EU Trying To Kill Buy To Let – sign the petition to STOP it now.

MARY LATHAM says:

Every landlord should sign this http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22767 please.

Save the buy-to-let mortgage

Responsible department: Her Majesty’s Treasury

To exclude loans to residential landlords (buy-to-let mortgages) from the EU draft directive on Credit Agreements. Thereby ensuring that lenders still have the opportunity to access affordability based on rental income not just a borrowers personal income.

I agree with Ian some landlords will be very vulnerable if this happens where those who have lower gearing will not be so concered. I have always worried that becoming a landlord has been seen as a get rich quick method since BtL mortages were introduced and perhaps this will make some people stop and think that building a safe portfoli takes a little longer but is still very worthwhile in the longer term

MARY LATHAM says:

I expect the trolls manufacture the card board boxes that people will be forced to live in if landlords loose their ability to provide more homes

MARY LATHAM says:

Why am I not surprised. I could sell the parcel tape I suppose!

MARY LATHAM says:

Ah and they are using their little paws to press the thumbs down button – cute

I am happy to post openly on “the belly of the buy to let beast” because I am proud of being a good landlord and I own my comments.

Perhaps you guys who hide and post on “the green eyes of the Alsoran Monster” website would come out of hiding and have a reasoned debate?

Nick says:

So people want cheaper housing and that makes them trolls, does it? House prices are too high and are crippling the economy. A healthy economy is where one can afford to buy a house under reasonable circumstances. Owning a home is part of one’s liberty. BTL is a parasite on society. I look forward to a massive property price crash, and all your renters will be buying. You surely don’t think the future is rosy for housing with the steady collapse of economies , do you?

neil says:

the problem is that the private rental sector is full of parasites.I own a home and have recently had the unfortunate experience of having to rent via an estate agents due to working a long way from home.

private rental is a nightmare.fees,fees and more paperwork and fees.Stupid credit checks.I dont want credit,in fact im paying in advance!

And as for who subsidises who…uk savers are currently being sacrificed.interest rates are low and pensioners are suffering.Why should BTL types be subsidised with low interest rates by everybody else?

-and fundamentally owning a property should be a viable proposition for our young.All the young people are know with any sense are going to leave as they are not prepared to spend their working lives subsidising the non productive sectors of the economy.Im 41 and thankfully had the opportunity to buy a house.What right do we have to hoard scarce resources and deny that to the next generation for selfish profit?

Brit1234 says:

Buy to let is a parasite on society. As a first time buyer I welcome this EU legislation. The over gearing on buy to let properties not only puts our banks at risk but also our economy. These get rich quick property cowboys need to be curtailed.

Why should buy to let landlords buy up all first timer homes with unfair tax advantages and little own money put down.

bob Lundon says:

so you think BTL is a parasite then explain when councils ar not building property and people without steady jobs set regular income or whos job moves them alot where do they live. Or is it you only want big commercial blue chip companies to own rental property then seen what the rents do. Tell europe ( who by the way has enough problems on their own to sort our first) to stick it up their euro

Oldlongdog says:

This issue needs careful thought. I have a second property which I manage as a holiday let. I made the investment because I’m self employed and commercial pensions are so poor. I funded it with a deposit from my deceased father’s estate and by extending my existing mortgage which is based on an assessment of our household income. If I had a long term tenant they would be secure.

The flat below us was owned by a man who’d got an interest only BtL mortgage and who was seriously overstretched. We found out that he was a serial liar (we bought our flat from him) and he was using our flat as collateral for further loans even though he no longer owned it. We had the Inland Revenue staking out the place and all sorts of letters from creditors and banks as he was using our address to scam them from. I finally caught up with him and put a stop to it (and told the IR, banks and Police).

And what happened to the nice older couple in his flat; the ones who’d never missed a payment and who looked after the garden…? Kicked out at 4 weeks notice. His antics not only affected our credit rating but those of the old couple. We sorted ours out but it made it very hard for them to rent somewhere new.

I don’t know what the answer is but the legislation needs to reflect the honest needs of people like myself who want to invest whilst making sure that fraudulent scum (sorry, I’m still angry about what he did) like ********* (I’m so tempted to name him) are prevented from ruining people’s lives.

** MODERATORS COMMENTS **
I would like to publicly apologise to this poster for an earlier misunderstanding. An offensive reply to which he complained about has been removed and this poster has provided a further offline account of his experiences which are noted in italics below.

4 weeks notice was illegal but the guy in question didn’t do anything legally. The older couple (Brian is now dead, so I can name him) didn’t take legal advice or our advice (my wife is a Chartered Surveyor) which was to stay put. Because they were decent people the went, carrying the credit rating of their crooked landlord with them as this (for some bizarre reason attaches to properties as well as people).

