Renters face struggle to find homes as supply dries up

Reply to the comment left by Old Mrs Landlord at 24/02/2022 - 11:10
Open rent any good? Got a few places to fill and not enamoured by local agents....

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 25/02/2022 - 20:30
I used open rent and used their paid option to have the advert on Rightmove and Zoopla. Got loads of enquiries, they have an auto reply feature which I wish I'd known about to start with, as you can automatically ask all relevant questions which helps you decide who to allow to view. (Don't forget if you in Wales you need a landlord licence to manage yourself)

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 25/02/2022 - 20:30We have been quite satisfied with Openrent. It is flexible in that you are not obliged to take the whole package but choose from the services on offer. They advertise your property on Rightmove and Zoopla. Their referencing seems somewhat superficial and you may well wish to opt out in favour of an alternative, or do some additional checks of your own, perhaps searching social media, etc. for clues to the applicant's lifestyle. The only applicant we had a problem with was one who lacked personal access to the internet, so was perceived as not responding to enquiries when in fact she had not seen them. This delayed everything as Openrent conduct everything online without recourse to phone calls or mail. As far as I am concerned Openrent represent good value for a very reasonable fee but DYOR!

Reply to the comment left by Ann Sutherland at 23/02/2022 - 13:39Ann, in my view what the Government is thinking is that driving out thousands of small private landlords is exactly part of the plan, not admitted of course. The eventual aim being to turn the PRS over to corporate landlords who will control hundreds or thousands of units each, this is already happening.
After all, for services rendered who is more likely to offer an ex Government minister a cushy job as a director, a small private landlord with a couple of properties or a large corporation with hundreds of properties?
A brown envelope stuffed with cash is outdated, a seat on the Board with a generous salary is the new way.

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 26/02/2022 - 11:00
Spot on. They get more money to the conservative party from Big companies. In return government chase the small landlords away.

Spot on.

Just sold a rental property last week that I have owned for 27 years, so why have I sold it? It’s time for an upgrade and I will need to spend many £1000’s to make it modern and attractive to get the right quality tenants that I would want and need to get to feel safe that I had a decent tenant that I could take a risk on who I would have the confidence in that they would pay their rent. And I have taken the view that it is just no longer worth that £1000’s investment for all of the RISK AND HARD WORK that is required and then for what rent I would get. So after 27 years of ownership the British government have killed the property as an investment. No big corporation were going to buy this property and no landlord was interested. Yes a home owner has purchased it but 4 other tenants have gone to find other accommodation and this property is no longer available as rental stock. Well done British Government for shrinking the rental market in this particular market area.

Reply to the comment left by Old Mrs Landlord at 25/02/2022 - 09:48
Different / higher standards for renters
If you are an owner-occupier, your property is yours to maintain to what ever standard you choose and as you are owner and occupier, you can choose to accept a level of risk which your insurers and tenants will not, when you are providing a rental property on a commercial basis. One of the best things which the Airbnb revolution did was force tired old hotels and B&Bs to invest in their properties and bring them back up to market standard.
We have had to upgrade 14 units we lease (R2R with PO) in the NE both to meet electrical and expected EPC standards and to provide for tenant demand by supplying washing machines in all the properties. If you have tenants in receipt of benefits, your local authority will help fund getting the property to EPC rating of C with funding from the LADS fund (where the green homes grant got re-allocated). Did we want to spend that money on properties we don't even own? Of course not, but like the student market, even the unemployable will not accept substandard properties and the alternative to a well-dressed, well maintained property is a council tax bill for a studio room which is more than I pay on my London home!

Lifetime deposits
These were on the Government's Build Back Better for Renters agenda but this is not law and seems to have been dropped, as it was not even mentioned in the latest announcement. We suspect this has been kicked into the long grass now the practicalities, such as those you mention, have been considered.

Long term strategy required
As has been mentioned several times in this thread, politicians (central and local government) know that it is easier to boost their vote by knocking landlords as there are approximately 4 tenants for each landlord. Poorly drafted legislation, which has ignored the concerns of landlords, has resulted in measures being implemented at short notice, which have required the courts and additional legislation to make them workable - gas certs, deposits, etc. We were offered the prospect of funding assistance for EPC works but the poorly structured and administered green homes grant was slow to start and was withdrawn at short notice, ahead of schedule. It is only through the lobbying and campaigning of landlord associations that we can influence the decision makers and hold their administrations to account. HMRC estimated that there are 2.65 million landlords, so why do so few belong to a landlord association? It can't be the cost, as membership of most landlord associations is less than £100, with benefits such as industry news, documents, advice and tax investigation insurance.

Rod - I am sorry I do not see you as being in the real world - you wonder why not more landlords belong to associations - look in the mirror, you are not representing landlords - I would never allow my tenants to live in substandard properties - but you need to be realistic and ask the question what really is necessary to make a great home, fancy fire doors in a house does not come into the equation, most tenants are not too bothered about green credentials either, they want a nice warm dry house which does not cost the earth to run and is above all safe, epc ratings and fancy heating systems which cost a fortune to run and are generally rubbish are not what is wanted. Much of the countries housing stock is old and does need a certain amount of improvement but trying to bring up to a new house standard when the building is a 100 plus years old is not going to happen. Filling a cavity wall with insulation is also going to cause all sorts of issues, often damp based. The cavity wall was built for a reason - ventilation, to stop that creates many other problems, including sick house syndrome, something totally forgotten now but was quite prevalent in the 1960's. I need an organization that will represent me, not an idealistic idea. An organization which is going to lobby the government and point out the error of their ways not meekly agree to every crack brained idea that the prime minister and his hangers on come up with. The current shortage of rental properties is entirely caused by this and previous governments, allowed to their own devices the PRS would have sorted most of the current problems, rents would not be through the roof. They will continue to rise as properties become in ever shorter supply - I do not want to charge my tenants the figures currently being used but the legislation has to be paid for somehow - landlords are not the cash cow this government seems to think they are, god knows what will happen if the other lot ever get in. Housing is very important and needs to be properly recognized not used as some form of political football with completely unrealistic goals.

Every car need a MOT whether it is owned or rented car.
Why do they need EICR and Gas safety certificate and EPC only for the rented properties. To penalise the Landlord?