The co-leader of the Green Party wants the Renters Reform Bill to go further in restricting the powers of private landlords.
Carla Denyer says she welcomes the government’s plans to end no fault evictions but urges Housing Secretary Michael Gove to “go much further to protect those facing unaffordable rent increases” in the middle of a cost of living crisis.
She says: “Everyone deserves a place to call home, and so I welcome the government’s plans to end no fault evictions, but this is an opportunity to go much further and help the thousands of people who are trapped in the private rental market by spiralling rents that bear no relationship to incomes.
“In the short term we need to see an immediate rent freeze, to go alongside an eviction ban, to prevent people being made homeless during this cost of living crisis.
“And then in the longer term, I want to see councils being given the power to bring in rent controls in areas where the housing market is overheated.
“At the same time, we need much stricter controls on the type of new homes being built to include more affordable and social housing for buying and renting.”
In Scotland the Green Party is in a loose alliance with the Scottish National Party to form a majority in the Scottish Parliament, and it is the Greens who are the driving force behind the rent freeze and rent controls which have hit the private rental sector there over the past nine months or so.
Research by letting agents’ trade body Propertymark has shown that increasing numbers of Scottish landlords are looking to exit the market.
The trade body says that with each available rental property across the UK receiving an average of 10 applications, the issue of lack of supply and rising demand is only getting worse. Propertymark has again called on the Scottish Government to discuss working options with industry professionals, the ongoing temporary nature of the rent controls is causing more instability in an already fractured market.
In April the Scottish Government introduced a higher rental cap of three per cent but Propertymark member agents say this is not nearly enough to cover outgoings, with one landlord seeing an increase in their mortgage payments from £151 to £560, a rise of 270 per cent, due to interest rate rises.
Furthermore, all other services and trades have not been penalised by a cap on their charges, meaning that maintenance, admin and energy bills have all risen, putting further pressure on landlords.
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Will Carla Denyer also campaign for a freeze on mortgage payments for landlords so that we don't have to increase rents to remain viable.
Further sign that these people want to live in a communist state. It’s private property and we have rights… this will only bring about less landlords, less properties to rent and supply and demand will drive up rent charges regardless . What part of economics does the Green Party not get. I have already withdrawn two from the market in Scotland, one now sold and the other will be soon. I am not alone… between the taxman and regulation it doesn’t pay to be a landlord. I had 3 good tenants over the two properties in the last 7 years. Never increased any rents on any of them, did repairs within 2 days and even paid for window cleaners. Good landlords are leaving in droves and Government and these activist will be worse off in the long term.
So many triggered boomers.
You make me laugh. 😂
Another Green Horn that wants rid of the Private Sector Housing now look more like it’s the Governments agenda too.
She wants more restrictions how much more restrictions is left they are in effect confiscating our Privately Funded Private owned Property in perpetuity but she wants more what more is there, everyone wants more from the tax payers.
We are paying billions in taxes billions in licensing requirements and fees making an enormous contribution to the economy then condemned in the media and at the highest level of Government.
I wonder how many she houses apart from none I await corrected but we house 9 million and its frowned upon.
She wants landlords Bankrupted that’s her recipe more homeless, keep loading on costs, penalties, requirements, restrictions and
licensing but at the same time freeze the income that’s supposed to fund all those all those costs and extra costs, no need to mention we have to actually purchase the property and Service the debts anyone would think by her delivery we were gifted the property or State owned, (well not
before now ?).
😂 they are destroying themselves and don’t even know it. Keep it coming and we will keep leaving 💰💰
Will this sandal wearing idiot also campaign for index linked rent rises along with interest rises?
Why should private landlords in some cases run at a loss and have all the exposure to tenants deciding they won't pay, trash the place, complaints against you, more legislation and paperwork. Utter madness and does she not recognise that an exodus in Scotland of LL's is a direct result of this type of behaviour.
Still I suppose living in a tree and spouting nonsense does not cost her that much as I have never seen a combi boiler strapped to an oak tree...