Part of the reason our economy is in such a mess is because we all have to spend such a high proportion of our income on housing ourselves. This issue needs to be addressed. If you don’t realise that there are good landlords and bad ones then you are naive. If you don’t understand the difference between prudent ways of investing money and irresponsible ones then I suggest you are not the right person to listen to regarding this legislation.

Tony Atkins says:

Thank you Teena for a levelheaded response. I too am highly sceptical that owning property is part of personal liberty: I would argue it often makes you less free, what with exposure to all the maintenance costs, the high cost of moving and remortgaging, the exposure to variable interest rates, etc.

Arguably people in Britain should be less obsessed with property ownership – they seem to do OK in Switzerland and Germany where most people rent – and one has to ask whether people’s perspective is skewed because of the the tax-free capital gains that homeowners are given. If the government restored CGT on home ownership, as used to apply before 1965, perhaps the zealots on HousePriceCrash as well as the Daily Mail would obsess less about people’s “right” to own a home, which curiously never seems to include the many millions of people living on benefits or in state-subsidised social housing.

As for BTL landlords being “parasites”, I just don’t get the argument. Are commercial landlords who charge rent on business premises “parasites”? If not, if they then start renting out an apartment above a retail unit to private individuals, do they suddenly become parasites then? If a bank lends you money and charges you interest, which is the same thing as rent (and more expensive – most landlords only get 6% gross, from which all their costs have to be deducted) , is that “parasitic”? If a supermarket that invests its capital and employs people to sell food also a parasite, because it is making a profit by selling something that people need in order to survive? Why is housing so different from any other kind of human enterprise where people expect a return on their investment?

In fact, most private landlords are doing tenants a favour: they are investing their capital to provide living accommodation on which they make almost no profit – most landlords barely break even on running costs, and would be better off with their money on cash deposit – so all the tenant is doing is covering the mortgage interest and living off the landlord’s embedded capital for free. Tenants moan about “paying someone else’s mortgage”, but the vast majority are not doing that at all: all they are doing is covering the mortgage interest, which they would have to do anyway if they owned a house themselves. Once you take the need to make capital repayments and the maintenance cost of property ownership, renting is clearly the much more affordable option.

Wes Bland says:

The Membership of the EU has so far cost this Country around £165 Billion and currently costs us around £50 million per DAY.
These unelected commissars have caused us major problems since we have joined in the name of creating a communist superstate to control every aspect of our lives.

They have removed democracy from Greece and Italy and appointed Bankers and Euro Commissars to run the countries.
I have no doubt that this move will not stop at those two countries. Watch out Spain.

The Break up of this massive Gravy Train aimed at world domination cannot come too soon

Mo says:

Hi Neil. At first I misunderstood your position. Reading your first two paragraphs, I thought you were an accidental landlord, renting out your own home due to moving away for work. I thought you were complaining about the massive regulation, fees, costs and complications involved in being a private landlord, which make it not a passive speculative investment for your spare millions, but a full-time job with variable and unpredictable income. It’s not an easy career option for the faint-hearted.
The reason landlords ask for credit checks is because they are handing the keys to a property worth tens of thousands of pounds, which is usually mortgaged to the hilt, to a total stranger, who then has the right to live there without disturbance and can do whatever they like with it. The landlord has to jump through legal hoops for many months to eventually evict someone who chooses not to pay the rent and trashes the place. They will have to pay all legal expenses and can whistle for it if they hope to receive any damages compensation from the tenant who only needs to plead poverty. If you rent through an agent, which is a necessary service for large portfolio landlords or those who do not live near their properties, they also need paid for their service, and they take fees from the landlord as well as the tenant.
Frankly, I don’t even understand your comment about subsidising the BTL sector with low interest rates? BTL rates are usually higher than residential mortgages.
The current slump has not been caused by the BTL sector, and we are suffering its consequences like everyone else. Meanwhile, as long as councils do not have enough rental properties, and not everyone wants to live in one, or buy their own home, private landlords just provide another option for people who need to live somewhere, and a possible career for those who are brave enough to attempt it. That’s all.

MARY LATHAM says:

Mo Very well said.

