent relatively low, like you, it is more of a sign of a broken housing market, most people don’t want to rent for that long but have no other choice and would be far cheaper for them to buy in the long run.
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I am all for people buying. …one of my gripes is that people can be great tenants and pay rent regular ,but cannot get a mortgage paying the same amount, it is not fair . Especially when asked for a 20% deposit… I say to my tenants that if they are regular with rent,want to buy a place I will give a good reference if it helps them. You are right about a guarrantor …In 40 years I have only asked for one guarantor, but then I do not have a huge turnover of tenants
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Because my husband bought a house in the early 1990s and the value subsequently dropped, we weren’t incompetent as you suggested. I’d like house prices to drop, then both of my children could buy. However we own both our properties outright and will never be in negative equity.
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spot on . One of my children was renting so i bought a place for them . Now i downsized to get some extra cash to help another of my kids . Without Mum and Dad some kids will not be able to get on the property ladder. No wonder people have to rent rather than buy
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The proof is in my many years of hands on experience and my evident successes in life.
I have probably been a tenant many more years than you, and certainly in more variations of location. 3 years in Inverness, 2 years in Sheffield, 6 months in the Seychelles, 2 years in central London, 3 years in Kent, 1 year in Dahran-Saudi Arabia, 4 years in Muscat-Oman, 1 year in Surrey, 2 years in Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia, 1 year in Manila-Philippines, 2 years in Thailand. Never once did I have a problem in those tenancies.
Now it’s time for you to show your hand. What exactly have you done in life?? Probably nothing, hence your reluctance to state anything, which is the true definition of a troll - no knowledge or experience, just a load of hot air.
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When were you a tenant Chris, not how long have you been one. Try to stick to the question asked, not the one you wish to reply to.
The fact your constantly trying to make personal attacks shows you either are trolling, or incapable of a rational conversation.
A rather wide generalisation. Just where did it start?
It started with Matzy casting insulting aspersions on the professionalism of landlords, if you care to read the whole topic and not be so selective.
Is there any wonder landlords react to such vitriol, and uninformed diatribe.
As he calls it, hominem insults, and no sign of any reasoned debate. Pot calling kettle black, I would suggest.
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Of what significance is that. However, I first rented in Inverness in 1974, and my last tenancy ended in 2015 in Thailand, a total span of 41 years, in a total of 25 different properties, spread over 8 different countries. My experience as a landlord spans from 1984 to 2021, a total of 37 years. And you…???
Why don’t you try answering one, for the fourth time of asking!!
First asked 35 posts back, and still waiting. Got something to hide…???
As I’ve said before, pot calling the kettle black. You have not made a single reasoned argument / debate in any one of your replies to my posts. Just trolling provocation or inane questions.
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Mazty is not expressing an opinion on any specific subject, he’s simply expressing his feelings, hatred and envy, of professional PRS landlords.
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Quite right Colin.
What he doesn’t realise, is that his obvious reluctance to answer questions and declare his interest, is only embarrassing himself and proving, as you say, that he must have something to hide. It’s unlikely we’d get an honest factual answer under these circumstances anyway.
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Colin3, We became landlords when we bought a flat as a way of getting our children onto the property ladder. I wish we had invested instead, it would have been a lot easier! Fortunately we have had good tenants but after coming on here I’m very careful when choosing them. Just imagine getting one like Mazty!
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its our children who need the help. my parents were not well off and could not help me moneywise we lived in a prefab for a few years, ,but i am in a position to help mine… We can all look back and think I wish I had done this or that… I have kept places empty because I did not like the people who came forward. You just have to talk for a while to someone to get a feeling for it . For 50 years I have worked as a builder and always in peoples homes, so you meet all types from the really tight people in big houses to the “humble” people in terraced houses . I know who I would rather have. as a customer
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Unfortunately, I don’t need to imagine, I’ve had them all. Drug dealers and users, physically and verbally abusive, deceitful liars and fraudsters / conmen, lazy, dirty, arrogant, aggressive inconsiderate and racist sub-human beings. The only undesirables I successfully managed to recognise and block, were the cannabis farmers.
