Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

Housing headaches - read below for the solution

28th Jul 2015
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

The emergency budget is now well and truly behind us but I have been busy examining my affairs with a toothcomb . I am a buy to let landlord and also have commercial properties . The question is not so much how to arrange my affairs expeditiously but how Mr Osborne's moves will affect the market , if at all.

This is important for tenants more than for landlords like myself who are in it for the long term and care about our properties and tenants . If the housing shortage is to be addressed the government need to focus on improving landlord standards without over legislating. The selective licensing regime that some local authorities have imposed is tantamount to a raid on landlords . I am in the process of selling off those properties that fall into such a category as the greedy council have made it unreasonable financially to continue to comply . I did consider conversion of the flats to offices , so this shows how poor policies / implementation ruins it for would-be renters.

I think the long term outlook needs to be fostered as it is in Europe with relationships forged with tenants to make the arrangement work for everybody. In my case we manage in-house and compared to past experience of using agents it is chalk and cheese. I am a member of the RLA and a professional landlord who is living of his rental income has clearly got more of an impetus than somebody waiting for capital gains in time for their retirement.

Perhaps a website where tenants and landlords can rate each other ? Fiscal breaks for long term landlords and some sort of industry recognised quality mark would also improve matters.

Wile we are on the subject it is time to stop villifying landlords and understand their vital social role will also push standards higher . If people tell you that you are a leech and don't care for the less fortunate then you'll start to behave like it .

And finally, let's not forget the tenants who think it is acceptable to wreck other people's property .

What goes around comes around , so time for a mindset shift all round

Tags:

You might also be interested in

Replies (8)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

By ShirleyM
28th Jul 2015 11:53

This is austerity

Somebody has to pay off the deficit and few get anything in return.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By justsotax
28th Jul 2015 12:14

you get what

you vote for...and unfortunately it seems most thought that labour was a very bad bet and a coalition wasn't much better.  I wonder who is having seconds thoughts about who they voted for after the 'attack' on property and small companies.  But on the positive side we are all in it together..... 

Thanks (0)
By ShirleyM
28th Jul 2015 12:22

No tax rises ....

So the alternative is removal of reliefs. I wonder what is next.

Big business and the elite are untouchable where the Tories are concerned, so it falls to everyone else to make up the shortfall.

They can't keep taking from those who have little or nothing (although they are having a damn good try), so it has to come from people who have something.

Thanks (0)
Norman Younger
By Norman Younger
28th Jul 2015 16:02

In it together

I have no truck with paying my way and helping the country's finance's get better, after all I participated in the good times.

BUT not with policies that are stupid and distort supply

As for today's news about stopping international money laundering in London houses it is another half baked David Cameron measure - shoot from the hip with a headline and worry where the bullet will go afterwards

 

 

 

 

Thanks (0)
By ShirleyM
28th Jul 2015 16:28

That was quite tame ...

... in comparison to this one.

But with us, our borders will be under control and immigration will be at levels our country can manage.

No ifs. No buts.

That's a promise we made to the British people. And it's a promise we are keeping.

Meanwhile, big business (with Tory Lords at the helm) keeps shipping in EU workers for min pay jobs, and the taxpayer funded benefits tops up their income, provides housing, education, health services, and all the rest. If you're not big business or loaded then the Tories was a very bad choice!

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Knight Rider
29th Jul 2015 19:56

Camerons Promises

Seem to remember a promise of less than 100000 net migration, a referendum on the Lisbon treaty and a restoration of the pension tax credit and Im sure there are others.

However to be fair it was Labour that opened the doors of unrestricted immigration, estimated that 15000 Poles would arrive and we got 1m, and who were in the words of Peter Mandelson relaxed about people getting filthy rich.

The Tories were also a bad choice for the loaded with substantial dividend income.

But back to housing - demand has been driven by immigration,cheap money, expectation of capital gains and foreign investors. Restricting supply with red tape and making it difficult for people to buy homes with mortgages does nothing to resolve these issues. The latter just turns buyers into renters (and drives up rents).

I would suggest that immigration controls, some restrictions on purchases of domestic property by foreign nationals and raising interest rates to stabilise or reduce asset prices would be a good start.

Thanks (0)
Norman Younger
By Norman Younger
30th Jul 2015 09:06

Immigration control

Trouble is that it has become a taboo subject , another "no go" victim of political correctness. To suggest stopping the thousands of people leaving Africa and the Middle East coming to our country is tantamount to saying let them all perish at home

This is of course nonsense as I suspect that the overwhelming majority of these people are economic migrants. If we made it difficult for new arrivals who claim genuine persecution then it would surely weed out the liars. Are we allowed to call them that or is it off-limits ?

A real refugee would surely run to a neighbouring country for succour . Why save up and risk your life to travel thousands of miles when you could be safe free of charge and relatively securely ? 

Every country needs migrants as they tend to do the more menial tasks that the indigenous population shun, and then many work their way up the employment ladder . They are essential to make the country work but it cannot be unfettered - it's simply and basic economics

 

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Knight Rider
30th Jul 2015 19:23

Migration and housing

Of course the UK needs migrants but the scale of immigration over recent years has put pressure on housing as well as other services. The scale has also fostered resentment and undermined community cohesion.

The discrimination against immigrants from outside the EU is deeply unfair.

Many of the migrants we see coming to the UK are the youngest,brightest and fittest from their countries - just the people that are needed to improve their home countries.There is a moral case for returning some of the migrants to their home countries without whom the lot of the remaining citizens(the older,less able) would be even worse.

If conditions are so bad in Africa and the Middle East that people are leaving in such numbers isn't this really an argument for military and/or humanitarian aid in those countries? We shouldn't really be contracting out immigration policy to people smugglers and foreign despots.

But you are right this has been a taboo subject and the effect is apparent in housing. landlords are now required to carry out border checks!

Thanks (0)