Gabrielle says:

I have currently have one rental property, tenanted by a young couple who are on benefits, who have two young children. They were living apart, each with relatives, which was causing stress and unhappiness. There is no way on earth they could afford to buy a property or indeed be granted a mortgage. I have provided them with a safe, secure home; I reduced the rent, so they weren’t too over-stretched to afford it, as benefit doesn’t even cover rents in this area. I pay for gas and electrical safety checks, have had to pay more for landlord’s insurance, as tenants on benefits are classed as a greater risk, gave them £50 towards furnishing when they moved in..
I am a good landlord. I have chosen this investment as an alternative for a pension in my retirement, so I can provide for myself in old age. It annoys me when ignorant people lump me in with bad landlords, some of whom I have encountered myself, when I was a student and then afterwards, before I saved up for a deposit to buy my first home. Where would my tenants live if they didn’t have the option to rent from me? The social housing sector is inadequate and set to become more so, with the Govt planning to increase the subsidy for RIght to Buy, thus decreasing the housing stock. Wish someone had given me a 50% discount on my first home, but that is another story!) Private rented accommodation is a very important option for those who can’t afford to, or don’t want to, buy their own home.

Phil says:

The EU is, financially, a different world to the UK and, right now, not a world I’d want to be a part of. So, they think that locking their stable door after their horse has well and truly bolted- by making it much more difficult to obtain new mortgages- will help clear up their mess? Whatever their reasons, we don’t need it here, and this is why:
- it is becoming much more difficult to get any mortgage here in the UK. Commercial decisions by the lenders have seen to that. We didn’t need laws passed in another country.
- it is particularly difficult to get a BTL mortgage due to punitive rates and high deposit requirements. The chancers who used to put deposits on houses 250 miles from where they lived without even seeing them are thankfully a thing of the past. Again, a commercial decision.
- The mortgage industry is working very hard to stamp out mortgage fraud, by ensuring that all Chartered Surveyors – who are the best chance of intercepting a bent mortgage- have to be registered. In practice, this means that an established (not necessarily huge) company has to sponsor them. The rogue sole practitioners, who in some cases knowingly allowed these rackets to go through, are being hit very hard. Another result of the UK’s resilient commercial sector.

No, we’re not perfect, but I for one am proud of our country’s independence and ability to respond sensibly to our economic problems; at a time when others, across the Channel and across the Atlantic, are struggling.

I don’t want out of the EU but we need to be allowed to make our own decisions to reflect our own business requirements. I say kick this daft, ill considered piece of one-size-fits-all red tape, and everything like it, firmly into touch!

Oldlongdog says:

I am all for property as an investment but, like all investments, they need to be intelligently made and the desire to make a profit has to be balanced against an overall risk to the economy. In the last 15 years, much of the BtL lending could more honestly described as sub-prime.

Giving private individuals ‘interest only’ mortgages at 100% or greater than the value of the property, secured only against the property in question, was really stupid. But it was based on two fallacies a) that property prices would always rise and b) that bad debts could be made to disappear by diluting them with good debts and selling them on.

The problem was compounded by everyone who owned a property suddenly believing they were an instant expert because prices kept rising however dumb their investments were. Whatever your views on the EU are (I can see both sides) we need to set up the system so the reckless idiots who lend money are not able to lend it to reckless idiots who want to borrow it.

A lot of the people most dear to me are now in their early twenties and want to buy a property. We (all of us) have screwed it up really badly for them. We need to put it right.

Gordon Davis says:

I only have 3 btl’s in gloucestershire, plus my own house and can cover the mortgage easily as I started in 1995. I have ensured that I can afford the mortgage by working harder and building up a larger cash reserve than many others as I don’t want the stress of interest rises or other financial pressures. I think that risk buy to lets where individuals mortgage themselves up to the hilt hoping on a fast return is foolhardy. I have never wanted to envisge kicking a tenant out of a property because I am forced to sell it through my greed to captalise.
Banks are a lothesome but necessary animal and refused me extra credit years ago even though I was putting down 70% of the property price. I have always hated them just like another parasite – pension companies who still take their cuts and charges and give lame excuses even in the good years – thats why I switched to btl’s.
It is hard to believe that France would agree to the EU proposals as over 65% of property is rented and most french appear not to want to be involved in property ownership so don’t panic.
Just stay within your means and build up that extra reserve,-which will help you to jump to the next property.
As for government legislation, at present there is more rights for the tenant and we have seen more extra red tape which equals costs to landlords which only increases the wanting to get out of the BTL market.
Stay within your means and build a cash reserve for bad days we no are comming.
Stay within your means and

alec trivass says:

what a numpty! interest rates, if low, benefit all kinds of borrowers,( even numpties) and of course work adversely against any who depend upon interest ratesfor their livelihood. conversely when interes rates start to climb and benefit people with cash investments, it will adversely affect all borrowers, (including numpties who have mortgages and also have to rent elsewhere)
You seem to be saying that if there were no houses to rent you would still be able to do this far away job, presumably by living in a hotel, or your car, or even a cardboard box..instead of snarling at the people who provide you with the cheaper option (or the more comfortable option if you consider living in a car or box), just be grateful that somebody managed to scrape together the means to provide you with your far flung affordable accommodation. snarl instead at your employers for forcing you to work away from home, or the government for not providing superfast roads so that you could commute from home and deprive your hated parasitic landlord of his usurous rent.
whatever you do please treat his property with the same respect you do your own, pay your rent on time and keep the noise down out of respect for your neighbours.
that way you would stop being a numpty and join the ranks of the rational reasonable part of society that makes this country a nice place to live. cheers

maureen ann lee says:

As a buy to let investor Im appalled at the way this goverment is leading the country.