I’ve had plenty of the opposite types also, which makes the business palatable, especially since I generally don’t need to deal directly with them anymore, having a good letting agent on board.
I could make your hair curl with some of the stories.
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I really resent your accusations. I rented most my life until in my early 40’s. I was a single parent without any financial support from anyone. Renting was difficult at times as I never felt secure. I get that. And for you landlords saying get a job & buy, this frankly was never a possibility as I always had to have a two bed flat because I had a child and my income was never enough to buy a 2 bed flat in London where I worked 48 Hours a week AND a full time mother. So Matzy, I get your frustrations but you are painting all landlords with the same brush. I eventually managed to buy a flat in my early 40’s but this was in 2002 & now I do not believe I would be able to afford it in London. I, then became very ill & could not continue in my job. My only option was to let my flat out & I bought a tiny one bed on the south coast & moved. It was an x crack den so lots of work to do!!! But I’ve never shied away from hard work. Got my head down and brought an empty property (which had been the pain of the street with severe antisocial behaviour) back into use. I worked 60 hours a week at least on it for 6 months & then a further 6 months approx 20 hours a week. Neighbour’s thanked me. This is a normal neighbourhood with NHS staff, nurses (who were unable to sleep due to the previous owners). I lived there for 3.5 years. It was too small for me so I bought again. I worked bloody hard for this. So hard it contributed to serious further illness. I now have 3 properties and find myself as a landlord. I barely make any profit at all because I’ve never been able to get a mortgage!! So I have had to take out normal 5 year loans, put on credit cards etc etc. I got into property because I Have no pension and totally freaked out about how I can afford to live in my old age with the conditions I have. 2/3 tenants are absolutely lovely but one of those has not been looking after the flat very well & it will need major redecorating when she leaves. The 3rd property I had professional rogue tenants move in causing me absolute chaos, extremely time consuming, basically a full time job dealing with them, solicitors costs etc. even though according to my income I should be entitled to befall aid, of course I’m not as I have 3 properties, but my tenant is fully entitled. These tenants have abused me every step of the way. They knew all the tricks. I have them 6 months notice. And kept reminding them if they left early I would need one months notice (I’ve never given notice before) They contact me 4 days before they want to vacate saying they don’t want to pay the final full months rent. We agreed they would vacate on a certain date if they signed a deed of surrender & I would let them leave earlier than agreed date. Everything was planned to a tee. But they were gone several days before we were supposed to sign & do they checkout. So no, checkouts do not always happen! And they left half a wardrobe of clothes behind which I’ve learned us a typical trick of professional rogue tenants. It took months for them to retrieve them with the most unpleasant vitriolic communication from them. I’m still having to suffer the consequences of a terrible tenancy even after they are gone. TRY DEALING WITH THAT! They want all their deposit back after lying about income ti Rentgaurd who did not do due diligence in referencing. I will NEVER get them ti do referencing again so my referencing price is not just £20 but £80. My tenancy agreement will now be done by a solicitor which is god knows how much:? I just want out but I can’t as it would be impossible to get meaningful work with my condition. BTW all my properties are done to extremely high standard & as many LL have said to much higher standard than their own homes. The costs are astronomical. I’m sure this will all settle at some point once loans are paid off etc. but I’ve worked my arse off making homes which people love and don’t want to move from. I brought empty property back into use so that people renting coils enjoy them at very reasonable rents!! And then I get shat on. You have no idea what you are talking about thinking this is some kind of non job!!! And you do not have a clue about the finances!! I do however understand the difficulties of being able to buy a property. But you need to stop blaming landlords. It’s not my fault! It’s not landlords fault. I’m bringing previously unavailable properties back into use. I’m disgusted by this entire thread. Both sides have been vitriolic to each other. I’ve got no more to say except to stop painting all landlords with one brush. Most landlords are very decent caring people. Yes there are rogue landkairds just as there are rogue tenants.
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