Iain Duncan Smith Has Spoken Out For Landlords

Morning everyone,
I quickly looked at the Axe the Tenants Tax FB page - they are posting the following link:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-4390986/Politicians-misjudged-buy-let-tax-crackdown.html
Our Dr Ros is quoted there.
Is the tide turning?
If so, I think we should up our efforts and lobby anyone we can think of. This article is I think in Daily Mail, Money section. Perhaps worth writing to them too?

Reply to the comment left by "David Price" at "26/06/2017 - 07:29":

It's fine, David, I lay no claim to copyright. Thanks for your words of appreciation - first time I've been complimented by a rocket scientist!

Sorry if I'm slow on the uptake but hadn't realised that they'd appointed Alok Sharma as Gavin Barwell's replacement.

So all the emails and letters I sent out last week will now have to be sent to him too!!

I think I might title any correspondence with 'Section 24 - the next housing disaster: where are you going to house these people?'

Might get his attention.

I raised the question of housing evictees in a local council landlords forum. In summary they have no plans because they have no accommodation and no spare cash, they are totally reliant on the goodwill of landlords (alive and well and living with the tooth fairy).

I evicted another tenant on benefits yesterday.
He couldn't afford the rent and I haven't even raised them at his property yet because of S24.

Sorry, correction, he couldn't afford the rent because he blew his universal credit on weed, booze and slot machines and thought he could threaten me via SHELTER.

He also performed sexual acts on young men in my property because his front teeth had rotted away by taking smack.
He's in demand on the gay scene.

Being a landlord is hard work and has unsociable hours.

The police are useless because the CPS won't prosecute, the country is sliding into a quagmire of drug dealing and prostitution and I'm being attacked for keeping them away from your neighbourhood via Section 24.

The streets are going to be crawling with beggars, drug addicts and muggers thanks to Section 24, they are going to be more desperate for more money.

The housing act, grounds 8 needs amending to drop the wait from 8 weeks to 2 weeks rent and if UC or LHA is not spent on housing costs it should get its own mandatory grounds for eviction.

I only have 6 tenants left on benefits.

3 are one week away from Section 8's for 8 weeks arrears.
They will be evicted, there is not a chance of them being able to afford paying for my Section 24 tax hike, so I will find tenants who can.

The other 3 are in arrears because of UC delays.
They also will be evicted and if necessary I will sell off my properties and go into commercial to residential HMO conversions under a limited company structure.

To summarise
I am now clearing out my tenants on benefits
I am probably going to sell property off.
I haven't had my 1st Section 24 tax bill yet, when it comes it will be the last one I ever pay.

I house 53 households, well done to you idiots in government.

Reply to the comment left by "Gary Dully" at "28/06/2017 - 11:09":

I don't have nearly this many properties Gary but have similar experiences.

I discovered one of my tenants was growing weed for sale in the front bedroom and when I reported it to the police they were not in the least interested. Asked me how big the plants were and when I said "about two inches high" (at the time I saw them), they said it sounded like it was just for personal use and weren't going to do anything. Brilliant.

I have one tenant who, hasn't paid rent since April, has agreed to leave this Friday without any fuss to avoid any CCJ's but I've got no chance of recovering that rent. I have to suck that up and move on apparently.

I'm about to increase the rent on another benefit tenant but they are already receiving their full entitlement from the council so I'm anticipating more expense trying move them along when they say they can't afford the increase. Even though I've been told he's running a car repair business from the back garden (he's signed off long term unfit for work).

I've said it all along, absolutely nobody is going to appreciate the importance of the Private Sector Landlord until it's too late and there are queues of homeless people demanding accommodation from the council. Not until major news channels are reporting the ridiculous hotel bills being paid by local councils to house the homeless and stories of large families being forced into one room on a long term basis. That's the problem with every government, they never spend any time looking at the long term consequences of their policies and think they know better than everyone. Their advisors are the people who benefit from the policies and their advisors tell them that the people who are affected by the policies are overreacting complainers.

Having said all of that, I'm hanging on in there. I'm hopeful that, if I can ride the first two years of S24 they'll come to their senses. It's not easy though and a bit of a risk but then being a PRS Landlord has always been that.

Reply to the comment left by "Dr Rosalind Beck" at "22/06/2017 - 11:51":

You're right. A short letter will suffice.

I am lobbying Landlords that I know to write to IDS, 1 already has and I fully intend doing the same. I have seen 2 local MPs in the last few months, but as all local MPs are Labour, it felt like a wasted exercise.
I have 50 BTL properties, all mortgaged, and have calculated that my tax could increase by as much as 450% by 2020. I have started to increase rents sensitively, property by property, to avoid too many voids, but I can't see me being able to increase them enough by 2020 to cover the huge tax bill I'm going to be faced with.
I no longer rent to anyone on benefits and insist on home owner guarantors on every new tenancy, as well as the usual references. I worry for the future, I have a daughter who will be going to university in a few years time and am her sole financial provider.
I live in hope that changes are going to be made to this unfair tax.

Hear hear, I'm coming out the benefits market too.
I don't know how many times I've said that in this log ha ha. but I'm forgetting which discussion is which thread.

I have roughly 4 tenants leave a year for whatever reason (most of my existing are HB), & I ain't having any leaving at moment, which along with my investigations of scanning for properties tells me there is nothing out there, even less for HB tenants, & if there is anything, rents are shooting up.
All the above cause of Universal Credit, S24 etc.

You should all write to you own mp and copy
IDS
and Mel Stride mp
Their e mails are on their web site.
They will not get involved unless you contact your own MP

They have just made George Osborne an honourable professor of economics at Manchester university.

It's just incredible that this academical fuckwit is still breathing.

I reckon he's the new Doctor Who and will replace Peter Capaldi in the Christmas Special.

This people running that university are just a bit simple in the head.