I would recommend selling domestic rental units in Scotland and placing the capital in tax free Whisky Cask investments or the low cost FTSE 250 tracker fund from Vanguard.
Thanks for that but we are not asking for your recommendations, now run along and polish your semi conductors..!
In the real life, Scottish Landlords are being offered 33% rent increases by desperate new tenants, giving a yield of over 10% plus long term capital growth from an ever scarcer resource.
obviously this chap has self interest in getting people to invest in some sort of scheme he is apart hate these idiots
I have some money with Vanguard, very disappointing return, would have been better off leaving the money in my current sccount
Selling is the quickest way to go bust if you have skin in the game. I learned that one sell and whatever bit of equity is in there gets hammered with costs and Capital Gains tax then there’s not enough left to do anything, therefore we are held to ransom. Of Course if you can’t service your debts you don’t have much option and this is Carla Denyer motto get you out.
I suppose it depends how highly geared you are. We peaked at 6 houses all with 40% down payments and left it at that and let the equity grow. As of the other week we are now down to three remaining houses. Yes we have taken a capital gains hit, but if we reinvest the remaining equity and take just 4% our income won't be much different. And as we are now in our 60s we could probably survive on the cash alone.
Stick with your remaining properties, choose your tenants carefully and you will do much better than investing the remainder after CGT with any red braces brigade.
Panicking Landlords shouldn't forget the option to sell will ALWAYS be there as BTL mortgage companies wouldn't stand for any lefty government taking that away, so keep a mortgage, even a tiny one, on each property so that you have the big boys on your side. After all, many cabinet and shadow cabinet ministers have cushy jobs with or lined up with these big boys and won't upset them by restricting their ability to repossess or redeem interest only mortgages which can usually only be done by selling.
Robert - Depends on your age and whether you want to carry on with the hassle. We always intended to get out later in life, but have decided to get out a few years earlier. We are lucky and retired. I have an untouched pension pot and savings, and we live well on my wife's pension and rent. Within three years our state pensions will replace a big chunk of the rental income anyway. I bet there are a lot of 55 + landlords who are thinking stuff it I will get out now and save the grief.
I'm 73 and have no intention of selling up which I would only use as an escape route from nightmare tenants who are more easily avoided given the huge shortage of rental properties currently.
To reduce hassle I would go to full management and accept being a bit ripped off, but not as ripped off as paying CGT on inflation.
Well let's think about this for a second and ask the question, why are the rents going up?
It could be that all landlords are profiteering by all of them increasing rents together. But it is a supply and demand situation, and if the rents are too high for people, then the property does not get let out, because the tenants can go and rent a cheaper property somewhere else. Thus the landlord can only charge what the market is willing to pay. If the landlord cant make a profitable business then he HAS to sell up and leave the market, or else run at a monthly loss.
Any reduction in available property to rent will increase demand and therefore rental asking prices for prospective tenants. Add to that, section 24, higher taxes , higher mortgage costs, higher maintenance costs and therefore less profits and the landlord has to Increase the rents or run at a loss and go out of business. Add to that rent caps and here the landlord is caught in the classic pincer movement. He cant increase rents to cover increased cost and taxes, so eventually he sells up, thus reducing the number of properties available for rental, and thus increasing demand for the others available in the market and thereby increasing the rents for them. You might say well that leaves
more properties for sale, but most people renting cant get a mortgage, so are forced to rent or else live on the streets. It only increases the demand for rentals, and reduces supply.
Add to this mix, rent caps and suddenly being a landlord is not profitable anymore, even if you have low mortgage payments. So they leave the market! That reduces the rentals available and increases demand for what's left, and thereby increases the rents. Rent caps will only hurt the tenants, landlords can leave the market and sell up, at any time.
Look at the 1970's rental market. There were very few and far between flats for rental let alone houses. In York city there was nothing available at all, except the occasional spare room, in a family home. Even they were asking for females only at the time. Rents were ridiculously high, and nothing was available.
That's where we are heading, if the govenment continues in this madness, by punishing landlords. Perhaps the govenment should be building lots more affordable houses, except they cost too much to build!
