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My wife and I own 4 residential property investments, mortgage free. It used to be 5 but we sold 1 to try and stay under the MTD threshold (a failed tactic). For the purpose of discussing Adam Taverner's subject I have to ignore 2 of the properties because they are within the curtillage of our PPR and we would never sell them separately. The 2 properties that are relevant to this are (A) a 2 bed terrace and (B) a 3 bed semi.
We know and have a friendly trusting relationship with our tenants, they are nice people and they look after the properties beautifully. A is a childless couple, B have kids from a previous marriage visiting but not staying. Both of these households really ought to be buying a property for exactly the reasons Adam Taverner gives.
Couple A say they do not want to buy because they hope to do more travelling and are fearful of becoming landlords themselves if they have a property they need to rent out while they are away (they have been frightened off by all the recent changes). I think couple B would buy if they had a deposit in cash but I don't think they are saving.
I have tried to devise a way of converting these two investments into some form of shared ownership. I think that some B2L investors would be interested in this and it would go some way towards mitigating the problem which the APPG is worried about. But there seems no ready-made route into this, our accountants and solicitors don't think they know enough about the ramifications to advise us, and clearly it is something that would have to be as foolproof as possible for us to take the risk.
I wonder if anyone is thinking about this idea? It might be quite popular once landlords discover that they can't regain possession using s21, and therefore they can't sell their investments with vacant possession.
The problem is that all the apartments built to house athletes / officials at the Olympics that I understood would then be sold to the public as homes were instead sold to private companies who sold them on to foreign investors to sit empty or rent out.
People working in London buy further afield (with larger salaries) forcing prices up and those on lower salaries into the rent trap. Meanwhile these investment properties sit empty, but with the desire of foreign investors to own a 'new virgin property' and existing investors refusing to take a hit on their investment, will we end up with another bubble?
Nevermind because all those relying on the gain in their homes to help fund their retirement in the next 10-20 years can sell at higher prices to the next generation and give their children money to get on the property ladder once their house has sold...
Soon a 4 bed house "could" be worth less than a 2 bed one.