General Election 8th June – Who on earth do landlords vote for?

Reply to the comment left by "Gary Dully" at "08/06/2017 - 02:49":

Very intelligent analysis, Gary. And intelligence has very little to do with school grades. Remember my correspondence with Danny Dorling? 'Professor' Danny Dorling? I'm flummoxed regarding how he got his professorship - he strikes me as really thick. He must have got it by bullshitting (I'm tempted to suggest other means usually ascribed to women who get on in films) as I can't see how he would have even passed his A' Levels. Then we have the likes of Alan Sugar and Richard Branson - they could wipe the floor with Dorling intellectually. Like you say, many people who go to University shouldn't bother - it doesn't seem to have a positive impact for them. Many of them are too thick to see through the likes of Jeremy Corbyn for instance.

BTW: I was one of those really poor kids who managed to get to University and got a full grant - basically if you got a place in University and your parents were skint you got it. Regarding tuition fees I think they should be much lower - the £3000 a year seemed about right - and they should be paid for by the student. A problem in the old days though was that if your parents earned a certain amount they were expected to pay for your everyday living expenses. A friend of mine wanted to go to University but his father refused to fund it saying 'I didn't get to go.' Because there were no maintenance loans he couldn't go.

I also had been interested in becoming a barrister, but you had to 'fund yourself' for a year - so my careers adviser told me when I was about 13 - so I had to forget that as it was impossible. I think it is easier now for people to do what they want to in life, even if they do end up with a loan to pay back. I was also surprised to hear the kind of money we are talking about. One example I saw was that as soon as you were earning a bit over £21,000pa you had to pay back about £67 a month, That wouldn't break the bank.

https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/6/salford-build-to-rent-scheme-opens-its-doors-to-tenants

Some very good comments here. I went to a grammar school and got a ridiculous amount of qualifications. Being a super bright kid in a "normal" school is a pain in the ass. Prior to going to grammar school, I got a MENSA assessment, got put up two years (then had to be put back down one due to the fact that I couldn't fit in socially), got harrassed for being a "swot" and used to get asked to stop answering everything. I would imagine the other kids were as frustrated by me as I was by them. Getting sent to grammar school a year early fixed everything. This is in no way a brag - I am not responsible for the IQ I was born with, and there are things I suck at. But grammar schools are needed, or we are depriving kids of the education they need because their parents can't afford to pay for it.

Mixed feelings about university tuition fees. I had to drop out of Uni first time round as I ran out of money, even working part time every evening and weekend. I wouldn't mind free tuition fees so long as there was some sort of criteria for getting into university, and a reining in of some spurious degree topics. I never understood why Labour felt everyone needed a degree. Having a degree doesn't make you special, it makes you academic. Why would everyone want to be academic?

I now have my (self-funded) degree and am about to start my (self-funded) PhD. You're very right about me appreciating that now much more than I would have done in my twenties, and having paid for it probably is a contributing factor (although managing to do it round a full time consultancy is more of a pride factor for me). I'm actually glad I've had to spend 25 years in the real world. I always wanted to be an academic, but had I not had that real world experience I might have spent my whole life in a Danny Dorling ivory tower.

Reply to the comment left by "NW Landlord" at "08/06/2017 - 08:18":

Bravo, George. I hope they paid you well. You'd be skint otherwise with your low paying real world job and your lack of trust fund.

"Economies of scale a private landlord couldn't match". Yeah, I'm sure S24 doesn't factor at all into that equation.

200 plus units won't touch the sides and are catering for a niche market

Reply to the comment left by "NW Landlord" at "08/06/2017 - 08:34":

Indeed, I don't think for a minute they want my tenant who smashed the bathroom twice in six months, thought the entire garden was actually a bin, and threw up all over the kitchen as a leaving present. of course, the Council didn't want her either, they told me that evicting her would make her homeless as "they won't take tenants like that."

Rightmove is advertising a 2 bed flat in this block at £1300 pcm! That is London prices!

Let's see how they deal with the inevitable issues voids, trashed flats, anti social behaviour, non paying rent, cannabis farms, housing suspensions etc once they start stinging the tenants with high deposits and large rent increases because shareholders arnt happy with their returns the whole idea will unravel it has it's place and I welcome it but it won't be a walk in the park we all know this. The lack of personal touch and sky high rents will be two huge negatives thaf will put people off 100%. It's a bit like the explosion of supermarkets in the 90s everyone flocked there because it was new then eventually started coming back to the local convenience store for a variety of reasons.

Well I have made progress. After a lengthy and frank exchange of views it became clear that my local UKIP candidate knew nothing about Section 24. I sent her the link to my report suggesting she read the Executive summary and quotes by experts and she has now said she fully supports us in our aim to get it scrapped and will help regardless of the outcome of the election as she will not win anyway. It looks like she is going to get my vote and those of several members of my family.

Still trying to peddle that BBC documentary

https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/6/new-bbc-one-property-show-seeks-buy-to-let-landlords