The occupation density of rental properties is usually much higher than owner occupied properties so selling a rental property to an owner will on average worsen the housing shortage.
If I were offered a stamp duty holiday I might move out of the large house I have lived in since 1978 but otherwise I am staying put with 4 rooms rarely used until I need a retirement flat.
If I were offered a CGT exemption I might sell my large second home but I am not giving up 26% in CGT.
Government could do much to help the housing shortage without building more houses but it's making the situation worse with current policies.
You need to send this to SNP and Co as they don’t understand basic economics. Fools that they are and in the long term will have more homeless on their books and more poor people that they won’t be able to incentivise to vote for them when they are found out .
I have a Tory MSP who agreed with me before his English pals followed the SNP policy and an SNP MP who just ignores me, which is the number one SNP policy.
Females only is a different ball game today, when you find that the boyfriend then moves in behind your back.
You would not be able to ask that now, would be a they or them and don't forget a pet with a mental health issue.
Selecting female tenants isn't discrimination and in the current market selection is easy for Landlords.
That's why I prefer not to rent to single mums, within weeks you get the moron boyfriend moving in
The real end game here is to create a market for the big corporations to enter the market
KB, yep spot on
Landlords have become the easy escape goat, government increased the VAT in 2008 crisis from 17.5% to 20% once the crisis was over i didnt see any of these people campaigning on the government to rever back to the 17.5% ,
Has any government official seen how much call-out charges for workmen are, epc gas certificates mold growth, they all want want want but dodn want to pay for all these extra costs that they demand in all rental properties but not private residences? All this and paying an estate agent up to 17 % of your rent increases are justified
I can see some letting agents going under if/when all of the reforms go ahead
It seems like landlords and tenants are going to suffer How mad is that!!
Make du
these people can clearly not see further than the end of their noses, they are driving landlords out of the PRS quicker than they are coming in due to the legislation, taxing and all round pro-tenant activists. Unless you have been super clever all mortgages have increased which has a knock on effect along with supply and demand. I agree with Frank Jennings if a tenant wants to live in a property they are prepared to pay and if the property is overpriced it won't let simple. Build to Rent will be a lot more costly as new builds achieve a premium for being exactly that but that does seem to be the plan for the corporates to overtake the PRS
It would be nice if someone spoke on behalf of landlords to Michael Gove. All I read is rent generation, shelter this and that and eco this and that telling me how I evil I am. Our representatives don't seem to fight with the same vigour. I get the impression this Mr Ben Beadle is not spelling out the unvarnished truth. Old-school landlords like myself are going to bang rents up to market value, when we previously had not intention of doing so. That's going to mean big hikes for tenants when it was unnecessary. Mr Beadle needs to explain this to Michael Gove instead of telling him how workable his awful section 21 plans are.
When you see these organisations behind the tenant, how the hell can anyone think scrapping section 21 is workable? Do you think this shelter/eco guys are going to back off once section 21 is gone? No, see this article, they won't be content until they realiase their socialist utopia. How are we going to prove everything? I had a tenant recently, I wanted to do lots of work in his flat. He didn't allow access then went to the environmental officer. Of course, that do-gooder took his side. I told her, he's getting a section 21 which shut her up. Point is, without section 21, how do i prove how awkward this guy has been? You all know the type of tenant I'm talking about. If you know this guy's rent you'd all laugh. Below £300 per month for a double-glazed, central heating, kitchen and bathroom relatively new.
Ben Beadle keeps talking about more social housing, more investment in courts. Where does he expect a debt-ridden country to find the money for that when our NHS and army are greater priorities and we’re already running a deficit before we even touch those? We need less government, not more, where do these bright sparks think the money comes from? The trees? What we need to do is teach the kids in this country basic information about not pi**ing money away, saving and investing.
No scrapping section 21 is a terrible idea. Most of my tenants are fine, but every so often you get one vindicative one and you can bet your bottom dollar these Green party losers are going to be backing their fellow losers all the way to the court room.
