Rent Control Is Bad News

If the energy "price freeze" is supposed to act as a precedent for rent control, then what the Government needs to do is step in and make up the difference between the cost of providing rental accommodation and the rental rate! If the interest rate has gone up by £150 and the rental rate is restricted to only £50 more, then the Government needs to meet this difference. Why is it OK for the Government to do this for corporations worth tens of billions but not small landlords and businesses? Its ridiculous.

What's better than rent control? A tax on vacant lots and unoccupied buildings. While rent control makes it less attractive to supply accommodation, a vacant-property tax makes it less attractive NOT to! Such a tax, although sometimes called a "vacancy tax", is not limited to what real-estate agents call "vacancies" — that is, properties available for rent. It also applies to vacant lots and other properties that are not on the rental market, and is designed to push them onto the market and get them tenanted.

By the way, the desired *avoidance* of the vacant-property tax would initiate economic activity, expanding the bases of other taxes and allowing their rates to be reduced, so the rest of us (including landlords with tenants) would pay LESS tax!

Reply to the comment left by Mohammed Kadir at 16/09/2022 - 11:31
Because those of us who own our portfolios outright, or with low borrowings don't want to be paying higher higher taxes to subsidise those who have bought their portfolio on rock bottom rates and unsustainable borrowing.

The best way to make housing cheaper is to bankrupt the marginal borrowers and release the properties onto the open market for those who can run a sustainable business.

Re : TrevL : I don't understand the reasoning for your comments. Why shouldn't small landlords be treated equally to larger ones? This is a democratic state. Unless I have misunderstood something? Please, someone put me out of my misery.

This is legally impossible and unconstitutional - it's communist expropriation - with 15% inflation this year and the same for next year, it is theft. It's unacceptable. Are we now living in a communist country, has my livelihood and savings now been nationalised by the government ? Is Klaus Schwab ruling now "you have nothing and will be happy cleaning properties for your tenants and the government for free ?" Why not tax windfall profits of Shell, BP and other big firms who have the very same production price for electricity from windfarms but up their price from 16p to 65p per Kw saying they need gas when they don't ? Why not freeze mortgage payments then and get the banks angry at you idiotic dumb government persons with no brains at all ! Shall we freeze salaries as well for civil servants and everyone else, rental income is my only income why are you even thinking of freezing or controlling my income ? You are forcing me to raise rents to tenants I have never raised rents of ?! This is on top of the UK government printing money that does not exist during covid, spending 60bn on track and trace which does not work and is not necessary, covid loan fraud of 45 bn by rish sunak - and landlords got zero support and are dealing with "courts" that take many years to then give a guardian/shelter verdict siding with the poor tenant as usual. I am already running a loss on my HMOs as bills are included and I have not raised rents. The logical thing for me to do is give notice to all my tenants before freezes blow over to England and equally mad rent reform rules become law. This is not just the straw that broke the camel's back, this is illegal and will cause anarchy. I fear every landlord in scotland will pick up a stone and throw it at a government office. The government should have built enough housing they have failed for decades already. And this comes on top of a decade of no more interest deduction for business income, endless certificates, no more charges allowed to tenants, extra CGT, extra Stamp Duty, impossible EPC C demands and other agressive ripping off of tenants. All because there are more tenants with votes than landlords. Shall we go on strike and just terminate contracts ? Is it time for a revolution ? Hands off my property and my income or else !

Reply to the comment left by Mohammed Kadir at 16/09/2022 - 11:31
Unfortunately if they do that they will make us pay for it through anither stealth tax