John says:

Extraordinary! I don’t think I have come across a view so bitter and distorted before now.

For the record I am a portfolio Landlord and have NEVER bought a FTB type or property.

What I’m curious to know is if you think the same about everything. Are you concerned about food prices because other people are buying it and forcing prices up?

What about cars? Electricity? Stocks & shares?? What about clothes?

May I suggest that if you are truly struggling to buy a property, then go and learn how to do it.

Here’s a really controversial view for you….

I am of the opinion that for most people in this country (I did say ‘most’ and not ‘all’), poverty is a choice. The reason I say this is that there are countless examples of people that have made the conscious decision to do something ‘about their lot’ and instead of whining, they get on and change their life round. So, if you really are struggling to buy a house, get educated. Really, I mean that with good intent. Stop your moaning and take action.

As a FTB there are options open to you that are not open to Landlords so why not take advantage of them? Of are there other reasons that you would not be given a mortgage???

Brit1234 says:

So you don’t agree buy to let pushed up the prices of traditional first time buyer properties. I take it then you invested in 3-4 bedroom houses and not 1-2 bed flat/houses then?

I think your find that buy to let has the higher rate of repossessions than ftbs. Just watch the treasury select committees to get info on that. The reason buy to let mortgages have higher interest rates is they have higher risk. If first time buyers were more of a risk their costs would be clearly higher.

As for the rest have you not heard of HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Alliance and Leicester, Bradford and Bingley and Bank of Ireland.

Brit1234 says:

What is wrong with renting low grade properties, its part of being a student.

You haven’t fallen for all this student luxury rubbish have you?

Come on what’s wrong with a normal house.

Also with the massive hike in student fees they are not going to want to rent pricey places, numbers will fall, more will stay at home and their will be huge competition from purpose built blocks.

John says:

Crikey, you really do have a distorted view on things, but hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion, however wrong it may be.

If I may, I’ll make a few points.

Firstly, I bought my first house in 1984 for £22k. I sold it in 1987 for £63k with hardly a hint of a BTL investor in sight anywhere in the UK. I’m sure you’ll agree that BTL is a relatively new phenomenon. You do agree with that surely?

So, what led to that near on 300% hike in 3 years? 2 simple factors; supply v demand and sentiment. Of course you can throw the knock-onThatcher effect into that as well(in terms of home ownership), and I have no doubt that you’ll be anti her too. The point is that there was a soaring market and no BTL investors. Interesting!

Lets look at another scenario then…..

Lets say that Avis, Hertz, Budget and any other car rental firm you’d like to suggest go mad and start buying up cars to a crazy extent. Are people likely to start demanding more rental cars?? No, it seems very unlikely.

Will there be a peaked increase in the availability of new car prices in the market place? Well, maybe there will short term. Maybe some people will no longer seek a new car to buy, but buy a used vehicle instead. In reality though, the car manufacturers will react by increasing production.

Yes the old law of demand and supply will kick in and satisfy the need.

So, as the experiences of the mid 80′s and the example above suggest, increased house prices are nothing to do with Landlords (investors) buying houses. All that is happening is they are buying available stock and transferring it to the rental market. If, as you suggest, Landlords are forcing prices up then they would STILL be going up. Investors are buying NOW because prices are low. I don’t see the prices sky rocketing due to that activity do you?

I have only bought one this year; a large Victorian property that I’ve converted to a high spec HMO – 6 en-suite rooms and 3 with their own kitchenettes. After buying the house I have spent nearly £45k to do this. A considerable investment in providing people with high quality housing I think you’ll agree. Am I a parasite?? Well clearly I think I have a strong argument to the contrary.

Therefore I’ve taken demand away from the smaller flats and houses so that’ll help suppress prices in that FTB housing area (by your logic). I guess that will please you.