I have had a similar situation, a pair of bag heads as a result of someone sub letting. I reluctantly let them stay and they have done nothing but make my life a misery asking for another property, moved a dog in, not paying rent, smashed the wash basin, burnt the kitchen, smashed holes in the walls, not opened any windows resulting in everyones favourite mould. Sold the wall heaters and then reported me to the council.
This resulted in all sorts of nonsense and when I started the eviction process crying and wailing its not fair and not their fault etc.
I am now being taken down a route where I have to replace everything despite them wrecking it?!? A quick follow up with a couple of people I know and I find they had been kicked out of three other properties for the same behaviour. All for a princely sum of 360 quid per month. Should have booted them day 1 I found out they had moved in without permission.
Shelter, Crisis, Reeves or Denyer do not report this behaviour of tenants and probably my fault for being a little soft and trying to help them. Will not happen again.
Mr Beadle has a vested interest in student lets as he is a student Landlord so guess which issue he is championing - and behold Gove is now talking about a u turn on banning fixed term for student rentals. As for S21 Mr Beadle keeps reiterating that "we welcome the abolishment of S21". Not sure who he means by we but he certainly doesnt speak for me nor any Landlord I know - I have already said on this site that I wonder if he has done a quiet backroom deal not to fight the S21 issue if they allow the student fixed term - it smells. I am telling every applicant that applies to me for a house why they are finding it hard to get a rental now and that it will get exponentially worse if they ban S21 as LLs are going to get very very picky. As for Ms Guided Ms Denyer - what good are all her rent controls and Landlord restrictions if there are very few rental properties to rent!
Peter I'm sorry to hear about that. I've had loads of tenants like that over the years. Moved away and tried to get rid of problematic properties, not worth it. You know the law will protect these people.
Catherine - You're spot on Ben Beadle has shown himself to be totally useless. He doesn't represent my views at all. He should be fighting to keep section 21. The shameless man knows full well section 8 will not work. Those that have properties know this. ''Prove it'' will be impossible against these scumbag tenants with all these organisations/legal aid backing them. The government will do nothing with the court system. Beadle is not telling Michael Gove the reality which is we're going to massively increase rents and get rid of the tenants we suspect could be be a nuisance. This is not going to work out well. Let the council house them. I will not have a government official telling me what I can and can't do with my asset.
Well said 👍
We left NRLA simply because of seemingly p!ss weak leadership, months if not years ago we asked where is our support, as seemed more happy cuddling up with government or Gov to make sure they had a seat, we fund them yet did not feel supported at all, so bye bye!
& with each please come back email - we clearly stated no chance; until we have at least a more rebust support etc.
So many, if not all comment's are thinking alone the same line - landlords discriminated against from all & every possible angle, with everything the landlords fault, one h£ll of a blame game happily chugging alone for years, usually with tepid mediocre response, altho, very happy we left the NRLA after many years of funding them...
Robert agree longtime landlords should be encouraged to down size and it would increase supply of accommodation for renters, many LL families have flown the nest. It’s all just tax on inflation looking at some old insurance Policy’s £110.00 pa to insurance the house, same house now £692.00 done it this morning, to insure same house, so is it not worth anymore in real term. Its not worth taking a hit at 28%, maybe sell your own tax free and move into the second home even its still too big, no doubt you have turned it in your mind just thinking aloud .
Michael
I can afford to keep both homes which continue to grow in value and have no intention of selling either. We have lots of friends and family near our main home so won't be moving full time to the holiday home just to avoid CGT or the double Council Tax which the SNP are planning next year under Himzo Useless.
I accept my kids will have to pay 40% iht but I am not diluting that by paying CGT before that, especially as they will continue to use the holiday home and would have to pay a 6% stamp duty penalty if they were to buy another one themselves.
