Millions being penalised by the highest rents ever charged in Britain.

[Mummytwo]

I haven't the energy in me to read the report but are they increasing the rent of council housing?

[Rupert_Baehr]

What exactly do you want , Chemist?

 

Do you expect landlords to go out, spend their money on providing housing for the masses and make a loss?

 

You're pretty good (you've had lots of practice) at bad-mouthing Landlords, yet you're remarkably quiet about the other side of the coin.

 

In 2005, I had a house I wasn't using (working elsewhere - didn't want to sell it.)

 

I was told about this guy who needed somewhere to live. My house was a well-furnished (and newly-carpeted) 5- bedroomed house. I suggest he sub-let it.

 

Here's my ' Story of Shame' (How I acted like a stupid Prat.)

 

I did a guy a favour.

 

He ripped me off. Left the house owing me 4 months rent, burned 2000 litres of fuel oil and caused £2000 worth of damage to the new carpet I'd had fitted before I gave him the house.

 

I must be one of those greedy landlords!

 

I tried to prosecute. He'd stolen items from the house (electronic items with serial numbers which I gave to the police) but they weren't interested. He cost me about £4500.

 

Am I, as an honest landlord, expected to put up with that?

 

I don't get mad ... I get even. He inherited a farm which subsequently went broke because he couldn't borrow money from the bank. - Apparently, somebody told them he was an untrustworthy little Richard the Third.

 

I wonder who ruined his whole life?

 

If I had money I didn't need (I wish!) I'd be quite happy to use that money to build housing which I could let at a reasonable (fixed by somebody else) rent to people who needed housing. - But I would need protection against A-holes who were going to rip me off by failing to pay rent and by damaging my property.

 

The percentage of people who own the houses in which they live in most European countries is far lower than it is in the UK. The rents are more reasonable, too. - But then again, the people who rent the houses are also more reasonable. They don't try to rip off the landlords, they don't 'do a runner' owing rent and -as a result -people are more willing to rent at reasonable rates.

 

A part of the reason why landlords charge such high rates/are unwilling to rent houses is that the tenants [or a significantly large proportion of them] are dishonest little Turds.

 

If you can't trust your customers, then the rents will have to reflect that.

[chem1st]

I haven't the energy in me to read the report but are they increasing the rent of council housing?

 

Council housing rents have increased above inflation every year for a decade, by RPI +0.5% + up to £2 per week. They will increase by RPI+0.5% every year for the next 4 years. In quite a few areas they are now overtaking private rents!

[S10mainly]

I just looked on Rightmove (not the best place for rental) and there are 34 pages of property to rent for under £400 pcm around the Sheffield are.......

[eastbank]

Council housing rents have increased above inflation every year for a decade, by RPI +0.5% + up to £2 per week. They will increase by RPI+0.5% every year for the next 4 years. In quite a few areas they are now overtaking private rents!

 

the investment made years ago are now reaping the rewards....grabbing £500 a month for a house that was sold for a knock down price thanks to maggie...

mate moved out of his three bedroom ex-council house to allow a family to move in...

he moves into a one bed flat...thanks to council....

he is doing his bit to help the housing crisis...a copping a nice wedge in return...happy days

[go4it]

Rents are high because there is an artificial scarcity of housing due to a lack of land with planning permission and a few hundred years old land monopoly.

 

Rubbish.

 

I rented a property out. The tenant stopped paying, I had to borrow money to pay my costs (this cost me interest). I then had to spend a month writing letters to get the tenant out (more cost). I then took a hit (more cost) to get the tenant out quickly (more cost) and then re-advertised (more cost) to get another tenant in. But the new tenant didn't move in for a couple of months, so lost 2 months rent (more cost).

 

As a result, I am forced to increase rent by about £50 a month to try and recover the cost. The law favours the tenant incredibly, so people are free to move into property and get away with a hell of a lot.

 

As said you are absolutely clueless and assume that all tenants are perfect. The bad tenants cost the good ones, as with anything in this world. The actions of the idiots force the good people to pay more.