I see in another of your posts that you suggest there is nothing wrong with lower grade properties. Well that may be your view my old son, but the local Council and prospective tenants tend to disagree with you. The demand for my high spec units is staggering! Yes I do keep my rents quite low and I do so because I like to keep tenants for as long as possible. However there is still cheaper low quality accommodation around. The tenants can choose to take it if they want but most don’t because the world has moved on. Your view on what students want (or anyone else) is, very very outdated. Would you want your son or daughter staying in some flea infested hole as depicted in Rising Damp??? I certainly wouldn’t and when my daughter is old enough to go to Uni ( and should she choose to do so), I shall ensure that she does NOT have a Landlord of the type you suggest is quite satisfactory.

Therefore what I’m saying is that we have a situation of supply & demand. You’ve been arguing that point yourself but through a distorted viewpoint by saying Landlords are increasing demand. Clearly that is rubbish as Landlords cannot create demand, they can only satisfy it.

The increase in demand is down to:

1. Shortage of new properties being built.
2. Increase in people wanting accommodation.

Well I think you’ll agree that Landlords aren’t responsible for the lack of new properties being built. By your logic the likes of Taylor Wimpey would be knocking them out by the dozen for Landlords.

And as for demand, that is down to a number of factors such as the breakdown of the family unit, net immigration figures and so forth. Indeed only in the last week was the net immigration figure over the last year announced at a quarter of a million. Is this down to BTL investors??? I don’t think so my friend. That is down to a whole load of factors outside of the control of Landlords.

And there you go saying you are an investor! So what are you investing in then?? There are not too many realistic options in terms of sensible investment – precious metals, stocks, businesses, intellectual rights, and of course property are I guess the main ones. So which of these have you put your ‘hard earned’ cash into?? I’m guessing property is one of them, but whether or not I’m right, I think you must be investing because you want prices to increase? My goodness what a parasite you are! Your investment is forcing prices up and others that would like to buy may now not be able to.

Frankly I think you need to take a good look at your beliefs. You are completely off the mark in your view that Landlords are responsible for forcing FTB’s out of the market and even that were true (it ISN’T!!) the very fact that you are an ‘investor’ means you are doing exactly what you criticise others for, in whatever field you invest in.

Whilst I mean no insult, that makes you one hell of a hypocrite.

Hmmmmmm

John Lown says:

If deposits are too low, the risk of viability of that property increases as the ratio of rent to repayment is too fine. A couple of months empty with no cushion can spell foreclosure.
Not one of our tenants wishes to purchase their own hom for many different reasons.
Main reason- could never afford a home as nice as they are currently renting.
Proposed EU ruling, details please before uninformed comment.

julian Dodds says:

Regarding your first point Ian. My understanding from some data I saw a little while back is that whilst there are many hundreds of thousands of buy to let landlords with one or two properties the majority of flats – 60% plus are owned by a small number of professional or semi professional landlords

Nick Rougier says:

Well quite simply Mark you just didn’t read my post properly, did you? When did I say BTL parasites needed funding? Ready for the answer?….
I DIDN’T.

The point I was making was that they gobble up all the properties so that none of the ones you want to buy are available and they never sell. That is what I am saying. The fact is there is no “Housing Market” any more and I wish people would stop using that phrase. If there are no apples to buy there is NO apple market. In order for a market to exist there have to be avilable products for sale.

I have not seen A SINGLE “FOR SALE” sign against a residential property since I came back from the US in 2009. Retail properties – yes. Residential ones NO.

And when I ran around London recently looking for a rental, ALL 20 odd properties I viewed were run by offshore property companies including dozens of Arab ones because we’re the only country dumb enough to let them all in. They keep their properties in rotten condition, never repair anything, neglect their tenants and charge exorbitant rates.

Well done EU, that’s all I can say.

As to the Germans renting, if I lived in a country that had its economic act together and looked after its elderly I wouldn’t need the security of my own home. That’s why they can rent. They know they’ll always be employed and they know they will be very affluent come retirement and German elderly care I bet is the tops.

But I don’t live in a country like that. I live in Rag Bag, Third Rate, Miserable Britain – overrun with immigration, chronically overcrowded, very badly managed by governemtns of both colours with militant unions hell bent on wrecking the whole nation if they can get rich off it. A little different, yuh? In that environemnt you need SECURITY. And in Britain there is only one place to get it – BUY A HOME…FAST. Germans don’t – they have security naturally built into their colossal economy (and they run the EU anyway)

In Britain you buy a home to pay off the mortgage by the time you retire so that you are comfortable in your retirement.

Oh dear! – the offshore BTL’s have taken them all. Well, then I guess I’ll have to hunker in some crappy retirement home with abusive staff then.

Trust that answers both your points squarely.

