How are the landlords doing? .

[TRINITY]

2 hours ago, figgy said:

 

Tennant's not paying for six months isn't on. Do the council think people can pay mortgage and other bills just bei the Tennant's won't. Idiots, the system is bent. If they don't pay, they should be booted out, no if buts or maybe. 

The reason the council are on the side of these people is because while ever they have a roof over their heads it's the landlords problem at not theirs.

Once they are evicted and homeless the local authority have to step in. So basically they are not neutral at all ,and will protect the tenant every time if they can.

[henry d]

4 hours ago, Old farrier said:

Is there something in your history that you want to tell us about 🤔🤔

No idea what you mean? I need a short term rental as trying to get the legal system of buying in England and selling in Scotland is a nightmare, we've completed missives here and no one in the chain in England is prepared to go for a date. It's not long until the SDLT holiday finishes and ATM everyone is twiddling thumbs.

2 hours ago, figgy said:

Not worth the potential hassle if you wreck the place or don't move out.

I went through the estate agents that we are buying through and they won't budge, and obviously they know the score.

[TRINITY]

18 minutes ago, henry d said:

No idea what you mean? I need a short term rental as trying to get the legal system of buying in England and selling in Scotland is a nightmare, we've completed missives here and no one in the chain in England is prepared to go for a date. It's not long until the SDLT holiday finishes and ATM everyone is twiddling thumbs.

 

What's this !!!!! Someone wanting to leave what will soon be the independent Eutopia of wee Jimmy's braveheart land. Why would you leave shang ri la to go to a Tory run country outside of the EU 

[eddoakley]

1 hour ago, 12gauge82 said:

Don't mean to be captain hindsight, however... I think hiking rents now is an unwise move, your asking for a situation like that to occur. If your rents are fair and your a good landlord (which I'm sure you are) I'm sure it'll work out okay in the long run, it's just a bitter pill to swallow short term. 

Touch wood, I find if your reasonable with Tennants, they're good with you on the whole. 

While "hiking rent" may seem unwise it's also unwise not to collect my income at any time.

The 2 tenants in question hadn't had a rent increase in 5 and 8 years and were already below market rate at that point.

Now, a year ago or a year's time they would still have had the same reaction and that's to go to the council who advise them to stay put and wait for me to take them to court.

I offered them a deal, well below what they would pay elsewhere but both declined. 

I will pursue costs but I won't hold my breath.

They've been good tenants but I've been a good landlord. They've paid their rent on time but I've provided the houses on time. They've decorated but I've kept the fabric of the building sound. They've been good with the neighbours but I'd have kicked them out if they weren't.

I'd rather they stayed as it's less work all round but it's just time for them to move as they don't want to pay what it costs to live there. That's fine. Go somewhere cheaper but I shouldn't have to subsidise where they live.

I've plenty of tenants lined up who will be happy to pay the correct rent.

 

Edd

 

[Lloyd90]

6 hours ago, eddoakley said:

Sore subject here.

I increased a few rents last week as they haven't had an increase for a long, long time and were well below the market rate.

I have bills to pay too.

2 have become an issue:

1 can't afford the increase so I've given them more notice then required and they are looking for somewhere.

Another text to say they couldn't afford it so would vacate at the end of the month.

The following day they text again to say that the council had told them to withdraw their notice and not vacate.

Basically I have to give any tenant 6 months notice to start and proceedings to remove them. They will now not pay their rent for 6 months and have the backing of the council so I'm screwed.

The council called me today to tell me so.

Fortunately not all tenants are bad and hopefully the rest will pay.

Great game this being a landlord.

Edd

 

Had the council Told them to not leave but not mentioned about paying rent, or not specifically told them not to pay any rent? 
 

Or the council has told them not to leave and don’t pay you anything for 6 months?
 

I would think it’s far more likely that they told them not to leave, but never even talked about paying rent or not. 
 

 

Will you not take the tenant to court for the 6 months of rent? 
 

Even with a low chance of recovery I would take it to court and have it on their credit record for the rest of their lives! You can’t even buy an iPhone these days without a credit score. 
 

They might refuse to leave but continue to pay the rent? Or they've told you straight up they’re planning on not paying? 

[Vince Green]

11 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

 

Had the council Told them to not leave but not mentioned about paying rent, or not specifically told them not to pay any rent? 
 

Or the council has told them not to leave and don’t pay you anything for 6 months?
 

I would think it’s far more likely that they told them not to leave, but never even talked about paying rent or not. 
 

 

Will you not take the tenant to court for the 6 months of rent? 
 

Even with a low chance of recovery I would take it to court and have it on their credit record for the rest of their lives! You can’t even buy an iPhone these days without a credit score. 
 

They might refuse to leave but continue to pay the rent? Or they've told you straight up they’re planning on not paying? 

