Lower income Housing supply not sustainable as landlords leave the market

Blow me down with a feather, it took a Dr to tell us that.

Dr Julie Rugg has a good track record in producing balanced reports on the private rented sector, which unusually in the field are not implicitly or explicitly anti-landlord. I've only read the synopsis, so don't know if she has also covered the disincentive of Section 24 and how this needs to be repealed, but it is good that she has raised the issue of hugely disproportionate and unjust fines, which can be levied on decent landlords who rent out a safe and affordable house, but didn't know they needed a certain piece of paper - or even have the paper (eg a gas safety certificate) but can't prove they handed over a copy to a tenant by a certain date. This kind of thing is farcical and contrary to natural justice.

As for the Nationwide Foundation, although it is good it has funded this work, Nationwide must stop funding Shelter, which as we know, has a virulent anti-landlord attitude in all that it does. I also consider it rather arrogant that the Foundation believes it can transform the private rented sector. I think the millions of private landlords would be best-placed to advise on this - and certainly not Nationwide in conjunction with Shelter, with its hugely destructive approach.

I concluded a few years ago that UK government policy does not favour tenant interests. It may have intended to although is failing to do so. It's misses the basics of economics by making it sufficiently unattractive for the supplier (i.e. landlords). This reduces the supply whilst the demand is not decreasing and therefore prices rise. It's a flawed concept that everyone wants to buy their own home. Buying and moving home is a costly exercise and people who don't want to commit to a specific property prefer renting. Secondly, there's a significant number of people who do not meet the lending criteria of mortgage providers and find it difficult to achieve their criteria especially with deposits and credit ratings. Reducing landlord margins also increases the risk of property quality degredation; also not in the tenant interest. Time to re-visit government policy especially as immigration quantity into the UK is very likely going to be substantially less than experienced in the last 20 years.

U telling me.
And stocks & shares may deliver the same return if averaged out, especially if u live in Licensing area with more outgoings.

My dealings with UC recently which applies to all Landlords, please feel free to copy past tell the people why we aren't taking Benefit tenants any more.

UC Faults so far Apr2021

Date periods when tenant leaves u, one day before BAP, Landlord doesn't get paid for the whole 30 days. New Landlord gets 30 days rent for just one day accommodation. Or tenant pockets the whole 30 days when they already in arrears to old Landlord.
Surely DWP wouldn't be paying a Landlord rent due for a period the tenant isn't at the house when the tenant hasn't even moved in yet? That would be utter bonkers! That's why I think they must be confused in their reply cause a chimpanzee wouldn't even bring in them rules.
Or when a Landlord has bought a house, surely DWP wouldn't pay a new Landlord a full 30 days rent even though the new Landlord has only owned the house one day would they? And the old Landlord who legally owned the house for them 30 days, he won't get anything at all?

Landlord can't report what the correct rent is. So a tenant, often an aggrieved tenant living in a £695pm house can tell Universal Credit UC that the rent is £50pm and UC believe her and only pay the Landlord £50pm.
This happens often when the tenant is subject to the Benefit Cap, so to stop the tenant losing money out her income, she just tells UC a lower amount. So the tenant isn't being Benefit Capped at all, comes out Landlords money now.

Asking tenant if in arrears, they say No, and then paying them £1,000’s in Rent Housing Element HE. The only person that can u tell u truth on rent arrears is the Landlord.
Explicit consent was removed in Dec 2017. If Landlord says tenant is in arrears, I need direct payment now, no longer can u ask tenant unless tenant has 100% proof they have paid Landlord. Lots of DWP staff are just asking tenant & then not paying Landlord, even when 2 4 6 months of arrears have built up.

I’m getting more tenants on Universal Credit UC. Govt & DWP not listening at all. Fraudsters setting up claims in my tenants name & my tenants money gets stopped. My tenant rings up UC & UC says the Fraudster has to ring to sort it out-U cun’t make it up!

If you getting no rent in from a tenant & you can easily see what's wrong, UC won't talk to u & it takes 2 years for the complaints process to get back to u to say Ooh yes Mick, DWP should have paid you £625pm for 2 years = £15,000 but cause the tenant left last month, we not making DWP pay u anything.

