Landlord rent rises spark calls for government intervention

Of course rents rose every year. The figure should be 100%. This helps reduce the risk of much higher rises in later years. Has the Renters Rights Coalition heard of inflation?

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑠, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 31% 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 22% 𝑖𝑛 2021

And thanks to groups like the RRC and Shelter (who don’t provide shelter to anyone), the number will rise.

𝐴𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 (47%) 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝐷 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤), 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 35% 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠’ 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦

D isn’t low. The average is D. The legal minimum (fir private lettings) is E. Landlords own a disproportionate number of older properties and these are more difficult to raise to an EPC Rating C.

Increasing the rating can be expensive. If landlords invest in expensive measures to raise the EPC, the tenant will need to pay higher rent.

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒’𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑡𝑠 (38%) 𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 (47%).

Ever increasing renters rights, slow payments (in arrears) for benefits, LHA only covering around 5% if rents in full and increased risk of damage from non-working tenants are all good reasons to avoid benefits claimant when there’s a plentiful supply of better tenants.

Adapting property would be another expense that can simply be avoided.

41% 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑡.

What has this got to do with anything? I want a return on my property that is high enough to stop me selling up. I should be allowed to hold property in a tax-free ISA. In fact, as I sell up, I am buying shares in BTR companies and I’m moving these to ISAs as soon as I can.

That Ben is on another planet.
Telling a private human being Landlord who is not a charity or council
You must only charge this.
I'm charging even more now on new tenant cause we just don't know what they gonna call for next.

The only landlord that has a "sky is the limit" approach to setting rent is the bankrupt landlord; the market dictates what rents are, hence the 'market rate'!
What do we need to follow new regulation that increases landlords' costs and erodes landlords' ability to operate an efficient business??? Why, more regulation to increase their financial risk and make whole sections of tenants too risky to ever rent to.

I think Charlie Lamdin explains is perfect here:

https://youtu.be/aL3TdTIhRcA?si=xCj_bo4RLeXjEghW

“For many landlords it seems the sky’s the limit when putting up rent.”

Nope - market rent is the limit.

How the (faaaarrrr) left have not got a clue regarding economics.

I bet they didn't look at what rents were (or how long they had been held at that rate) prior to the change of tenant. Most landlords keep rent low for years and rarely raise it for a good tenant, but why should they not advertise their property at a rent that reflects current market value at the time of a tenancy change? Why are landlords discriminated against like NO OTHER business, and why are our so-called advocates like the NRLA not kicking up a massive stink about it and challenging these lobbyist groups???? Given the new bill is going to make rent increases during tenancies more arduous and allow tenants to challenge each and every increase no matter how small, any landlord with any sense will put their rents up to full market value while they still can as the procedure for increasing it later on is going to be weighted very much in favour of the tenant......

I see Scotland has just upped the additional purchase premium to an utterly imbecilic 8% - no doubt Reeves will be wanting to play catch up with the only recently increased to 5% SDLT in a future budget.

Perhaps Ben Twomey and Lucy Tiller should ponder why the government allows me to buy a home of any size I like at standard SDLT rates with the money I’ve raised selling up rental property - but the same government is penalising renters seeking scarce homes by demanding this surcharge from those willing to put their money into providing accommodation for others.

Just one example of the obvious outcome of government policy leading to less people willing to become landlords and higher rental prices for the remaining properties.

If there was just one PRS rental left - STILL Ben and Lucy would be telling the government what steps they should take to make the landlord pack up and sell!

LHA rose by less than 11% in my area between 2020 and 2024. It had been frozen at 2020 rates for four years.

The 2020 rates were set using data from 2019 so was already out of date by April 2020.

Inflation between 2020 and April 2024 was 22.75%.

Labour are freezing the rates next year (obviously not content with just freezing our pensioners).

This means that more welfare claimants will need to use benefits intended for other purposes to top up their rent payments.

I had a New Year’s Resolution to increase my rents EVERY year. I think it came as a shock to the tenant when I increased one of them by 15%. I had warned them 12 months earlier.

I haven’t decided what the next increase will be. Around 30% would take one of my properties to market rate (long term tenant), another would need a rise of 60% (best tenant and family) and another by around 12% (ok tenant).

Today, I’m thinking 5% would be reasonable. Some days, I think 10% would be reasonable.

When I read the rankings of the RRC, Shelter (who don’t provide shelter to anyone) and Generation Rent, I think maybe it’s time to increase to market rates.

I’ve started selling as they become vacant. I will NEVER take on a new tenant again.

I’ve always charged low rents - because I can. I don’t make a fortune but with no mortgages to worry about, the rental income supplements by pension. This year, one bad tenant cost me the equivalent of 7 years’ rental income form that one property.

I’ve just done some number crunching.

If I’d increased the rent by inflation each year for the last 10 years, one tenant would have paid 9.35% more rent over the ten years than they have and their rent would be 36% higher than it is today.

Of course, landlords costs have increased significantly since 2015 thanks to unfair taxation and over-regulation. My rents really should be much higher.

Inflation figured used starting April 2016,
0.4%
2.5%
2.4%
2.3%
0.8%
1.0%
9.9%
10.2%
2.3%