You would be surprised what councils and citizen's advice will tell a tenant to do or say. Usually its not the council its CA because why would a private tenant go to the council about a rent increase when its nothing to do with the council?

 

[blackbird]

7 hours ago, mel b3 said:

I was just curious as I was talking to another binman about it earlier.  He's got iirc 14 houses now , and he's had no problem whatsoever (so far) . He does think that the situation might change in the future , but he's more than a little picky about who he rents to , and he does look after them extremely well , so that they'd never find anywhere better for the same price.

Nothing that can't be fixed with duct tape 😆.

That must be a worry . I would say that the council will encourage them to dig in , so that they don't have to find a home for them . It must be stressful,  but I'd guess that it just sort of comes with the territory. 

I wonder how many renters will just use the whole Covid mess as an excuse not to pay rent ,even if they're still working.  I know the the government said last year that the courts wouldn't evict tenants for unpaid rent , unless it had been unpaid since before the pandemic. 

If the bin man you were talking to has 14 houses he rents out can I ask with the utmost of respect what the hell is he doing on the bins ? 

Edited February 3, 2021 by blackbird

[Lloyd90]

10 minutes ago, blackbird said:

If the bin man you were talking to has 14 houses he rents out can I ask with the utmost of respect what the hell is he doing on the bins ? 

If he’s worked hard enough to build up a housing portfolio of 14+ houses over the years in a bin mans wages I would imagine he’s a hard working bloke who wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he didn’t have a job to go to 🤷‍♂️

[blackbird]

14 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

If he’s worked hard enough to build up a housing portfolio of 14+ houses over the years in a bin mans wages I would imagine he’s a hard working bloke who wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he didn’t have a job to go to 🤷‍♂️

Or he is full of **** 🤥

Edited February 4, 2021 by blackbird

[Lloyd90]

32 minutes ago, blackbird said:

Or he is full of **** 🤥

Might be. Might not. 
 

My dad was a market trader for many years. 
 

Opposite him was a father and son, they weren’t very bright blokes, nice but dim. Very nice blokes would give you a hand if needed etc. 
 

They worked hard, 6-7 days a week, they lived a very simple life, basic needs, no frills, no fancy holidays etc. 
 

Every year they would buy a property together. The extra income from the property being rented out they never touched because they lived such a frugal life anyway. 
 

 

 

 

I’ve recently assisted a man into a care home, he had a stroke. Had to go through his home to find all his documents. 
 

He had written in his note book “frugality! Extreme frugality!” And he had the same shopping week in and week out. He had planned his expenses they were roughly £3-4,000 a year. 
 

He worked all his life for the power company or something and had a considerable pension coming in. He’d also never moved out of his mum and dads. He had £700,000 sat in his bank account. 
 

 

Point is for some people living frugally and collecting wealth and assets becomes an obsession. 

 

If you bought a few properties when prices were low and remortgaged as the capital appreciated over the years a few times you used to be able to buy more property every few years without too much effort. 

[NoBodyImportant]

My renter pays ever month still even though there is a no eviction order here in NC.  But in that area I could get $1000usd but I have never raised the rate from the $650 they started at 6 years ago.  They keep the place up and fix the little stuff themselves.  They say they plan on retiring there and have planted trees and stuff so I will let them stay as long as they like.  I have thought about telling them to stop paying so I could draw off the Covid Relief fund as the government is paying rent for people right now.  But then the government would know that I have a rental.  I keep my rentals under the table.  Plus when they were out of work for the first lockdown the Government was giving them both $1000 a week, plus the stimulus.  They were getting more money out of work then working.  

[mel b3]

6 hours ago, blackbird said:

If the bin man you were talking to has 14 houses he rents out can I ask with the utmost of respect what the hell is he doing on the bins ? 

 

6 hours ago, blackbird said:

Or he is full of **** 🤥

Im back at work on Monday,  I'll mention that he's full of xxxx 😅.

I've known him for a long time ( from when he only owned the house that he lived in), he worked hard to pay off his mortgage early,  just so that he could buy another house to rent out(as do quite a lot of others) . He ploughed every penny of rent , plus his own money , into paying off that mortgage , then bought another and another . He's in the fortunate position now that he doesn't need mortgages as he's self financing.

His lifestyle is pretty simple . He has a son (almost grown up now) with learning difficulties ,  and he's totally devoted to his son . The family entertainment is Saturday night in the club . The club is a huge shed in the garden , with home cinema and a bar and disco , they invite friends and family , and have a whale of a time . He drives around in a car that's worth pennies ,and they very rarely go on holidays.

He's heading towards 50 years old now , and he has several plans , his main financial plan is to build a block of flats . He has two houses next to each other on a corner plot , they stand on a large piece of land ,  and that's where he wants to build the flats . The council have turned down planning on the flats , but he's certain that it's just a matter of time before he builds them .

