Should Landlords Capitalise On Sky-Rocketing Rental Demand?

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118 at 23/08/2022 - 16:57
Yes good words Mark.
As we need the tenants to tell us their side of the story. We may be wrong sometimes & need to know.

My first conversation with Head of Licensing, he said
What, u get on with all your tenants, I said Yes.
He was miffed. Couldn't believe it. I always listen to tenants side.

Reply to the comment left by The Forever Tenant at 23/08/2022 - 16:50
"I am one of the fortunate ones. I have a landlord that has chosen to not increase my rent to market rates."

Another way of putting it would be you are one of the vast majority. Existing tenants pay less than new market rates.
(English Housing Survey).

That is why the scaremongering of rent caps/freezes might work for a tiny minority but most would suffer.

Reply to the comment left by The Forever Tenant at 23/08/2022 - 16:50You write: "I think the main concern of the public is that rents are increasing at a higher amount that is actually needed to cover those additional costs." and I understand your point.
One problem is that price/rent factors in risk. The Tenant Fees Act banned pretty well all fees (and much else beside) and so rents went up. If landlords are told they will have to accept pets but not be able to recover the extra cost of damage, they will put rents up. If landlords think the Government will introduce new rules that adversely affect them, perhaps retrospectively, they will put rents up. Mick Roberts has put it more bluntly: "I'm gonna' charge what I can get as I genuinely do not know where the next attack is coming from."
All the noise from Government is: "Tenants need help so we will impose restrictions and burdens on landlords."
People are rightly worried that utility bills will go up £4000 or more next year. But if a landlord loses £10K or more because he cannot evict a non-paying tenant promptly or is penalised £3000 because of a technical mistake in paperwork, nobody in Government gives a toss. And we have a supposedly "conservative" Government. If Labour form the next Government, who knows what nastiness is in store. Prudent landlords will factor this in to their pricing and tenants will pay for all the extras demanded of landlords.

Any good landlord looks after their tenants but also needs to treat their investment as a business. For our long term tenants, rent has always been kept below market value. However, our mortgages are IO trackers and our costs have gone up over £120.00 per property per month. We have agreed with our tenants to share the increased costs 50/50. Not sure how long we can maintain this for though. However, when they give notice the properties will be sold. One tenant completely wrecked a flat during COVID and stopped paying rent. Finally she was evicted and we had a repayment order of £50.00 a month (it would take over 7 years to pay back the amount). However, she has not paid a penny despite the fact she is working and she refuses to engage with the bailiff. Been told to forget it. After this, we have lost heart. Letting is too high a risk with no justice for good landlords - selling up is the only safe option.

Well well well, just when you think the world cannot go anymore mad , we find ourselves discussing something like this. Does anyone think that there a tenants sat typing away on tenant forums contemplating the idea of volunteering to pay the landlord more rent than they absolutely have to or asking the landlord to raise their rent ? I can just see it now in the shelter Facebook pages, " hey everyone, hope you are all well and keeping warm and well fed. So, your landlord is having an awful time dealing with more problems than we can possibly list on here, why don't you help them out and send them an extra 200 quid a month more than you are contracted to ".
My word, if there's ever a more blatant case of self ritceousness , I'd love to hear it. Or maybe it's just a case of people typing one thing on here and doing the exact opposite tomorrow morning when they realise the school fees have gone up 20% and a few of their tenants has stopped paying their rents all together.

Free Market??? No way.

Tax (40% under section 24)
Green Energy to meet EPC C ratings
Lenders demanding more equity for remortgages.
Increasing and in my case a doubling of Insurance and maintenance costs.

Yet government want us to keep rents flat... what a joke. Communists.

I used to help so many people, now the ONLY way to survive Is to be ruthless and increase rents enormously after which I will see very little on my bottom line anyway. Entirely thanks to the government.

Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 23/08/2022 - 17:37
It's the same old story Monty, they only hear from those that have a problem. So the Govt & Councils & Imbeciles assume all tenants have the same problem.
Mine & your tenants don't go in & say Ooh my Landlord not put my rent up for 10 years. Ooh my Landlord just done me a shiny new boiler, not a Glow-worm but an expensive Rolls Royce Vaillant.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 23/08/2022 - 17:40
That's right Ian, previously only those pets that caused a damage lost their deposit. Now ALL pet owners pay a higher rent cause we can't charge a higher deposit, so the other 90% pet owners who cause no damage pay a higher rent when they've done nothing wrong.

And Ian, pretty much everything that is coming at us that ends up hurting tenants is done retrospectively. We've already committed & stuck to our word on such & such ie. I will keep your rent at this for 5 years & I will not be selling your house for 20 years. I now have to tell tenants I will do this as long as Council & Govt don't change the rules which they are constantly doing.

I've just done a Section 21 with Chris at Possession Friend, 29+ pages, have to be manually printed, can't be emailed, cause the Courts just want to make it hard for us. Which makes us even more likely to sell & not give people a chance next time.

But there is some good news, I have just managed to get direct payment for one of my tenants together with a small payment towards the arrears. In one thousand and sixty five years he will have cleared all the arrears.

Reply to the comment left by TheMaluka at 24/08/2022 - 18:28
I’m sure your future generations will be very appreciative of his legacy … NOT!!!