That makes sense to me You might have to pay some capital gains tax on the BTL when you move in but you will sleep easier
My membership in the NRLA is due soon, and I am afraid I have no confidence in Beadle so probably will not be renewing after being a member for several years. As for people like this Green representative, you only have to look at the shambles they have made of Brighton & Hove to see they have no economic understanding whatsoever. So she gets her wish, smaller Landlords pack it in, and she is left to deal with the multinationals who have the clout to tie her up in the Courts for years, and determine Government Policy - she may think otherwise but the reality is they can and they will, resulting in more homelessness and vastly inflated rents. Unfortunately the "young" are too young to fully understand the consequences, Labour of the 1970s was a total disaster, and eventually, people elected Thatcher to fix it, she's just hoping that Starmer will drag the UK back into the EU but if that happens it won't be the utopia she believes, the EU has significant problems financially and as we have seen in France the trouble that ensues when people are told they are going to have to pay for it. I see a lot of trouble ahead, unless people like her, educate themselves on what is really going on and who actually controls the purse strings - and it is not government, the Unions, or her fanatical groups. The Conservatives need to sort out their party fast, as it appears to be infested with people living in cloud cuckoo land, whilst the far left has been quietly indoctrinating our schools and universities with all sorts of guff.
Best post of the week I reckon. Spot on👍
READ the small print in the bill if you have a benefit tenant their not paying rent will not be counted as rent arrears (read it yourselves it really is in there) so will not count as grounds for possession
And for those that say not a problem benefit tenants will not pass referencing ,they have thought of that in the " Reserved matters" the regulations. are stating that it will be up to the landlord TO PROVE they are not discriminating ( so how exactly do you prove you are not discriminating) the fines £5000 for the first offence £30000 for the second offence and then a "housing management order " for the third offence so the council then take over the management of your property put in who they like charge what they like and after their management charges you get whats left to pay your mortgage
WHO thinks there will be anything left ??
The escape route will always be to sell and evict the problem tenants who will never be housed in the PRS again.
This IS nothing less than state sanctioned sequestration of private property. It’s a vital brick out of the foundation of democracy. It should get alarm bells ringing far and wide. Wholly unacceptable.
And Ben Beadle welcomes the RRB!
Let's face it this ecoactivist stuff is just a platform for peopled at the top to get themselves noticed in some arena. They don't really care about the cause they claim to be fighting for.
Why would they call for something that will make current tenant better off but the next 1000 tenants worse off? And tenants not be able to secure a house ever again?
Obviously it’s not about the Tenants that’s the excuse lie.
Tenants are worse off as there rents have been driven up by making it more expensive for landlords to provide the property.
Its for the Big Boys to take over I keep saying and falling on deaf ears.
Why else are they making Blocks of Flats exempt from HMO if more than 3 Flat.
Why else are they making build 2 rent exempt from periodic and can have term Tenancies.
Why else are they exempt from Section 24.
Why else are they removing ownership rights from private landlords by removing Section 21, when your relationship with Tenants breaks down and it will now they know you are powerless, then it’s a life sentence for the owners and no way out.
This is making a mockery out of the British Justice System.
We are not equal before the law at all. a lot more besides best left unsaid.
This government are disgusting rats Michael. I hope this country revolts against them. It's sickening how they threaten us with jail/massive fines for this new regulation, not having epc this or that, not having this licence etc. When you think about it, who are these people to put this on citizens that own a 2nd property in what is supposed to be a ''free and tolerant'' country?
To help with cost of living crisis?
Why don’t they freeze supermarket prices, electricity, gas and utility prices, income tax, mortgage rates, and all contractual job prices - builders, electricians, plumbers, estate agents, roofers etc etc. So it makes it fair if everyone in the country can only charge as much for their provision! Why only the rental sector? This must surely be against the law? Targeting one business alone and saying the government can have control over how much they charge for their service? Isn’t it up to the provider and the customer, in every business, to avail what they can afford and keep away from what they can’t? I wouldn’t go buying a Burberry bag for £4000, if I can only afford a Kipling bag for £50.00. So what right does the Government have to interfere with any business in this way? And housing is of different standards and if tenants want the best, they will have to pay for that, or if they need reasonable, then they look for houses with that standard and pay for it. I seriously think this is a breach of law@@
Do Kipling's make exceedingly good bags?
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