Blogger says tenants with Coronavirus should get 3 months rent free!

Blogger says tenants with Coronavirus should get 3 months rent free!

9:26 AM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago 74

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Richard Murphy of Tax Research LLP, a Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City, University of London and regular columnist for AccountingWEB.co.uk, claims Landlords should bear the cost of Coronavirus and provide three months free rent to tenants who contract Covid-19.

Murphy claims: “As a matter of statutory right any tenant should be provided with a minimum three-month rent-free period to ease the stress upon them whilst this crisis last. I would suggest that the grant of that extension should be automatic to anyone who does not make a due payment of rent on the required date during the period of the epidemic. They should be automatically granted this extension by the landlord without having to make any further application or to complete any additional paperwork.”

“I stress that the cost of this will fall directly upon the landlords in question. I am quite deliberately suggesting that they should bear the heaviest burden of dealing with the epidemic. The reason is simple and is that whatever happens they will still have an asset at the end of this period, and no other sector can guarantee that at present. As a consequence they have the greatest capacity to bear this cost. And, if it so happens that some landlords do fail as a consequence, the assets that they have owned will still exist after this failure and so the economy can manage the consequences of this.”

Murphy goes on to suggest that the other group that should carry the burden of Coronavirus is the finance sector, but only by offering a three month extension to loan or mortgage payments and not the total loss he seems to wish upon Landlords.


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Comments

The Forever Tenant

12:33 PM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Well this is completely ridiculous. Something like this would destroy the economy in the rental sector.

That said, people should be wary that there may be tenants that through no choice of their own will be on a considerably reduced income if they are forced to stay home and have to exist on SSP. There may need to be some consideration should this happen.

Rob Crawford

13:57 PM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Written by "Murphy". Is this a wind up? Where would it stop, flue etc. If a financial hardship comes as a result of coronavirus, then it should fall on the Government to award compensation as necessary. Not the landlord who, I would like to bring to your attention Murphy, may loose the asset if the mortgage is not paid!

Reluctant Landlord

14:12 PM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago

April Fool a month early??

Whiteskifreak Surrey

17:02 PM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago

THIS GOVERNEMNT IS A SICK JOKE.
Wash your hands and carry on as normal! When the number of cases is still low, absolutely nothing is being done to contain the spread.
And now the landlords will be expected to bear the burden. Even so - how you will ascertain that TTs are suffering from COVID19 and are not making it up with a flu? Dr's certificate? Visiting them personally to check the symptoms? I have never lived is such a ridiculous reality, not even in the communism system.

Kathy Evans

17:46 PM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Rubbish - we should be allowed to evict them instantly before they infect the neighbours (not serious). All this for a virus that might not even exist and which generally a person can't be proved to have without any doubt.

Paul Shears

19:09 PM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Who is this idiot and is he state funded? If this is a joke, it's a very poor one.

Paul Shears

19:45 PM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Murphy founded a company that became the European distributor for the game Trivial Pursuit & admits he set up a Trivial Pursuit Irish manufacturing operation to avoid UK taxation.
He claimed he suffered sexual discrimination by the BBC as he was not invited to participate on a Newsnight tax debate in November 2012.
Murphy claims the BBC cited gender balance as a reason for inviting his junior female colleague rather than him.
In 2009, Murphy lost a libel claim by Lord Ashcroft & associated businesses as he misunderstood an article posted on an unrelated website & published a blog post claiming Lord Ashcroft's Belize bank provided tax evasion services.
Murphy estimates £25 billion is lost annually from tax avoidance which is much larger than HMRC estimate of £2.7 billion & his estimate is dismissed by HMRC.
Murphy later clarified that in his view that "at best" £20 billion of it could be collected if his recommendations were followed.
Labour's Shadow Chancellor stated Murphy is not the economic adviser & never has been, because we doubted his judgment.
At an appearance before the Holyrood, Finance & Constitution Committee, Murphy was criticised for being unable to justify some of his claims.
I will just make one of a number of possible observations from the above data reported on the internet and it is this. HMRC do not "lose" a penny from tax avoidance. That's why it is not called tax evasion.
This is akin to the american claim that they "lost" China as Noam Chomsky puts it.
The ridiculous presumption in both cases is that were ever entitled to any benefit.
Perhaps this chap should have stuck to childish board games.

Rob Crawford

9:43 AM, 6th March 2020, About 4 years ago

It does raise the question on what landlords need to do in preparation of tenants getting cornavirus. Specifically, low income tenants or contract workers. If a tenant cannot work and has no income and under law is quarantined at home, could a landlord actually evict the tenant? How will rent guarantee schemes respond? They normally pay out up to the point of eviction and hence will expect the tenant to be evicted asap. Most tenants will not have income protection. An HMO scenario could be a nightmare. Has anyone done a risk mitigation exercise in this respect? I would suggest we all need to do so!

BB

11:34 AM, 6th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Now more panic!! Just listen to yourselves. This a totally hypothetical suggestion, all because some one - who as most of the comments above have indicated, is talk though his hat.

The same illogical panic that's gripped the markets causing most folk to loose huge chunks of their investments and pensions.

It's a very very bad flu virus. That's it!!!

Whiteskifreak Surrey

11:39 AM, 6th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by BB at 06/03/2020 - 11:34
And the source of your 'bad flu virus' comment is?...

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