Labour want ‘Triple Lock’ for tenants

Reply to the comment left by Ingrid Bacsa at 30/04/2020 - 18:22
The Govt can get away with this behaviour because PRS landlords are mostly a group of separate individuals who often don’t agree on things and don’t have an effective group to bribe, sorry I mean lobby, the government, we have no power or friends in high places unlike most other industries so we can’t fight back, we are isolated. The PRS has been deliberately targeted for take over by the mega landlords, who do have friends in high places and the ear of the (mostly incompetent, corrupt and greedy) government. There’s not much that we can do about it except to decide whether to stay in the sector and hope to survive or take the decision to sell up and reinvest into a safer, fairer and more equitable investment sector. That will be up to each landlord to decide, many have already left. It’s possible something happens to make the government change course but that is unpredictable at the moment and I really can’t see Brexit helping the situation as without even the modest restraint of Brussels the UK government can do exactly as it pleases, as long as they don’t stray too far from their masters in Washington DC and Tel Aviv of course.

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 02/05/2020 - 03:02
Bristol Landlord, I hear that, in Germany at least, evictions are even harder ... there is no Section 8 or 21. One has to hire a private lawyer to take any case, with the normal £350 per hour from start to Court case conclusion and evictions are extremely difficult.

The one way around this imbalance is to ALWAYS rent out bedrooms that have to share a live in landlord's kitchen instead of providing a self contained shorthold tenancy ! If we ALL did this there would be no need for court evictions or grovelling to tenants, because they become "lodgers". We could appoint a trusted person as live in landlord in each of our other properties.

With the lack of scope for a united rebellion, and a failure of government to see individual Landlords as willing and reasonable human beings, the choices are very limited.
So, we forfeit the smallest bedroom for this purpose and keep Council tax etc in our name. This forfeit will be cheaper than the increasing tenant rights and landlord regs risks, especially now we will need to pay a £540 mediation fee for telephone mediation before we can commence with court eviction proceedings (the new mediation is in place to benefit tenants and extend their tenancies even further) .

"Lodger" tenancies will balance the promoted anti-landlord penalisation from governments and local Councils and the local Councils will have to house married couples with kids - by themselves through housing associations that somehow have more control than we private landlords.

i believe germany has security for tenants PROVIDED they pay rent and abide by rules

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 30/04/2020 - 13:34
no tories in govt--social democrats or worse

Reply to the comment left by terry sullivan at 02/05/2020 - 12:47
Could it be much worse with even a Jeremy Corbyn and at least I believe he actual cares about tenants.The Tories et all are eating away at the PRS and it will get worse . Local Councils now seem to be offering more deals for the PRS to take all the people they cant house including the additional homeless that the big hearted Tories have taken off the street .I assume the mega landlords referred to dont want them so perhaps this will always be a high risk avenue.

Reply to the comment left by David at 02/05/2020 - 14:24
i will never take social tenants on ast

Following the comments on several PRS sites it seems to me that many Landlords default position is being victims of Government, Councils or Tenants! Whilst they are maybe happy with this situation, it only brings the whole sector down and damages the true return on investment the rest have made.
“If You Always Do What You've Always Done, You'll Always Get What You've Always Got.”
If the pundits ae right as we come out of lockdown then demand will far out strip the available properties to rent, therefore this is the time to take stock of your business and act: -
• Remember PRS is a Business, not a Charity, we are all in this sector to get a return on our investment.
• Review your business plan if you have not got one write one.
• What is your target market?
• Assess your cost of sale, i.e. what is going out against coming in.
• What is your Yield and Return on Investment, is it enough to achieve what you set out in the business plan?
• Research the local PRS rental charges, if you are not getting the right return or achieving the correct yield, increase your rent.
• Decide what conditions/restrictions you are prepared to work under.
• Make necessary changes to the minimum conditions that you are prepared to let your property, you may wish to: -
o One month’s rent in advance, regardless of who is paying.
o Guarantor for all tenants from the Council or are on Universal Credit.
o 6 months break clause.
o 5 weeks deposit or Rent Assurance
o If Universal Credit, then rent paid directly to you from outset
o Decide what is included in your rent, i.e. Council Tax, Power, Water, make them part of the Tenants responsibility.
• Once you have set out what your target market, decided what conditions you are prepared to accept, know your yield and required return on investment, ensure the property meets the expectations in this sector.
• Landlords have been demonised by the Government’s propaganda organisation, Shelter, PRS do not have a tame MP or Government funded organisation to speak on our behalf, it is a “cottage industry”. The Sector is as weak as the weakest Landlord and their weakness will drive the rents down.
At all times remember that you are a “Business, not a Charity” no one will give a “shit” if you go bankrupt.

Reply to the comment left by terry sullivan at 02/05/2020 - 12:45When I lived there in the early 2000s I saw Germans absolutely abide by the letter of a contract and by the letter of the law, both tenants and landlords, there was no room for adjustment or flexibility, even to the point of absurdity.
I rented in Munich, the landlady lied by saying she lived far away but actually lived locally, she was constantly in the back garden watering the grass.
She also said if we signed a 3 year contract she would not be able to increase the rent, she also said, as we were foreigners, that we could leave whenever we wanted with just a months written notice. We trusted her and foolishly signed the German language contract, a year later my job finished and I was offered another in Hamburg.
After we gave the agreed 30 days notice she then turned around and said that as there was nothing written in the contract about leaving early we then owed her the remaining 2 years rent money. She also insisted we keep her large plant in the apartment which somehow damaged the hardwood flooring. She demanded we repaired her floor and then claimed an absurdly high repair amount on our renters insurance without our knowledge. We only found out by accident after calling the insurance broker. We also checked around and found out this was her specialty, rent out her nice apartment only to foreigners. The only way to get rid of her was to say we were moving back to Canada and good luck suing us. Ursula Schimmer, truly the landlady from hell.

Reply to the comment left by Ingrid Bacsa at 02/05/2020 - 11:23
That’s an interesting idea, could be a business opportunity to start an agency supplying reliable people to take occupancy as the live in landlord. Would this work legally for those of us who don’t have enough reliable friends to fill this role?

Reply to the comment left by David at 02/05/2020 - 14:24
Ive had shockers by giving homeless a chance. Drug sneaking, stinking pot throughout the house, stealing, pinching your milk and burgers from the fridge, blocked sinks, causing noise nuisance for neighbours, bringing in highly ponging friends , bullying, heavy drinking. Yuk. Dont take them unless you have a live in landlord to legally kick ass and chuck them out. Even then stipulate that all their rent is paid direct to you and NEVER expect a top up.