Where is this all going to end?

[kelbol]

I've just been reading in the Daily Mail about rents spiralling out of control :
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/mo....html#comments

And then a refresh of section 21 and EPC ratings:
https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/fo...tion-timetable

Apparently, LL are leaving in droves and supply of rental properties is decreasing.
So who is buying all these properties, removing them from the rental market? Home owners can't live in 2 houses at once and most people don't own a second house (as in a holiday home).
If other LL are buying these houses to add to their portfolio, then supply isn't really decreasing?

My main question though is how do you see the private rental sector in 10 years' time?

LL are being screwed with all these regulations. Many are leaving and I'm one of those.
Rents are shooting up, making it very tough on good tenants.

All new legislation in the past decade or two have been against LL, and that was mostly under the Tories.
It's not like there's a better party out there pro-LL.
So I cannot see the situation improving for LL and therefore no reasons for rents to go down if the risk goes up.

Someone in the Daily Mail mentioned rent control next. Is that likely?

And why did MPs vote for all this anti-LL legislation given they are themselves LL?

[Lesney Park]

That's 6 questions, any preferences on which is answered first?

[landlord-man]

Don't read the Daily Mail - problem resolved

LLs will always get a bad name as we're an easy target - even the NRLA comes across as anti-LL half the time so what hope is there.

However, there will always be a need for clean, well-maintained and well-managed rental properties.

The rules will change - but seriously - how much worse off are "we" now compared to 30 years ago.

Much much more needs to be done to drive out bad LLs but not at the inconvenience and expense of the overwhelming majority of good ones, who provide a vital ingredient within the housing mix (I held back from stating we provide a service for fear of backlash)

At the same time, much much more needs to be done to punish bad tenants - the problem with this is they still need somewhere to live no matter how bad they are.

[Codger]

We need a new politcal party. We could ask for cheap electricity and fewer new laws.

[kelbol]

That's 6 questions, any preferences on which is answered first?

You choose

[Lesney Park]

I honestly don't think being a LL is a bad gig. The legislations aren't punishing (with the possible exception of EPC-C, we'll see how that plays out) and you're only likely to fall foul if you treat the whole thing half-assed. Those LL are the ones the industry could do without.

Agree with LL-man mostly

[kelbol]

I'd have thought the best way to drive out bad LL is from the tenants themselves. If no one wants to rent from a bad LL, they'll have to mend their ways. I suppose tenants flock to them because rents are more affordable? Which takes us full circle since rent elsewhere is higher because good LL have to put up with all the legislation.

[kelbol]

I honestly don't think being a LL is a bad gig. The legislations aren't punishing

So how do you get rid of non-paying tenants who don't want to move out? You can take the utmost care in choosing your tenants but you can't predict if they will fall on hard times.

Being LL is a business. In what kind of business can you offer a service/product and not get paid for months?

[jpkeates]

Long term, the rental sector needs to be fundamentally restructured, there's no way that such a large proportion of people living in the country can live in homes that are, essentially, managed by self selected amateurs.

This is the fundamental driver of the never ending waves of regulation and why all political parties share common (or at least broadly similar) policies.
Because residential landlords aren't a coherent addressable group of people, regulation is the only way to force compliance with minimum standards.

As a separate problem, this is something that governments tend to be bad at, because they don't really understand what they're doing, and can't make changes fast enough when they get something wrong - they're better managing things at arms length, using industry compliance enforcers like ofcom/ofgen etc (and they're far from perfect).

It would suit governments that residential letting is in the hands of large organisations who can operate at defined standards, companies if you're politically right leaning, the state if you're left leaning, although both sides would probably accept a combination of both.

My long term plan was to sell up gradually (being an older person), but the cack handed legislation is likely to force me to accelerate that. So far every rental property i've sold (which isn't that many, so it's a bit of a random sample) has been sold to someone who was going to live in it, which doesn't auger well for tenants generally as landlords sell.

[kelbol]

The rental sector has already been fundamentally restructured, but in the exact opposite way, with social housing being sold, opening up the way for those amateurs.
Gov is bad at long-term planning and they want quick wins, like the very selling of social housing!
You sold to an owner occupier. If that person was previously a tenant, that's one tenant less...

[boletus]

there's no way that such a large proportion of people living in the country can live in homes that are, essentially, managed by self selected amateurs.

The largest proportion of homes are very happily managed by self selected amateur owner occupiers.
Is there no way they can live in their homes either?

[Lesney Park]

So how do you get rid of non-paying tenants who don't want to move out? You can take the utmost care in choosing your tenants but you can't predict if they will fall on hard times.

Being LL is a business. In what kind of business can you offer a service/product and not get paid for months?

Being stiffed by a non paying client is not unique to landlords. There are problems with the courts, again not just a LL issue. All you can do is either increase your vetting (my preference) or adjust your attitude towards risk.

I agree that some reform is needed but equally the whole sector needs to be professionalised as some of the queries on this forum betray a complete lack of the basic skills in some LLs and its infuriating to read.

[jpkeates]

Gov is bad at long-term planning and they want quick wins, like the very selling of social housing!

I think that is part of their long term plan.
Move more people into home ownership and out of rented property.

It was a Thatcher conservative policy that no one has subsequently abandoned (a couple of tweaks here and there), so there's some kind of unspoken consensus.

The UK is unusual in that a great deal of consumer confidence is driven by increases in house prices.

[jpkeates]

The largest proportion of homes are very happily managed by self selected amateur owner occupiers.
Is there no way they can live in their homes either?

They can very happily live in their own homes.
People are very relaxed about their own standards.

Almost anyone can feed themselves without too much trouble, but most people shouldn't be trusted to feed other people safely.

[kelbol]

Being stiffed by a non paying client is not unique to landlords.

True but you can cut your losses. With a tenant, you can't even kick them out. So every month the debt piles up.