Tenants in arrears who's Landlord is now finally receiving the rent, are putting on their journal Ooh I have new Landlord now. Here are the bank details. And they giving their mates bank details. And they now get the £700 rent in their bank, give their mate a tenner, tenant in arrears laughing all the way to the bank & Legitimate Landlord is again getting no rent in.
They are also sharing this information on Facebook & other UC tenants are now doing it. It is Fraud & DWP UC are doing nothing about it.
HB used to check Land Registry & also directly ask the Landlord for Rent proof & bank details. UC doesn't hence fraud is committed.

DWP MUST talk to the Landlord and ask the landlord what the rent is. Landlord knows this, tenants very often get confused with their rent with it being either weekly, 4 weekly, monthly, giving DWP wrong figures, inexperienced imbecile DWP with no common sense getting it wrong. I had several months ago a Job Centre worker put a tenants WHOLE monthly rent on a nice 2 bed house down as £72 pm. As that's what the tenant told her. Job centre worker din't question her. Tenant was telling her the monthly top up she currently pays. And this was for a woman with 2 kids in a nice 2 bed house. Gees to not say Are u sure your rent is that low?

UC asks tenant for tenancy. Tenant takes 10 year old tenancy in. UC say That's no good, needs to be within 12 months. No it ruddy doesn't. Novice Landlords are reluctantly typing new tenancy as they need to get paid & then they tied into all sorts of new anti-Landlord latest regs.
UC asks for this tenancy to proof rent, which proves nothing as it's an amount from 10 years ago which is different now due to inflation & the cost increasing attacks from Govt Councils. And tenants can print these tenancies theirself. Excluding the Landlord allows Fraud.

Old system, if tenant done a bunk, HB would write to tell Landlord & say we not paying u any more, tenant gone. That helps Landlord move on & not prolong losses any more. UC doesn't talk to Landlord, knows tenant has gone, ignores Landlord & Very important house completely, which we could get back quicker & house the next homeless tenant quicker. As it is, some of us/u daren't go in the house for 3 months for fear of illegal eviction. And next time we don't take UC.

Apr21
When Landlord had enough of bad tenant & sells, he can't tell UC when he's sold a house, so UC keep paying old Landlord the rent for a house he no longer owns. Tenant not complying, so we can't ask them. Old system you'd email HB & they would solve in 20 seconds.
Massive waste of Taxpayers money.
We need EMAIL COMMUNICATION.
Us Landlords hundreds of us up & down the country are receiving FREE money we not entitled to. And UC will eventually come after us for overpayment.

14Apr2021
When tenant passes away & leaves 56 year old son behind with Complex Mental Health Needs & problems, UC won't listen to Landlord about son needs help even if they have it on their system , this claimant is in serious need of help. They won't work with Landlord to see tenant, instead they ring Metropolitan Police who ring Nottinghamshire Police to go & see if he's ok & not topped himself. Totally ignoring the issue-How can we get his rent paid so he don't become homeless.
I have big log on this.

Reply to the comment left by GraemeG at 24/06/2021 - 09:50
Graeme G
"I concluded a few years ago that UK government policy does not favour tenant interests."
Too true. and yet politicians think they are helping!

It brings to mind CS Lewis' quotation: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

with one qualification...that our masters in Parliament think they are helping tenants by tormenting landlords.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 24/06/2021 - 10:44
And the 9 million tenants jumped for joy when Corbyn said Rent Holiday. Now they all worse off cause of it cause good Landlords are packing up, remaining Landlords charging what they like.

Tenants jumped for joy when Licensing come in. Yes get the Landlord. Excuse me, where does the Landlord get his money from? More costs = more rent. If it don't add up, Landlord then sells.
3 years later, my tenants houses have not had one single inspection by the council & most sensible tenants now know they worse off cause of Licensing.

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 24/06/2021 - 10:47
Another good point. Without effective enforcement of standards then "rogue" landlords are allowed to persist. It inexusible as the purpose of the licence fee is to fund the operation. Councils need to be held accountable for their performance on this matter.

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 24/06/2021 - 09:50
Have you been able to find a link to the full report? I cannot get beyond the press release.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 24/06/2021 - 12:31
Report is here https://www.york.ac.uk/media/chp/documents/Sustainable-Private-Rented-Sector.pdf

Link now amended in the article 🙂