Mo says:

HI Nick,
As Mark pointed out, you do in fact refer to these offshore landlords as “buy to letters”, with the expression “offshore BTLs” . He was also correct I’m sure in saying that they do not need Buy to Let mortgages from anyone to purchase their properties, they have plenty of cash available to deploy in the most tax efficient way that suits them at any given time. Buy to Let mortgages have on the contrary democaratised the process of becoming a landlord, enabling ordinary working citizens to buy and manage properties where it would have been simply inconceivable previously. Most private landlords are not significantly different from the people we rent to, in fact most of my tenants are better off than I am in terms of disposable income, lifestyle, and peace of mind, and that includes my benefits tenants. One of them has had two foreign holidays this year with her three children, a much bigger telly than me, and has gradually asked me to remove all my furniture while she replaced it all with brand new stuff. I meanwhile have had about four holidays in 35 years of full time work, and am sitting on a sofa which one of my other professional tenants decided to throw out when they moved into the showhouse furnished home of their dreams which I was able to provide for them. They still have their own home elsewhere which they in turn rent out, and have no desire to buy another one for the time being, as it would only tie them down. Most of my tenants are nice decent people who get on fine with me, they know where I live, and know that I will deal promptly with any problems, unlike these faceless, disinterested multi millionaires who will become the main type of landlord again if the BTL mortgage disappears. The few tenants who might try to characterise me as a bad landlord are the ones who think I shouldn’t harrass or stress them out by having the nerve to enquire of them when the rent for the last three months might be forthcoming, while demanding instant repairs for self inflicted breakdowns of non essential items without a please or thank you, and then being too “busy” to make themselves available for the repair man, or too lazy to get out of bed when he turns up at the agreed time of 11.30 am. They are the ones who think all landlords are millionaires, and see themselves as our poor exploited victims.
Your experiences in the London property market are bound to be vastly different to most of the rest of the country. It may as well be another planet, and I pity anyone of normal working status who needs to get by there. However, out in the real world I see plenty of properties in all price bands for sale, but the cheaper ones often don’t sell as quickly as the expensive ones. Not sure of the reason, but I think it is partly due to the large deposits required and partly due to the fact that even first time buyers these days aspire to start on the third rung of the housing ladder in a luxury riverside apartment or new build three bed detached, instead of a small affordable flat that they could do up to add value and wait a couple of years before moving on.
Owning a property outright by the time you retire does not necessarily give you security in old age. You could own the house but have not a penny in savings and only the basic pension, so you’d have to sell the product of your life’s work in order to eat. If you have to go into care, you will have to pay for almost everything yourself which again means selling your house and your children’s inheritance. Average care home costs are about £3000 per month, more than the take home pay of my husband and I put together working full time. If you have rented all your life and have no savings, you will be eligible for maximum support to get by. No wonder many people make the perfectly legitimate choice to rent with no ties and spend their money on having a life.
Incidentally, how do you know all those “20 odd “properties were owned by “dozens of Arabs”, or did you just make that assumption because they were being managed by agents, therefore they must be? Letting agents up my way don’t tend to give out that much information willy nilly. Just wondering.

Nick Rougier says:

You’re absolutely right Nick. Your comments are bign hidden “due to low comment rating” – more like due to the authors not liking what you have to say.
You are abolsutely right. I am enraged at my rightto buy property have been hijacked but a greedy winner-takes-all mentality.

Nick Rougier says:

People don’t corner the market in food, JOHN !!!!!

Nick Rougier says:

Hey Mary

Have you yet considered that the posts that have been hidden are hidden because there are too many thumbs downs ?

They are NOT trolls. I am NOT a troll. I made the heinous crime of disagreeing with Mark’s article.

And because almost everyone reading it seems to be some mutilple-property owning yuppie, part of the “F*** you Jack, I’m alright” crowd like you, they thumbs down any post from would-be home buyers like me who are trying to get in on the property market to secure their future but can’t because all the buy-to-lettors have taken them all

So you keep your censored “Only Post if you Agree” wensite and I’ll keep the EU legislation.

I mean, Honestly! You denegrate opinions like that, calling them trolls and cowards just because they want a home of their own. And YOU don’t want them to have one. The funny thing is that I’m a Tory Euro-sceptic but Hell, I’ll take them over that attitude any day.

Good luck to you, Mary. This post will be suppressed as well so I’m outta here and not visiting this pointless site again.

