National Squatting movement takes over empty housing!

[ECCOnoob]

Houses are way over priced these days thanks in no small part to all the B2L investors.

 

Im not convinced. Everything has a limit depending on the market.

 

Any seriously overpriced houses will come down. The buying market is too slow at the moment for anything to be "overpriced". Houses are certainly no where near the extortionate prices they were several years ago.

 

After all, houses can only command a high price when there is a buying demand.

[crookesey]

The OP is most probably a public sector jobsworth, who doesn't understand or care about the private sector. Gordon Brown plundered private pension funds, fund managers had to risk our pension funds in equity markets. So the scum decided to try something that they were in control of, for a short time it looked as though Brown was going to allow btl property to be placed in self invested pensions, but realised that they could actually end up with pensions that came close to those of the public sector, so he scrapped the idea.

[donkey7159]

Squatters are no more than thieves by another name, send in the SAS to flush them out i say.

 

Totally agree with that.

 

They are nothing more than a bunch of morons who think they have a "right" to live somewhere for nothing.

 

Totally agree with both of you. Scummy ,Dirty Squatters think the world owes them a living and everything is for free.

[Obelix]

Houses are way over priced these days thanks in no small part to all the B2L investors.

 

Why?

 

You don't get to make an assertion without proving it. Otherwise I could say "the moon is made of green cheese" and demand people accept that without proof.

[Bulgarian]

I admit that a private rental wil never be able to match the low maximum rent amount set by the council but I would rather have a choice of living somewhere else other than a council estate with all their restrictions about the type of property I can have, waiting lists, priority points and little choice in the area I wish to live.

 

Not to mention the general poor state of council houses due to the "it's not mine I don't care" attitude of a lot of council tenants, the extraordinary long waits you have to get anything fixed, and the general quality of the neighbours in some areas.

 

I've lived in several council flats and TBH I'd rather pay 10 times the amount to live somewhere nice, clean, secure and with neighbours who are in the same possition as me.

[Frank Sidney]

There's a lot wrong with the housing market, particularly the rental side, in which I worked for many years, both private and public sector.

 

I think many of the private schemes in the city centre are destined to be the Hyde Park / Park Hill's of the future. I went in a scheme the other day think they were on Broad Street, and they were filthy. They've only been up a couple of years.

 

IMO what will happen to these schemes is this. If you've bought one you may want to leave this muse. Anyway, they are destined to become more and more run down. They are not worth the money they are demanding. This means people will not buy and others will not be able to sell. I think people, at the same time, are beginning to realise that living in a fume filled city centre is not the best environment anyway.

 

I reckon a lot of them will end up in the public sector and will therefore attract some disruptive tenants. This will worsen the situation and they will deteriorate further. If you've bought one as a B2L then you're in trouble. If you've bought one to live in, you're in bigger trouble.

 

We need more public housing. There is a stigma attached to it because historically its seen as a poor persons option. Its not like this in other countries though, we need to learn from them.

 

Another failing with social housing is that it has been managed very badly for too long. A whole new approach is needed, landlords need to sort the issues out, like ASB more effectively, and increase the rents slightly because current rents are too low to allow them to maintain them properly...

[Frank Sidney]

Not to mention the general poor state of council houses due to the "it's not mine I don't care" attitude of a lot of council tenants, the extraordinary long waits you have to get anything fixed, and the general quality of the neighbours in some areas.

 

I've lived in several council flats and TBH I'd rather pay 10 times the amount to live somewhere nice, clean, secure and with neighbours who are in the same possition as me.

 

 

That's simply not true. Most council tenants are no different from anyone else. It only takes a few to spoil it though and an area can decline..

[ronthenekred]

That's simply not true. Most council tenants are no different from anyone else. It only takes a few to spoil it though and an area can decline..

 

I think that was Bulgarians implication. It isn't a few any longer. And how can it not be true as by your own standard it only takes a few.

[VideoPro]

Squatters are no more than thieves by another name...

 

Thieves are tried in a criminal court. Owners of squatted property have to persue their claims through the civil court. So even the law as it stands disagrees with your statement.

 

...send in the SAS to flush them out i say.

 

Pointless waste of resources. Why bring back highly trained military specialists from Afghanistan when a couple of coppers and the appropriate paperwork are typically enough to do the job?

[chem1st]

Hiya.

 

I'm one of those B2L scum you like to bang on about. Are you man enough to detail why? In a reasoned manner?

 

You derive rent from another. Your earnings are immoral.

 

People are paying over 50% of their income in rent to the likes of you. These people are our citizens, our future, and your trying to get rich off the back of their labour, pushing them into poverty, trapping them in poor housing, so you yourself can profit.

 

Why can't you try and earn money in a more noble way, like hard work? Investing in busines/job creation/productive labour to better all of humanity?

 

The system is CURRENTLY gamed in your favour.

 

You get tax relief (on mortgage interest, repairs, council tax discounts etc. etc.), a person buying their own home does not, a person renting does not, they must pay for their housing out of income they earn through labour, income which is taxed quite heavily.

 

You drive up the cost of housing and oppose affordable housing for the poor as it is against your financial interest. You deprive others of having an affordable place to live, of home-ownership.

 

The rights of a person to have their own home vastly exceed the rights of you to exploit others through multiple property ownership.

 

You may say its your pension? But what of your tenants?

 

You are exploiting your tenants for financial gain, your earnings are immoral.

 

Even worse, the government has gamed the system in your favour. I dislike them more than I do you. Maybe you got into B2L with good intentions, but surely you know your exploiting others. That's wrong.

 

If you built property to let, it would be a different story, but no. In a land where there is not enough housing to go around, you seek to snap it up and exploit the poor. You are an enemy of the people.