[Shef_Fitness]

I think the point Chem1st is getting accross is the stupid increase in the cost of housing.

 

In 1999 as a part time worker on about £150 (plus overtime which pushed me up to about £180 a week, maybe £200) I was able to wipe out virtually my entire morgage back in 1999

 

Fast forward to 2012, you need to full time incomes (good full time incomes, minimum wage is useless) to be able to buy your own place.

 

I accept that you can buy places for 70k, but would you want to live there? you have to remember that what passed for normal working class behavior back in the 1990s, would probably be classed as middle class behavior in 2012. I would dare say that compared to 2012, 1999 was a working class paradise - as going to work always paid, the harder you worked the better off you were

 

This post sums it up perfectly, made by someone else on another thread

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9179101&postcount=28

 

In the row of propertys I live, back in 1999, everyone worked as wages covered the cost of living. In 2012, we only have 3 households in work (the other 33 do not work).

 

The workers have been driven out by anti social behavior, plus the rocketing rents which means unless you are on benefits its a struggle to be able to afford to rent to live there.

 

My own house in its peak went up be almost 400% in value (back in 2006), its now returned to a value of about 65k (I bought when it was 24k to buy), but with my home that is now almost triple in value - am I richer?

 

Am I 3 times richer in 2012 than I was back in 1999? Well in 1999 as a part time worker, I wiped out my mortgage, my entire monthly outgoings (all bills) were about £65 a week (or £260 a month) - thats everything, car insurance, council tax the lot.....back in 1999, I went out every weekend, my part time wage allowed me to buy a car, have holidays, buy clothes and stll make subtantial savings for a rainy day.

 

Can I do the same now? not a chance. My home went up by 400% in value at one point, was I 400% richer? not a chance.

 

Why is it so good when house prices go up in price? do people rejoice when petrol prices go up, are people partying when the price of energy bills goes up every year? I doubt it.

 

So who actually benefits from rocketing house prices? as someone who owns property, I don't think I'm benefiting.

[I1L2T3]

Rubbish.

 

I rented a property out. The tenant stopped paying, I had to borrow money to pay my costs (this cost me interest). I then had to spend a month writing letters to get the tenant out (more cost). I then took a hit (more cost) to get the tenant out quickly (more cost) and then re-advertised (more cost) to get another tenant in. But the new tenant didn't move in for a couple of months, so lost 2 months rent (more cost).

 

As a result, I am forced to increase rent by about £50 a month to try and recover the cost. The law favours the tenant incredibly, so people are free to move into property and get away with a hell of a lot.

 

As said you are absolutely clueless and assume that all tenants are perfect. The bad tenants cost the good ones, as with anything in this world. The actions of the idiots force the good people to pay more.

 

Rents are not high only because of the wear and tear you need to factor in as part of your business plan. If you've planned your business badly, got into a business you didn't understand or made bad decisions about who you do business with then you can't blame your customers or potential customers.

[I1L2T3]

you seem to have missed out the part where it says that it's cheaper to buy rather than rent

 

It's a Daily Mail property ramping piece.

 

A mortgage might be cheap now but interest rates are super low. Won't stay that way for 25 years. There's property maintenance to factor in as well. Any at some point we'll have to have a property price correction so negative equity to factor in as well.

[go4it]

Rents are not high only because of the wear and tear you need to factor in as part of your business plan. If you've planned your business badly, got into a business you didn't understand or made bad decisions about who you do business with then you can't blame your customers or potential customers.

 

The problem with this country is that idiots cost us money, and fellow idiots stick up for them.

 

Wear and tear is a tax allowance. Trashing a property and breaking the tenancy agreement isn't. Finding a tenant costs money, and there are searches and credit checks. I paid a company to do this, but then it still doesn't stop a tenant passing the checks and then stopping the standing order 4 months down the line.

 

It is nothing to do with planning a business badly. As with any business there are idiots who cost you money, and every business has to pay money to cover the cost of the idiots.