Mo says:

Hi Nick R,
If you were shown 20 properties owned by one Arab owned company, then clearly they all belonged to an Arab company. Your post seemed to imply that 20 random properties you happened to view all turned out to belong to Arabs. That would have had different implications. As I say, London is a completely unique market within the UK, and may I say, hideously and terrifyingly distorted in favour of the anonymous filthy rich, and bears no resemblance to the market in the rest of the UK. Nor can the anonymous filthy rich in a million years be lumped in the same category as the average BTL landlord. It’s bad out here too but in completely different and more understandable ways.
My home is not rocketing but falling in value like almost everyone else’s(except the filthy rich), as are my rental properties, which are all worth the same or less than I paid for them five or six years ago, and still dropping. At that time, pre credit crunch, I missed out on many potential purchases because I could not and would not compete with the prices which owner occupiers, including first time buyers, were prepared to pay. For me it was a business proposition and if I paid too much, the rent might not cover my costs, whereas for the FTBs if they loved the house and planned to make it their home, they were prepared to pay as much as they could afford to get it. So who was driving up the prices there? All mortgages are a bit more difficult to get at present. Landlords who can scrape together a deposit from somewhere, like any business will be trying to negotiate a good discount of maybe 20% off the asking price, and will walk away to the next one if the price is too high. This means homebuyers who have saved a deposit are in a good position to buy if they just negotiate a smaller discount than the landlord. There are enough mortgages available for anyone with a reliable financial history and the appropriate deposit. So it could be said that landlords are helping to keep prices down. Of course, this then hurts people who are trying to sell, but that is the harsh reality of living in the free market environment that we do. The swings and roundabouts affect all of us at different times in our lives depending on which position we happen to be in at the time.
This IS a website owned by and aimed at professional, part-time or would be landlords, and provides useful information and education and encourages good practice. However, as you can see, there is nothing to stop anyone else from reading or pasting comments on it.

A Good Landlord says:

As one of those so called ‘Blasted BTL’S’ as Nick describes us, I can honestly say that I have never bought a property which a first time buyer would have snapped up if I hadn’t bought it. There are plenty houses for everyone to buy without one particular group pushing another out of the market.

Many of the tumbledown terraces I bought needed too much money spending on them first before they could be lived in and would have been too expensive a project for any first time buyer to tackle unless they were a builder.

Britain’s tiny terraces – the ‘Bread and butter’ properties that we landlords usually opt for are likely over a hundred years old – thus the repairs and maintenance on these homes are much more than on their more modern counterparts and they would not be a good choice for first time buyers because of this.

It is landlords like me who keep this housing stock from falling into disrepair by taking on the risk remortgaging our own homes and investing our own hard earned money to repair and supply housing for those who choose not to buy their own place or cannot afford to buy.

What we need is good finance for all so that affordable housing is available to everyone whether they are an investor or a first time buyer or anyone who wants to own a property for whatever reason. If the banks would lend more money then landlords could provide more housing – who is going to provide suitable rented houses if we can’t?

Paul Barrett says:

Surely one of the biggest scandals which has been highlighted by the recent Channel 4 programmes is the amount of empty property in the UK.
As has been demonstrated it is a lot cheaper and easier to refurbish existing properties than build new ones.
Academic really as builders don’t want to build as they can’t sell them.
There is massive pent up ongoing demand for decent rental accommodation which could be brought onto the market if relatively minor grants which would be repayable were provided.
Most empty property is like it is as the owners are unable to access the monies from the banks to fund such refurbishment.
The banks have proven themselves to be not fit for purpose.
We need to to dispense with their dysfunctional service and go straight to the horses’s mouth such as councils and government.
Obtain those funds directly for owners to refurbish all these empty properties.
Of course all these councils etc would register a 2nd charge or interest on the legal title until the grant is paid off.
The govt would win both ways as it brings hundreds of thousands of property back into the letting market; which is going to suffer a crisis if this stupid EU regulation is enforced.
Plus they house the burgeoning rental demand WITHOUT having to build on greenfield sites; saving all the hassle about planning.
Pre-owned property is often of a better standard in the form of space etc compared to rabbit hutch new build properties that for minor amounts of money may be brought back into use.

Nick Rougier says:

Sorry – do NOT wish to sign the petition. Am saving a deposit to buy a flat but being shut out of the property market by BTLs

Also, saw recent Panorama documentary “the Great British Property Scandal” where I learned of a million empty homes perfectly habitable with a bit of renovation with 2 million families on a waiting list needing a home. A national scandal.

Need to pull back on the BTLs and foreign buyers who abandon their properties. Housing first, profit after is my order of priorities. Sorry guys but it seems this new legislation will go a long way to fixing that. Bring it on.

Mark Alexander says:

I have created a You Tube video to try to drum up more support for this campaign. There are 1.5 million buy to let landlords and only 3,000 have signed the petition. I am hoping you will share the video by email, facebook, twitter and any other means you can think of with as many landlords, websites, forums and blogs as you can think of. To make it easy for you there are buttons below the video labled as “Sharing is Caring”. The link to the video is 
http://www.property118.com/index.php/eu-buy-to-let-regulation-please-share-this-video/22642/ PLEASE watch it and share it with as many landlords and letting agents as possible.