If anyone asks him what his plan is and why he does it , his answer is simple. He says , see when you go on your holidays in a caravan,  and theirs always a fat old bloke driving around in the sun , on top of a ride on mower with his shirt off . Well that's gonna be me .  That's his ultimate plan , he wants to own his own caravan park , he's got quite a way to go yet , but he reckons that he can do it. 

[12gauge82]

8 hours ago, eddoakley said:

While "hiking rent" may seem unwise it's also unwise not to collect my income at any time.

The 2 tenants in question hadn't had a rent increase in 5 and 8 years and were already below market rate at that point.

Now, a year ago or a year's time they would still have had the same reaction and that's to go to the council who advise them to stay put and wait for me to take them to court.

I offered them a deal, well below what they would pay elsewhere but both declined. 

I will pursue costs but I won't hold my breath.

They've been good tenants but I've been a good landlord. They've paid their rent on time but I've provided the houses on time. They've decorated but I've kept the fabric of the building sound. They've been good with the neighbours but I'd have kicked them out if they weren't.

I'd rather they stayed as it's less work all round but it's just time for them to move as they don't want to pay what it costs to live there. That's fine. Go somewhere cheaper but I shouldn't have to subsidise where they live.

I've plenty of tenants lined up who will be happy to pay the correct rent.

 

Edd

 

No I fully understand your point and it might be worth perusing them in the small claims court for any unpaid rent. I've got several properties that I've been advised long before corona to raise the rents on, they're paying well under market at the moment, however I think particularly now itd be unwise as at the moment there's every excuse under the sun not to pay and I've a feeling, (if it went that far) courts won't touch it. To be fair they've also been good tenants, I don't really need the money and if its not broke, why rock the apple cart. 

[henry d]

9 hours ago, TRINITY said:

What's this !!!!! Someone wanting to leave what will soon be the independent Eutopia of wee Jimmy's braveheart land. Why would you leave shang ri la to go to a Tory run country outside of the EU 

Or we are both retired now, have a shed load of cashola and want to spend time with our first grandchild (due in the next week or so) and I will be closer to my immediate family and so will my wife, although Cornwall is still some distance away.

Edited February 4, 2021 by henry d
Addendum

[Vince Green]

8 hours ago, blackbird said:

If the bin man you were talking to has 14 houses he rents out can I ask with the utmost of respect what the hell is he doing on the bins ? 

It wasn't hard to do that a few years ago when they were handing out buy to let mortgages to anyone who applied

find a house, buy it on a BTL mortgage, find a tenant, the rent pays the mortgage, then you go and get another house and another BTL mortgage and repeat.

  

[Lloyd90]

19 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

It wasn't hard to do that a few years ago when they were handing out buy to let mortgages to anyone who applied

find a house, buy it on a BTL mortgage, find a tenant, the rent pays the mortgage, then you go and get another house and another BTL mortgage and repeat.

  

Then they changed the income tax rules on buy to let meaning you now pay tax on any income BEFORE you take out the mortgage interest rather than after. 
 

Made lots of people mortgaged up to their teeth with a few houses 40% tax payers. 

[Mungler]

On the subject of rents. I did a detailed analysis for a client years ago and was surprised by the results.

Long story short, bird in the hand is best.

With the new extended notice periods under S21 and S8 plus the massive backlog at court, I think these calcs are now on the low side.

Say you have a property that you’re renting for £1500 a month and you reckon you can get £1800 a month (an extra 20% / £300 a month). So over 1 whole year an extra £3600. That’s your best gain less agents fees and tax.

Say your tenant stops paying rent as soon as you give notice, that 6 x £1500 you’re not getting (down £9000). Add in months of court delay, delay to bailiff attendance and accelerated costs for transfer to high court and sheriffs and more unpaid rent for the period - say £2.5k for legals and another 3 months being £4.5k

Then there’s the re-dec costs and dead time. Say £2k for splash of paint and 1 month to do it £1500 lost rent.

Then there’s letting agents fees for introing and vetting your new tenant and legal packs. Say another £500 for the array of safety checks and fresh certificates.

On the subject of extra rent, how much of that are you losing to the tax man 40% or 45%?

In short, kicking out any paying tenant now is just plain mental 😆

[TIGHTCHOKE]

That has to be the best way of looking at the situation.

[Lloyd90]

12 hours ago, eddoakley said:

Some of that is still due to removed tolls on the Severn bridge and even more locally a large new hospital. But even further afield are still rising.

I mentioned recently on here one that cost me £95k (plus fees and a bit of work) but returns £750 pcm. 

There is no other investment that will make that. And the risk is minimal. Worst case would be if I had to sell when the value had dropped but what could cause that? Nothing that I can foresee.

I've seen rents go from £500 2 years ago to £675 now with no shortage of tenants.

