Ban on Landlords Increasing the Rent?
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Should there be a ban on Landlords raising the rent?
The Scottish Government has started to consider rent controls to help tenants during the cost of living crisis.
The thing is if you ban increasing the rent and financially it forces the landlord to sell the property then tenants get evicted after the notice period and then the property gets sold and it might be another landlord who just sets a higher price as it will be the initial rental charge. It may mean less rental stock is available but prices are cheaper so many will be forced to still live with parents etc due to lack of rental stock.
Far better to return to the old rates system which made it much more expensive to have larger properties or multiple properties and then it would likely mean many buildings would be converted to multiple homes i.e. flats rather than single large properties with 6 bedrooms etc. By making more homes available it will drive down rent anyway.
In China there has been up to 80% falls in property values because there is huge over-supply. Over-supply is what we need so landlords are fighting for tenants. We can't achieve this if we keep allowing a high level of immigration and continue with council tax where owning large properties is relatively cheap.
Rent caps could lead to a greater under-supply of rental property however it might slightly improve prices for those looking to get a mortgage as might increase supply there.
As a minor improvement we could stop demolishing good buildings which could be made into basic housing stock, flats etc and people who die without relatives who have property the property should not be given to the monarchy but instead be part of council housing stock automatically.
Buildings are exceptionally well made in the UK generally. In China they only last about 30 years and in the US 60 years but the heavy brick construction of many UK buildings allows for 120 years sometimes more. This is probably related to our damp climate. The point is its a very positive point about UK buildings and we should maintain those standards as its good long term thinking. We don't need to demolish many buildings that still have a long structural life left just re-purpose them.
BonzoBanana 30 years? A guy who lived in China has decided to show how China works and it doesn't look good at all.
And murders in China? I had no idea.
Instead of Western MSM focusing on the "far right" they should report on what's happening in China.
We need to build affordable housing because there is not enough to go around and at the moment people are living in hotels and hostels. Prefab housing would be a start
Pfs Prefab housing would be a great approach to increasing council house stock. £50 billion a year is paid by the government to private landlords for low income people. This is unsustainable and adds to our huge debt pile. Unfortunately it needs upfront capital which the government can only get through borrowing. Lets say a prefab house/flat works out at £80k each on council owned land and they are paying £600 a month currently for private rent. £7200 per annum vs £80k is still a huge difference. However if the pre-fab is good for at least 30 years possibly longer that saves £7200x30 minus repair and service charges needed. Councils and the government are bankrupt pretty much so its difficult for them to find the money to save money with long term planning.
This is out of date its now over £150k per person 3 years later but its a staggering level of debt which is getting more and more unmanageable. I should point out I don't agree with the taxpayersalliance viewpoints its just their calculations on real debt that are true. Their viewpoint on a low tax economy is clearly madness in the current situation.
www.taxpayersalliance.com/picture_real_national_debt_hits_143_000_per_person
BonzoBanana we could save millions and millions of pounds if we stop giving away money and closed our Borders for a while but we are too soft as a nation
Pfs Yes global warming is going to be make many countries un-inhabitable in the coming years and there will be even more people trying to move to other countries and as an island it is relatively easy for us in practical terms to stop immigration its just the moral issue. Really it should be countries with low population densities like Canada, Australia, Russia and the USA that should be taking immigrants not the UK, parts of Europe and Japan which have high population densities. Japan does not allow immigration pretty much and we need to be the same as we are approaching their population density.
you just called me as you have just misread what I was saying and also a very close friend of mine is staying in a hotel with kids so we need more houses building 
and we need to do something as it's getting worse if you look around the town centre there is a lot of people sleeping outside of shops on cardboard boxes
Pfs Travelodge used to have an agreement with the Home Office ( I'm not sure if they still have) in which inmates who'd served their sentence would live in Travelodge until more permanent accommodation could be found. This included Rule 43 prisoners / schedule one offenders ( nonces as they are known).
gothvixen Obviously immigration is related to over demand for housing so is related to this thread. It's not xenophobic or racist to want to reduce or stop immigration its a realistic viewpoint based on what is happening. Under-supply of housing means higher housing costs and over-supply means lower housing costs either renting or purchase.
The main issues of our economy are the huge level of debt due to running a trade deficit, sending huge sums abroad, immigration and spending beyond our means.
Well obviously a ban on raising rent at all wouldn’t be fair to the landlords but they should do a rule where they can only raise it by a maximum amount per year. I think they did a similar thing in berlin but i’m sure i read it actually made things worse for some reason
No of course there shouldn’t be a ban on rent increases. Would you expect council homes rent never to increase? Get real for goodness sake.
About time and should happen in England asap, it's ridiculous what some landlords are charging now
I suppose as long as people continue to pay high rents then landlords will continue to charge them but it's really hard on Mr and Mrs Average who work themselves to the bone and still need government support.It's really hard to get out of the benefit trap even when you are super industrious.
Yes. Rent prices are ridiculous. Tried this where I live it wasn't agreed. Most the politicians where I am are landlords so want to be able to rip off those they represent
Yes a friend was paying £1000 per month now the landlord put it up to £1200 per month. It's shocking private landlords rents
If you do you're going to find a lot of people being served notice so the landlord can readvertise the property at a higher rent now that their mortgage rates and costs are higher too. Or they'll sell, meaning that's one less home available for renters.
A landlord has bills to pay , the same as anyone else and , of course , their bills are subject to inflation , so , provided they only increase rent once a year , then why shouldn't they - don't they deserve a return on their investment ? Presumably , you receive an annual increase in your wage or salary , even in your pension , the investment which has been made and probably is still being made on the rental property must deserve a return !
SamGoodship there's no facility to report comments or threads, but Pfs has turned this into an anti-immigration topic, which is completely inappropriate.
Absolutely am with you on this one.
Am having to pay £475 a month for a 1 bedroom upstairs flat in Bradford West Yorkshire and I hope my rent never goes up.
Prefer going down.
Private landlord estate agent
My father's a landlord,and along with everything else prices for fixing problems with his houses when something goes wrong have increased .So yes ,call me bias but rent should be increased .
How about banning builders from putting their prices up, builders merchants from putting material prices up, electrical shops putting the price of white goods up and banks raising the interest rates? Also how about the government allowing the full claim back on interest paid to the banks? So landlords don’t pay tax on money not earned.
just a thought
With interest expense for landlords not offset against tax, the outlook is awful. It is government policy leading to massive rent increases
A good start would be to cease landlords / property owners from owning more than two properties including their own. We need for the people to own the land and not the descendants of Barons / Dukes/ Noblemen who were given the land following William the Conqueror landing here and divvying it up to men who would control the lands, rents and force taxes on people and still do.
I don't think there should BUT I do think there ought to be a limit to how much they can raise them to
The only winner here will be the letting agents if landlords are forced to change tenants regularly to raise the price of rent. Tenants pay a fee for them to find a property, landlords pay them a fee to find tenants…
I have a private landlord, no agent involved and he says the Council have put so many 'certificates' in place it's becoming expensive to own a property to rent out. He is a very good landlord any jobs are seen to within a couple of days, even better is rent has not increased since 2016 best bit I got a REDUCTION during Covid 
lilyflower sounds like you found a good landlord as some are all in it for the money only
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