Mark Alexander says:

It is certainly time for the PRS to up their game. If this EU regulation comes to pass it will affect millions of homeowners who will fall into negative equity, thus trapping in their current homes regardless of their circumstances for several decades. Anybody with a big mortgage, whether they are a landlord or not, needs to sign the petition to prevent the EU imposing mortgage criteria on our country which fails to serve the vast majority any good purpose. We need more housing but current rules make it impossible to sell them for what it costs to build them. This will continue to fuel rental demand due to the laws of supply and demand and homelessness and overcrowding will get even worse than it is already.

Paul Barrett says:

Sorry mate you are deluding yourself if  you think these regulations are going to assist your possible dream of owning a property.
Until all the negative equity has worked it’s way out of the system and wages have increased so that affordability is sufficient afford to puchase properties purchased at the top of the market in 2007 ; then you might be able to purchase
That is going to take about 15-20 years and remember the only reason people could purchase was that lending criteria was loosened at the end of the 90′s..
The majority of people looking to purchase don’t stand a chance if these new mortgage regulations come in.
Unfortunately all you have to look forward to is ever increasing rents and the bottom rung of the housing ladder ever increasingly getting futher from your grasp.
It is a shame as I believe house purchase is an aspiration which should be availble to ALL members of society.
However due to mass immigration; EU and non-EU; council houses being sold off. onerous lending requirements, less rental property being available; you don’t stand a cat in hell’s chance of getting a property if indeed you are attempting to presently.
Personally I don.t see why the govenment could lend everybody 50 % of the purchase price with that having to be repaid or transferred across to another property.
You could say it is council house discount in advance with the proviso that eventually the government gets it’s money back plus capital uplift when a person can pay back the interesrt free govt loan.
That would get people into their own home and not being paid LHA to rent or imposing burdens on the unavailble social housing stock.
Effectively the govt would be investing in the private housing stock of this country which has done pretty well over the past 25 years!!?
At least it wouldn’t be money wasted on LHA going to landlords pockets but would eventually come back to the taxpayer plus capital uplift.

Mark Alexander says:

Nobody is saying that, everybody who can afford to buy a home should do so for their own financial security. Everybody who can buy more than one home should be a GOOD landlord. Please read more of the comments above and also Google “The GOOD Landlords Campaign” which should also bring you back to another thread on this website.

You may also wish to carefully consider then sign and share the e-petition linked below to protect the interests of those who can’t afford or choose not to buy a home and those GOOD Landlords who provide them

https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/28848

Bobloblaw61 says:

Well lets hope this comes in and people who want to buy their first home do not have to compete with BTL landlords who can not add up,  quite a few portfolios coming up for sale in my neck of the woods.   This is due to The BTL landlords thinking that houses only ever go up in value.  Fat dave round my way is currently slamming his fat fingers into his calculator everyday trying to figure out what went wrong.

Fat dave will be bankrupt by summer because he cant add up and he made the mistake of thinking the government would support high house prices forever.

The government is currently pushing house prices down ON PURPOSE, they have got as many people as they can into as much debt as possible and now we have come to the end of the cycle.

BTL landlords really should wake up to the fact that they are just a means to an end,  yes the government and banks used you in their scheme to get the population into debt,  and you fell for it hook line and sinker.

Fat dave is starting a support group if anybodys interested,  you have to have lost a minimum of 10 BTLs to join though.

Mark Alexander says:

@Daz and @14ce70fae8724a34396e8b644d06ae07:disqus  - it’s almost inevitable that anybody who goes into business who can’t add up and has rose tinted glasses is going to fail. Good on Fat Dave for having a go though, at least he tried to get out of the 9 to 5 rat race or the benefits trap. He might have to live in another landlords property now as I doubt he will be able to buy one like so many others who have never been landlords. NINJA mortgages (No Income, No Job or Asetts) are no longer being available due for all the right reasons. Be careful what you wish for guys as millions will be homeless if there are no landlords, it could be you! If it wasn’t for people like Fat Dave trying to better himself where would all the work come from?

BTW, I have no idea who Fat Dave is, I assume he is fictional but I’ve responded as if he is real as there are several entreprenuers out there who give it a go and fail and some will also succeed. Those who do make a go of things will provide work for those without the balls to make a go of things themselves. Which of those two groups do you fella’s fall into I wonder?

Mark Alexander says:

WE WON, WE WON, WE WON !!!! The EU have kicked out buy to let regulation from CAARP – see >>> 
http://www.property118.com/index.php/euro-mps-kick-out-buy-to-let-mortgage-regulation/28991/