Summer Budget 2015 – Landlords Reactions

Reply to the comment left by "Whiteskifreak Surrey" at "03/04/2017 - 09:40":

Yes, a lot of bigoted HPC'ers and lefties who think Landlords should house people for free. They have no reasoned arguments of their own, and won't reasoned arguments put to them by people who know (some are P118 members).

Yes, we need to get Tenants on-side. That's easier said than done, it's been difficult enough to inform LL's let alone their Tenants. But no doubt any outcry by Tenants will be blamed on "greedy" LL's not on massive increases in Government taxation of the PRS. I'm sure the Government has its spin doctors all geared up at the first sign of a serious Tenant backlash. There has been some discussion, on this forum and the Axe The Tenant tax website, of informing Tenants on this forum and I would advocate all Landlords to communicate the impending rent rises and why, sooner rather than later. Personally I liked the bar chart showing how much rent is paid to HMRC now and then again in 2020 highlighting that the net amount received by the LL remains unchanged and how the whole of the increase in rent is going to the Government - as they say a picture speaks a thousand words.

The brown stuff might now really hit the fan if the Conservatives think they can count on the votes of the 2,000,000 landlords they have betrayed with the introduction of S24!

Reply to the comment left by "Anne Nixon" at "18/04/2017 - 13:58":

The real problem​ is who do LLs vote for?

Tories, Labour, LibDem Greens are all anti-Landlord, UKIP have no policy for the PRS!

Reply to the comment left by "Barry Fitzpatrick" at "18/04/2017 - 14:19":

Yes, Barry. Just like the Tories had no policy for the PRS.

Reply to the comment left by "Dr Rosalind Beck" at "18/04/2017 - 14:21":

Therein lies the problem

Reply to the comment left by "Dr Rosalind Beck" at "18/04/2017 - 14:21":

Therein lies the problem

Might be worth joining discussion

https://info.upad.co.uk/webinar-signup/190417

A corporate big boy showing the future of landlording once the playing field has been levelled against private landlords;

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/apr/25/mod-privatise-military-housing-disaster-guy-hands

Despite receiving £168m in rent from the MoD last year, Annington didn’t pay a penny of corporation tax.
.......
Sir Bob Russell, the former Liberal Democrat MP-
“I was fighting for the soldiers’ housing to be improved, because so much of it was terrible, and every time you made some progress, you were just putting more money in Annington’s pocket. The whole thing was just a disgrace.

Today's City am:
http://www.cityam.com/263481/new-stamp-duty-rules-causing-landlords-sell-up-their-droves

Worth reading and perhaps sending this link to your PM. This article will benefit from comments written by Landlords, as there is a hate brigade commenting on any PRS relating articles.

Here is an update in the Times regarding the situation in Dublin following their Tenant Tax and subsequent attempt to cool the market with rent controls:............A lesson for the UK perhaps!

Rent controls ‘raising pressure on tenants’

Opposition TDs have called on the government to conduct an urgent review of the rent pressure zone system after a report suggested that it may be doing more harm than good.

Simon Coveney, the housing minister, introduced the measures, which limit landlords to annual rent increases of 4 per cent, in December. The latest rent index from Daft.ie, the property website, has shown that rents have continued to increase despite the new controls, however.

Ronan Lyons, an economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the report, said that the zones had been counterproductive, with renters now more afraid than ever to leave an existing tenancy. The total number of properties available to rent across the country slipped to 3,084, the second lowest on record, while rents surged by 13.4 per cent in the first three months of the year.

Under the legislation it is up to tenants to report rent increases greater than 4 per cent to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). Market analysts have said that tenants are unlikely to report landlords who are in breach of the law due to the precarious nature of the rental market and the lack of housing supply.

Landlords only have to register new tenancies or existing ones every four years with the RTB, meaning any increases in rent in the intervening years are not officially recorded. This makes it nearly impossible for the board to detect illegitimate increases.

Eoin Ó Broin, the Sinn Féin housing spokesman, said that the government should conduct an urgent review of the legislation, which now covers more than half of the country’s rented properties.

“The introduction of rent pressure zones was supposed to restrain rents and limit annual increases,” he said. “At the moment the tenant themselves is responsible for ensuring that landlords are complying with the new legislation. With the supply of rental properties so limited many tenants are reluctant to go down this route for fear of being evicted.”

Renters who have stayed in their accommodation since 2013 have experienced rent increases of 27 per cent, compared with 50 per cent for those who have moved. The report showed that the average monthly rent rose to €1,131 in the opening three months of the year, the fourth quarter in a row that a new all-time high has been set. The rate of growth slowed slightly from 13.5 per cent at the end of last year to 13.4 per cent.

Catherine Murphy, the co-leader of the Social Democrats, said that the government had “repeatedly failed” renters and that a critical lack of supply had driven people into homelessness.

“Instead of solving problems, we are now seeing evidence that official government policy is heaping more pressure on struggling renters by creating a two-tier system between sitting tenants and people moving in the rental market,” she said.

“Mr Coveney needs to urgently bring in rent certainty for all. This could be achieved by linking rents to the rate of inflation until there is sufficient housing available to drive down rents for new renters and sitting tenants alike.”

Threshold, a housing charity, has called for the legislation that supports the rent pressure zones to be “properly enforced and strengthened”.

Aideen Hayden, the chairwoman of Threshold, said that the Daft report highlighted the need to strengthen the legislation. “We are aware that some prospective tenants are desperate, and those who can afford it are willing to pay above and beyond the caps,” she said.

“This is particularly worrying for those who cannot afford these rents as they are simply priced out of the market. It is our experience that those who secure accommodation outside the rent pressure zone caps are often so relieved to secure a home that they are unlikely to challenge a landlord for fear of a breakdown in the relationship.”

Rents in Dublin rose by 13.9 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March and are now 15.4 per cent higher than their previous peak in 2008, an average of about €225. Rents in Cork rose by 10.4 per cent, representing the tenth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. In Galway rents rose by 10.6 per cent, while Limerick reported an increase of 12.6 per cent over the period.

The country’s average rent has soared by 52 per cent since the market bottomed out in 2011 and is 9.9 per cent above its 2008 peak.