Labour want German style indefinite tenancies

What the Labour Party seem to be overlooking is that Germany have several other ways to control housing which the UK does not enjoy.

For example, they have lots of available building space. If they need more housing they have plenty of land to build it on. They then incentivise development by giving 100% tax relief on new builds.

Will the Labour Party be making new land and similar tax breaks available if they ever get elected? I think NOT!

Reply to the comment left by SimonP SimonP at 11/03/2019 - 12:00
Oooops sorry it saved an initial rough draft over the finished article. Now updated again.

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 11/03/2019 - 13:33
They have a lot of incentives to private landlords too. They are needed, and not considered an enemy of the state, like here.

And in Germany, once you have owned your rental property for 10 years or more you can sell without CGT. But I don’t suppose the red prince had that in mind either

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 11/03/2019 - 13:02"what possible incentive have we got in throwing out one set of tenants and getting a new set of tenants?"
The 'theory' goes that landlords evict so they can charge a higher rent (conveniently forgetting landlords can increase the rent anyway using a section 13 notice).
Either that or its a 'revenge' eviction.
-Ever noticed obnoxious toerags who don't look after the property and regard paying the rent as optional, always claim to be a victim of a revenge eviction? There's nearly always a very good reason for a landlord having to go through the time, cost and stress of a 'no fault' eviction.

Reply to the comment left by Anne Brown at 11/03/2019 - 13:09
"providing there remains adequate criteria for seeking possession of your property then there is little to fear."

Remains adequate?
You're 'avin a laff!

And of course in Germany, a landlord is fully entitled to deduct loan interest against tax unlike here. In Germany, there is every incentive for landlords to add to supply unlike here.

The German system has winners and losers of course. The winners are those tenants who have a detailed and very checkable history of rent payment (as well as those who can afford to install their own kitchens etc). The losers are the new arrivals and/or itinerant poorer tenants who have little verification to offer because landlords won't want to take the risk. They are avoided like the plague. In the UK the latter group - poorer tenants and migrants etc - are the very tenants which Labour and others claim to be most concerned about.

Bottom line: trying to create indefinite security when demand is chasing too little supply = recipe for disaster. LLs will be choosy.

Of course we will be told that the courts will be reformed to make it quicker to evict bad tenants, so it's all going to be just fine. Yeah right.

I rented out a 3 bedroom house to a tenant with one room known as box room, its size is good enough for a child, when he moved in he was told explicitly no subletting, as it would otherwise become an HMO, and I could be literally screwed up with dry sand by the local authority, but did he care less, nope, he stuffs a Double Bed in this box room leaving just a foot wide space for the occupant to walk over his stuff he placed in this gap, the other side is a wardrobe, and no other room to swing a cat, so today he phoned me up, asking me to reduce his rent by another £50 a month, because the person his nephew no longer stays in this room, so he wants me to help him by reducing rent by another £50, I have already reduced his rent from £900 to £850 back about a year ago, now he wants to pay me only £800 pm, I said fair enough, as long as that double bed goes out of that room, he started to argue why it needs to go out, and started to get funny, I then said to him if he wants me to compromise with trent then that bed has to go, because for one thing it looks very silly to have a double bed in a small room, secondly it would look like he is stuffing two adults in a box room that is designed for a child using a small single bed.
He has to get rid of that double bed or else, he can bugger off , now am I being harsh and unreasonable with him?

So if he could rent this house for life at lower and lower rent, how would I get rid of him if the new laws came in?

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 11/03/2019 - 17:43
"So if he could rent this house for life at lower and lower rent, how would I get rid of him if the new laws came in?"

By giving him notice now and finding a decent tenant that isn't overcrowding, perhaps dangerously, your house. Perhaps that's not possible in your area or circumstances though.

Google the german rental system and once you get past the IPPR and think tank reports, and bits from GR, you will find lots of useful information from german websites. It seems the majority of german rental properties are owned by organisations, pension funds and such like, not by individuals. Germany has never experienced massive house price inflation and as the majority of germans don't aspire to home ownership, property has never been utilised by ordinary citizens as a way to increase capital/make money. As others have already mentioned, CGT is zero after 10 years, renters frequently provide their own kitchens and do their own repairs, and while Berlin has rent controls, the success of that policy is regularly questioned. But GR and Labour just cherry pick the bits that make good soundbites.