Government have created chaos in the PRS

Reply to the comment left by SteveH at 06/04/2020 - 22:40
Absolutely. A legal challenge should and must be mounted. The UK government have appropriated private property and removed the right to compensation without due consideration to the rights of private ownership. This is a gross abuse of private property rights.
I'm surprised no solicitor has yet advised landlord action groups that a class action is advisable.

Reply to the comment left by DALE ROBERTS at 08/04/2020 - 20:59
Well I'm in, but not sure how to go about getting the message out there and then starting the process, hopefully there is someone that has the know how/contacts to get the ball rolling

Thank you for this.
One of my tenants just called me up on the day the government mentioned "mortgage payment holidays" and literally argued with me about their refusal to pay their rent as I have a "mortgage payment holiday". I tried to explain that this may be available but I have to consider the long term implications of this and if I can afford to pay this is not an option, from my understanding. Also, they both said that they had lost their jobs, one of whom also does Uber driving. I tried to assist my tenants by asking them to apply for Universal Credit and as the chancellor had been making further announcements regarding self-employment and "Furlough scheme" , I kept them informed. They are outright refusing to pay their rent as they don't have any money coming in. I have still to pay the service charges, etc for this property let alone the mortgage. The government has misled tenants and made it seem as if they are helping landlords when instead they are giving some tenants an excuse not to pay their rent and with Section 21 immunity for the next 3 months at least allows them to refuse to pay.
In addition, the Section 24 where we as landlords are not allowed to deduct our finance costs especially mortgage interest from our rental income turnover, making our turnover /profits to be higher than they really are is making it even more difficult in these times by pushing into higher tax brackets (unnecessarily targeting only BTL landlords and not other businesses)! The government has not offered anything to help real life honest landlords in their struggle to deal not only with the coronavirus pandemic, non payment of rents and on top the shocking and unjust Section 24 imposed on landlords finances. In my view, I do not feel the government is addressing the buy to let landlords in these difficult times and the media has seemingly not pointed this out to the government. If anything to help landlords who help the PRS. I think they need to reconsider Section 24 and scrap it or tell HMRC (if in their powers) to allow landlords to deduct their mortgage interest from their turnover!! The NRLA and organisations representing private landlords really need to address these issues now with the government and HMRC, in my opinion.

Reply to the comment left by Sofia at 09/04/2020 - 15:34
It's pretty obvious that if you tenant was so intellectually sharp as to ring you as soon as the mortgage holiday mess raised it's head, they know only too well that they are talking rubbish.

Holiday Let landlords not only get exemption from 20/21 business rates , they have started to receive the £10k grants direct from Councils automatically. I do not know how business rates compare to domestic rates but I do know that to qualify as a holiday let a property owner does not need to rent it out for the full 365 days to the public and is therefore able to use it as a second home. So owners of second properties can receive £10k grant and qualify for Business Interruption loan too.

Reply to the comment left by dismayed landlord at 04/04/2020 - 19:00
I have a four bed detached house near a major hospital as well.
I contacted the outsourced NHS department responsible for finding accomodation for their staff.
Judging from their eventual reply after a week, it was obvious that they assumed that I was offering the property for free.
They declined my "kind" offer but informed me that they had no accommodation requirements at the moment...........
I have been contacted by a few NHS staff regarding the same property but each of them had their own unique issues such as only wanting two nights a week or misreading my advertisement and thinking that it was in a different city.

Reply to the comment left by Sally-Anne Evans at 10/04/2020 - 21:30One of my properties is a holiday let so I can provide useful comment. This property was our holiday home but we got bored with it having owned it for several years. Rather than sell it or rent it out on an AST the location was suitable to try holiday lets. We have just completed our second full tax year for 2019-2020. We had 177 nights occupied which I think is quite good as we close every year in January and February so our place only available just over 300 days each year. HMRC rules state that your property must be available for 210 days each year and actually let for 105 days so we are easily qualifying. It is doubtful we will meet these targets this year but relaxation in these rules will obviously happen. As our own holiday home were were paying around £1200 each year in council tax but as we have been registered for business rates right from the start of letting we pay zero in business rates. We decided to be honest and not let the local council continue to collect our household refuse as because we are now a business this would be wrong. We have a private contract with Biffa and pay about £400 p.a. so we are still about £800 p.a. better off than paying council tax.
I would recommend all small property investors have at least one holiday let for several reasons. It is an alternative source of income - The £10k grant this year will mean I am not out of pocket on this property in this tax year. You can legitimately borrow money for a holiday home and get full tax relief on the interest. Interest rates are higher than BTL rates but you could always take out a mortgage on an existing BTL property and use these funds to buy your holiday let. You will then effectively get full tax relief on the interest payments providing all of the loan is used towards the purchase of the holiday let. N.B. It is the use of the loan not the source of loan which decides its tax treatment. You could for example take out a mortgage on your own home and use this cash to buy your holiday let. There are numerous other advantages like 10% CGT, income counting as earned income. Anyway food for thought while we are all 'Staying at home'.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Simpson at 11/04/2020 - 08:04
I think you need highly qualified barrister opinion on the chances of success of a Class Action ( due to the costs )
Mark Smith might like to comment ?

Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 01/04/2020 - 14:54
My mortgage provider ALDERMORE are dragging tgeir feet over replying to my request for a mortgage payments holiday. I applied 2 weeks ago as my tenants jumped straight on to the bandwagon to claim rent holiday. I got in touch with Aldermore again yesterday, reply was " we are very busy but have your application, unfortunately you have missed the first month due to your date of application". Cost me over £2500 which l cannot afford. Is anyone else in the same position ? Seems like its always the landlords who have to pay for mortgage companies faults.
I will never recover the £2500, upkeep and repairs will suffer ???

I have 14 properties, already l have had 11 tenants not paying rent. They think not paying is their right. Misled by governments again, mortgage companies not reacting quickly enough.
11 properties not paid rent, cost me £5,800, repairs to sort ???
Mortgage companies are not playing fair, Aldermore are main culprits, took them 2 weeks to reply. I am not in arrears with any mortgage payments, may change now. Who will lose out, Landlords.