Tenant group claims landlord exodus will improve renting but fails to mention impact on tenants

There are 2.24 million landlords and quite a few have already left due to the section 21 being taken away.Why aren’t they just going for the bad landlords instead of lumping them all together. Where are all the tenants going to live when the landlords sell? There’s no housing now for people so another stupid idea by this government.Get in touch with the real world,if you think tenants are better off homeless then you need to rethink your ideas, unless you can house all the families and have houses we don’t know about

The Guardian reported almost 50,000 social housing properties held by local authorities and their subsidiaries being empty and waiting for repairs to be let. If renting is so profitable they should have fixed these places up and eased the issue, if only a little. It would certainly take some steam out of things and make the local authorities an income.. Could it be landlording is not the golden goose we keep getting told? Word has it that the local authorities cannot make it pay yet the govt are convinced private landlords should pick up the bills they cannot afford?

Thanks @Gromit. As it happens I was the author of the first several editions of “Bluff your way in Economics” and I’m also a landlord!

I too get wound up about biased and evidence-free economics, to the extent my forthcoming book “Young Poor and Totally Screwed” covers all the ways in which economists have materially made things worse for the very people they claim to be trying to help. As you might imagine, that includes several examples from the property market! Take a look at https://stuarttrow.com/

Feel free to forward a copy of the Bluffers Guide to Rachel Reeves. Previously people have also sent copies to former Australian Finance Minister Paul Keating and Scotland’s very own Nicola Sturgeon! Can’t imagine why 😉

“More homes could – and should – be bought by councils and housing associations to provide desperately needed social housing, bringing down council waiting lists and costs and providing people with a secure home.”

Well, that’s helpful Tom, you’ve found the key to solving the housing crisis in a single sentence.

But wait – haven’t you heard that most Local Authorities are, or near, bankrupt? Surely you’re also aware that Housing Associations get significant financial support from the Government, which is also in a financial hole? That what you suggest would have already happened if it could be done?

How do you get by in life being so ignorant about the sector you profess to represent? Idiot.

Reply to the comment left by Stuart Trow at 19/02/2025 – 12:07
A more ” professional ” rental environment means the elimination of small buy to let landlords and the growth of portfolios of good EPC band C properties owned by the Lloyds Bank subsidiary,,Legal and General,Black Rock et al.
They will demonstrate their professionalism by more rigourous credit checks on prospective tenants ,a tougher approach to tenant misbehaviour,cooking practices leading to damp and mould and zero tolerance to rent arrears.
We are 17 million houses short based on extrapolation of ” predict and provide” figures under Blair in 1990.
With nett inward migration running at 650,000 per year and a build rate of 150,000 per year this rabid Socialist has a demonstrable lack of knowledge of simple arithmetic or the realities of the housing market.
What will happen is that homelessness will grow by at least 1 million on top of the 2 million already in that position as no hostels have been built to deal with the disaster that is to come .
It is a shame but the problem has already been recognised in my Masonic Lodge whereby every winter we deliver tents,groundsheet and soup to the homeless of Cambridge.
We do that in 2 vans which we raised money for and each van is crewed by a “brother” who drives,one who distributes tents and groundsheet and another who makes and distributes soup.
This happens in winter.
The upcoming legislation that this apparatchik seems so keen on will happen in the spring and the homelessness will increase from that point on.
On top of that there will be more crime as benefits are only paid to people with proper addresses but that will fall to the police to deal with and they in their present form lack the money 💰

Reply to the comment left by Val Brindley at 19/02/2025 – 12:02
All the more problematical because whatever social housing there is, is being prioritised for migrants and asylum seekers.

Reply to the comment left by John Gelmini at 19/02/2025 – 12:34

L&G is not a subsidiary of Lloyds, it’s a quoted FTSE Co with a build to rent portfolio as is Lloyds with its Citra build to rent arm. Fully agree with your sentiments, I own shares in both plus others with build to rent exposure and expect maximum dividends and growth from the property they hold.

Interesting to note there is no build to rent of any note in the locations where I previously owned family lets, they seem predominantly to be in the bigger cities and focussed on more affluent renters who are not looking to buy at that point in their lives.

Reply to the comment left by Keith Wellburn at 19/02/2025 – 17:48
I didn’t say Legal and General was a subsidiary of Lloyds Bank ,there was a comma after Lloyds Bank which has its own subsidiary..
Not enough houses are being built given population increases of 650 ,000 nett and new builds running at 150,000 a year.
The new houses cannot be built at the rate of 300,000 a year as Angela Rayner wants because of a shortage of 250,000 construction workers and shortages of building materials like cement,bricks,clay,wood trusses,roof tiles,flashing,plaster,gypsum board,breeze blocks,plastic pipes etc.
Without fossil fuels ( Ed Miliband has banned fracking and stopped drilling in the North Sea )there won’t be enough power to make the bricks ,power cement mixers and deliver supplies to building sites…currently we have just 1.4% generating capacity over peak demand.
The left wing apparatchik who thinks landlords selling off houses is a good thing is sadly deficient in his knowledge about these matters .

Reply to the comment left by Keith Wellburn at 19/02/2025 – 17:48
BTR is unashamedly targeting wealthier tenants and single families with healthy credit scores, who are prepared to pay for top quality properties in and around core cities with high employment. They don’t want ASB, arrears, students, benefits tenants… and dont need to take them because their referencing will be tight.

I have been dabbling in the REIT space for a few months and performance has been very good, and no tenant responsibilities.

I’d like to know where are these renters going to escape to with difficulty getting on the housing ladder. Presumably escape to social housing. Or escape to the streets maybe the streets are a better option than renting to a private landlord in this mans eyes.