Lower income Housing supply not sustainable as landlords leave the market

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 24/06/2021 - 12:48
Thanks!

Reply to the comment left by GraemeG at 24/06/2021 - 09:50
I agree overall, except I believe immigration must increase.

This morning, government statistics showed that 'fertility' [misnomer] had dropped during lockdown, contrary to the expectations that everyone would have nothing else to do except bonk and produce children. Reality check... when you're locked up with the same person 24/7, you can't meet friends at work or elsewhere, one is zooming in the kitchen and another in the bedroom, and the kids are driving you mad, sex is the last thing on your mind!

The end-game here in less than 20 years will be insufficient taxpayers to support the nation.

Germany recognised this years ago and we can see just what a mess uncontrolled immigration has made there, not to mention the rapid diminution of its culture.

Having read (only) the Exec Summary of the report so far, I am pleased to see that it conveys some of the reality of being a Landlord at the present time, together with the impact of the many recent and proposed changes, and signposts that LLs are leaving the market as a result.

I hope the report gets picked up by some bods in government who, assuming they exercise some common sense, will recognise (before it's too late) that all their tinkering in the PRS is unhelpful, increasing LLs' risk and hassle, reducing returns and sending all us out of the sector.

Here's another I've had this week, if people want to tell Shelter, MP's, Govt, why we not taking Benefit tenants on.
When u get no rent in or problem, u complain to DWP who we know don't reply, even though at last count, they was spending £200,000 pm on Complaints.
When they don't reply u go to Independant Case Examiner whose address ends with DWP.gov.uk by the way. No conflict of interest there is there.
ICE say we can't answer your complaint Mick as we need DWP to reply first. How stupid is that? However, we have our get out of Jail card, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman PHSO. They just under the GOVT or on top who knows, but they will resolve this debacle. And below is their reply which explains to u Benefit tenants why u cannot get accommodation any more.
U wait two years with no rent in for the complaint to get ICE & u get nothing at the end.
Good Afternoon,
Thank you for your recent email and we are Sorry to hear you are still having difficulty in getting a response to your concerns from ICE to enable you to bring the matter to ourselves.
Unfortunately, we are unable to act until ICE have provided their response.
The best and most effective way to affect change within the DWP may be to ask that your MP raise the matter.
We are sorry we are unable to assist you at this time and hope you get a response from ICE which resolves your concerns, if not we would be happy to progress your Complaint once you have received the response from ICE.
Regards
XXXXXX
Intake Caseworker
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
T: 0345 015 4033
E: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
W: http://www.ombudsman.org.uk

Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 24/06/2021 - 13:43
It's going to get interesting. One of the benefits of Brexit (and this is not a pro-Brexit post, there are many downsides as well) is the UK has increased immigration control. This doesn't imply that immigration has to be greatly reduced and it does mean there can be increased selectivity. There potentially could be some significant challenges funding public services in the future and with limited options to increase taxation. The UK has become familiar with managing problems associated with increasing population, a quick check on the stats shows increase every decade from 1851. We could enter a period of no or low population increase all of which is dependent on government policy. I'm very wary of any predictions as I think the UK is entering a period of unpredictability. This doesn't imply recession, the breadth of potential outcomes are wider than usual. How many businesses had "manage mad bat virus" in their 2020 business plans? My business plan has agility and diversity in it.

I had the pleasure of contributing as a source of information from a professional landlord and felt her previous report was indeed a balanced and fair assessment of the regulatory regieme. Unfortunately that light touch recommendation has been lost in government, with those who shout the loudest acheving the biggest inpressiion on government policy.
We can just hope that reason prevails and government listerns to a source of esteemed accademic opinion that Dr Rugg and the department at York University seems regularly to produce.

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 24/06/2021 - 09:50It is definitely worth reading the whole report. It is unfortunate that the research was curtailed by Covid restrictions because trends identified to that point continued and intensified with time and repeated renewal of eviction bans and notice extensions. Governhment departments do pay attention to these research studies and it is to be hoped that this one will influence future policy. It looks to me as if the government are expecting enough landlords will hang on for long enough to enable their replacement by build-to-rent cronies who receive much more favourable treatment than individual unincorporated landlords. The conclusions of the report evidence that landlords who stay in this market will dwindle to areas where the LHA rate equals or even exceeds market rents and those who are making great profits from providing temporary accommodation to local councils unable to fulfil their obligations to accommodate the statutorily homeless any other way. The fact that a national bank (Lloyds?) is now embarking on buying up (I use the term loosely as banks can simply create credit) individual properties to let out in suburbs and other residential areas indicates one way in which landlords with just a few properties may be superseded in the not too distant future.

Reply to the comment left by Old Mrs Landlord at 28/06/2021 - 11:14
I would go further and say that there is no point commenting on this or any other report without first reading it. Press releases and even executive summaries can be very misleading.