Shortage of rental properties so extreme tenants are refusing to leave?

Reply to the comment left by Rob Thomas at 20/04/2022 - 10:35
I have to say also that the whole EPC scenario depends on the person carrying out the EPC. I have ten properties - when the last EPC was carried out all but 2 of them were a C and so I thought I was going to be OK with the new regulations. I have just had to have an EPC done on one of my properties again as it was due. The property was a 'C' - nothing has changed since the last EPC yet the chap carrying out the new EPC has downgraded it to a D recommending at least £16,000 worth of work be carried out to bring it up to a C. I tried contacting him to ask why he had downgraded it but I cannot get an answer from him as he has completely ignored my requests.
I spoke to my local Landlords Association who pointed me in the direction of another EPC Inspector who kindly offered to have a look on the website to see what the difference was between the last EPC and this one. He said there is only a difference of 5 points in it and this could be because the inspector does not know whether it had any insulation on a flat roof. As they do not carry out any invasive investigations, they just guess whether they think there is any insulation! Why oh why do they not contact the landlord before to ask these questions? I will add that when we bought all our properties we completely renovated them before letting them out but my husband cannot remember what was insulated. We are now going to have to go to the property and investigate whether it is indeed insulated - (we would have done this had we known it was going to cause a problem) and then get another EPC done, informing the inspector what is and what is not insulated before he goes.
I will add that my tenant has lived there quite happily for the last 10 years and does not want to move - firstly because she likes it there and secondly because there is absolutely nowhere else for her to go! Unfortunately if the EPC still comes back as a D I will be selling the property as I have no intention of paying £16,000 for recommendations on the EPC that are ridiculous i.e. insulating all the walls and floors - it is a stone property!

Reply to the comment left by Lee Bailey at 20/04/2022 - 10:15
Parties are the last things that we need to worry about. That is just a minor distraction.
The bear is not in the room yet, but when Labour do get in, we'll be lumbered with rent control, security of tenure and no way to get out!

Melissa,

You've heard? Me & the likes of DSR & Monty & Luke etc. on here has seen this accelerating last 5 years or so.
If the Anti Landlord rules were relaxed, we would see normal market forces, supply demand, competition come back lower rents.

I'm massively affected by this.
I want to sell approx 40 of my houses, was going to do this by natural wastage ie. tenants moving of their own accord as I used to get 3 or 4 move every year if I had nothing for them. However with all the Imbecile Govt & Council Landlord attacks, my Benefit tenants it looks like can never move again.

In Nottingham, it's nigh on impossible for a Benefit tenant to ever secure Private Rented accommodation again cause of Selective Licensing & Universal Credit.

Below is part of long letter I'm having to whatsapp my tenants giving them 10 years (now 8 years notice)

I'd like to sell about 30-40 to the Council (with tenants in) which I've got me MP looking into as apparently he knows all them in that department from years ago.
And even if I sell 40, I'm still gonna' have too many as I get older.
My problem is my tenants can't move any more & I'm not crapping on those that have been good to me.

I send the below to the tenants ONLY after they've spoke to me about potential move etc.

I've not finished this, only rough draft.

It is proposed by Govt & Councils, you can't live in your own house if you don't reach a certain minimum EPC standard by 2028. Please read later on below.

Most of u r very good. But are u perfect? Read Licensing conditions and tell yourself:
1. Could u comply with all them.
2. Would u take any tenant on that wasn't the most prim proper person ever?
3. If u was a landlord getting older, would u want to be dealing with that for EVERY house EVERY tenant?
4. Could u be doing with giving out 200 pages to each tenant each house.
5. Would u take a Benefit tenant on after being told u had to comply with them conditions?
Selective Licensing conditions Feb 2022
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sD_HRl57ANNw4PBAb-FGRU7h-0Qby9Vm5xLioH_nA7c/edit?usp=sharing

Few Extracts from why Landlords selling & why Benefit tenants can't get houses any more & why rents extortionate:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/111cUAfUbS8mdHI1uOoE_V3i6zRZnp1JJXjd4yQeTXXs/edit?usp=sharing
from pieces I & other Landlords wrote on the issues u need to solve. Long I know. But work with us and rents will reduce.

The Government has enacted various policies over the past few years that are designed to force private landlords out of the market, so they can be replaced with large corporate landlords.

The Government promote the fiction that they are doing this so that people can have an abundance of properties to buy, as their reasoning is that every property a landlord has to sell can then be bought by a family who need a house and are struggling to get on the property ladder.

However, what they are actually doing (deliberately, in my view), realising that the demand for properties to rent is increasing because of wider economical factors which prevent people from buying a property (or even wanting to buy a property) of their own, which then enable large corporations (Government friends) to step in and develop very small units of accommodation which they can let to the growing number of people wanting/needing to rent.

The large corporate entities then charge rents which are higher than those charged by the small scale private landlords, thus making renting more unaffordable for low income households.

Every policy the Government brings in adds to the costs incurred by the small scale private landlords, and in order to cover these costs the private landlord has no choice but to increase the rents.

More bureaucratic burden = higher rents needed.
Section 24 tax = higher rents need to be charged.
End Section 21 Notice process = higher rents need to be charged.
Impose EPC grade C requirements = higher rents have to be charged.
Every action against private landlords by the Government (central and local) results in higher costs, and this forces landlords to increase the rents charged to the tenants.

As private landlord are forced to increase their rents to cover the increasing costs, or they are forced to sell their properties, then the "market" becomes more lucrative for the large corporate developers and investors (some of whom donate large sums to the Government).

Fewer private landlords = Higher tenant demand = Higher rents = Less opportunities for low income households to access housing, and tenants reliant on welfare benefits have virtually no opportunity to rent (so have to stay where they are). - This is a direct and intended consequence of Government policy, but all the blame is passed on to the demonised private landlords.

Reply to the comment left by Robert Mellors at 20/04/2022 - 16:22
Spot on.

Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 20/04/2022 - 10:07
Those people will never vote Tory and in the meantime they are alienating their voter base.

Reply to the comment left by Robert Mellors at 20/04/2022 - 16:22
Great words Rob,

Everything Govt & Councils do excludes thinking about the Benefit tenants & how they gonna' pay higher rents for New build standards.

I couldn't afford a New build till 2014 after dozens of years of 12 14 16 hour days & going without etc. I din't expect to be given one on Benefits.

Yes, the government is trying to cull the private rented sector, and IMO for good reason.
Of course, given the opportunity, Labour will remove it altogether.
Robert Mellors says that higher rents will need to be charged; that's where rent control will kick in. Flashback to the late 60's when I started off. I was quite happy to have a lower rental income with good capital growth even though interest rates were super high.
Landlords currently have high rental income, historically low-interest rates, and substantial capital growth.
Talk about cake and eat it.

Reply to the comment left by neilt at 21/04/2022 - 12:39
"that's where rent control will kick in."

No they won't.
Didn't work in the past, won't work in the future.

Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 21/04/2022 - 12:47
You only need look at Germany and Ireland to see how rent controls destroy the private rental market... for renters. That's the problem with believing the left-wing populist narrative from the likes of Sadiq Khan, Labour, Shelter, Generation rent... Of course, if you are Emily Thornberry, you can get your wealthy husband to make huge profits by buying up housing association property, instead of keeping it in the social housing sector.