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

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

14:24 PM, 19th November 2011, About 13 years ago 100

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The buy to let market will grind to a halt if EU proposals to change the way lenders hand out mortgages to landlords are approved, claim experts. Do not let this happen – sign the petition linked below.

The new rules will stop landlords buying new property to rent and restrict mortgage lending that will shrink the number of buyers and push house prices down.

This could put landlords and homeowners in to negative equity that would make selling homes impossible.

This bleak picture of the UK housing market of the future could become a reality as soon as 2013 if European MPs vote in favour of draft mortgage regulations that are aimed at pulling the UK market in line with the rest of the EU.

But British lenders say that buy to let should stay outside the directive because the lending is for business investment rather than for personal homes.

If buy to let is included in the new rules, lenders will have to underwrite mortgages on affordability rather than projected rental income.

For landlords this means they would have to show lenders they could afford to pay their buy to let mortgages from the rest of their income.

The Building Societies Association has slammed the move, with Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy, saying: “If the EU goes down this route lenders could be forced to change the way they underwrite buy-to-let mortgages. In the worst case, people wouldn’t have enough money to finance their buy-to-let mortgages and the sector could potentially stop overnight.

“Three quarters of these buy-to-let landlords are individuals, couples and families and if they cannot remortgage their properties they will have to sell, creating an influx of property on to the market and potentially reducing prices.”

The EU draft directive is set to be voted on by MEPs early next year.

Ed Mead, of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, said: “Potential EU legislation might drive many buy to let landlords away from what is a vital part of UK housing provision.

“This must be viewed with caution. Our government ought to be wary of taking a lead from the EU here and encourage informed investment into this sector with tax breaks, not lumping buy-to-let in with those residential purchasers who need all the protection they can get.

DO NOT LET THIS HAPPENsign this government petition and use the share buttons below to encourage others to sign it too.


Mark Alexander
Mark and his family have been investing in property since 1989, initially in the Norwich area but more recently across the length and breadth of England. Mark created Property118.com as a social network for landlords with a vision of becoming the UK’s largest online property investor directory.
Mark’s experiences and strategies as a landlord are shared here

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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

14:48 PM, 9th December 2011, About 13 years ago

I would add one more thing to that list. More new properties need to be built, otherwise we will all be priced out of the market by foreigners spectulating on our supply vs demand problems.

17:26 PM, 9th December 2011, About 13 years ago

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.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

17:59 PM, 9th December 2011, About 13 years ago

Brilliant comment, well said Paul

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

20:46 PM, 14th December 2011, About 13 years ago

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

14:35 PM, 20th December 2011, About 12 years ago

As several of our regular commentors are following this thread I wanted to give you a heads up about our Christmas competition. As I'm feeling generous I'll give you this tip - the answer has six figures.

8:33 AM, 21st December 2011, About 12 years ago

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.

john lown

13:25 PM, 21st December 2011, About 12 years ago

May I put these points up for discussion:

The EC proposal, ableit as yet undefined in implimentation for UK, has a point about viability of projected BTL.
The lenders should lend responsibly, not just to gain their commission with out culpability.

Channel 4 Property Scandal - Interesting programme, however I emailed C4 twice with suggestions of a bond to finance there restoration projects.

NO REPLY WHATSOEVER!

I question with C4 costings of approx 120K to restore some examples shown. We are based in South Devon, a very expensive area, where we restore old barns for residential use. Recently we converted a large barn from only 3 remaining walls into a luxury 4 bedroon home with garage and garden, including a bespoke kitchen with appliances, old timber fitted wardrobes and carpets, ready to move in, for approx £ 140k inc vat where applicable.

A similar 2 bed barn cost £ 78K, and a
1 bed 2 floor small barn was £ 36K

My suggestion is to set up a bond to provide finance for renovations, the bond holders receive a better rate of interest than the pitiful rate offered by banks , building societies etc, and the invested sums are available to turn derelicts into homes. The rents are paid back into the scheme to provide the income for investors. The ownership of the property should be held in common until the renovation costs are repaid.

Some details need knocking into shape, but the bones of it are there.

I would invest in such a bond

Can we survive outside the EC?

Will other EC countries stop buying from us if we leave? I doubt it.

Comments please.

Merry Xmas & peaceful New Year to you all.
John Lown.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

15:15 PM, 22nd December 2011, About 12 years ago

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.

12:54 PM, 23rd December 2011, About 12 years ago

 I agree.  I have been speaking to other first time buyers and we are thinking of getting a petition for the UK government to support the EU regulations providing a safer banking system and affordable homes for first time buyers.

I think we could easily get 10 times the amount of signatures this petition has.  They have only about 2800 at the moment. lol

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

13:22 PM, 23rd December 2011, About 12 years ago

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.

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