 

 

Finally, covid hasn't really effected me.

I had a few ask early on if I would defer the rent but I said no and that's been it. Everyome has paid.

The only issue is the extra 3 months notice.

Edd

 

 

 

Firstly is that around the Llanfrechfa area mate? 
 

My pal lives in Cwmbran and was looking to buy around there for similar rental.

We are both keeping an eye on it. 
 

 

 

My other mate. His tenant asked him if she could have 6 months rent free due to Covid because he could apparently take a mortgage holiday. 
 

He said to her that he hadn’t taken the mortgage holiday as the money has to be paid back eventually ... but also he knows she’s a nurse ... he asked her if she’s still getting paid and if everything’s ok?! She said oh yes she’s still working she just fancied 6 months rent free!! 

[Lloyd90]

15 minutes ago, Mungler said:

On the subject of rents. I did a detailed analysis for a client years ago and was surprised by the results.

Long story short, bird in the hand is best.

With the new extended notice periods under S21 and S8 plus the massive backlog at court, I think these calcs are now on the low side.

Say you have a property that you’re renting for £1500 a month and you reckon you can get £1800 a month (an extra 20% / £300 a month). So over 1 whole year an extra £3600. That’s your best gain less agents fees and tax.

Say your tenant stops paying rent as soon as you give notice, that 6 x £1500 you’re not getting (down £9000). Add in months of court delay, delay to bailiff attendance and accelerated costs for transfer to high court and sheriffs and more unpaid rent for the period - say £2.5k for legals and another 3 months being £4.5k

Then there’s the re-dec costs and dead time. Say £2k for splash of paint and 1 month to do it £1500 lost rent.

Then there’s letting agents fees for introing and vetting your new tenant and legal packs. Say another £500 for the array of safety checks and fresh certificates.

On the subject of extra rent, how much of that are you losing to the tax man 40% or 45%?

In short, kicking out any paying tenant now is just plain mental 😆

If you give them notice, why do they just stop paying rent entirely for 6+ months? 
 

If they said “I don’t want to pay higher rent” but continued to pay the agreed price until you got them out then fair enough 🤷‍♂️
 

Do landlords not bother to take them to court? 
 

In these ages where getting a council house is pretty much impossible, you’d have thought more people would be worried about trashing their credit ratings.  
 

How are they ever going to get another rental again if they’ve got a debt of 6+ months (say £3,000 average) against them. 
 

I know what council housing is like at the moment there’s not any for most people, so those people have to go into a new private rented house  when they move elsewhere... 

 

Do landlords not bother doing proper background and credit checks on people before renting to them?! 

[Vince Green]

12 minutes ago, Mungler said:

On the subject of rents. I did a detailed analysis for a client years ago and was surprised by the results.

Long story short, bird in the hand is best.

With the new extended notice periods under S21 and S8 plus the massive backlog at court, I think these calcs are now on the low side.

Say you have a property that you’re renting for £1500 a month and you reckon you can get £1800 a month (an extra 20% / £300 a month). So over 1 whole year an extra £3600. That’s your best gain less agents fees and tax.

Say your tenant stops paying rent as soon as you give notice, that 6 x £1500 you’re not getting (down £9000). Add in months of court delay, delay to bailiff attendance and accelerated costs for transfer to high court and sheriffs and more unpaid rent for the period - say £2.5k for legals and another 3 months being £4.5k

Then there’s the re-dec costs and dead time. Say £2k for splash of paint and 1 month to do it £1500 lost rent.

Then there’s letting agents fees for introing and vetting your new tenant and legal packs. Say another £500 for the array of safety checks and fresh certificates.

On the subject of extra rent, how much of that are you losing to the tax man 40% or 45%?

In short, kicking out any paying tenant now is just plain mental 😆

Plus you missed out that the legal aid solicitors defending these cases create delays and adjournments out of thin air. I would be cynical and say its just to boost their own fees because that seems to be the outcome.

[Mungler]

11 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

Plus you missed out that the legal aid solicitors defending these cases create delays and adjournments out of thin air. I would be cynical and say its just to boost their own fees because that seems to be the outcome.

And don’t forget, it’s a legal stress test of all your paperwork - I reckon 9 out of 10 clients I see have defective paperwork, the current system being ridiculously complicated coupled with some unhelpful case law that didn’t get appealed.

And as for adjournments, well you know the message from upon high is ‘keep problems in a the private sector for as long as humanly possible’.

Also, any tenant phoning the court on the morning of a hearing and claiming Covid / flu will automatically get an adjournment for a first request. The adjourned hearing is likely to be over 6 weeks away.

Like I said, in this climate, better the devil you know.

[Vince Green]

24 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

Then they changed the income tax rules on buy to let meaning you now pay tax on any income BEFORE you take out the mortgage interest rather than after. 
 

Made lots of people mortgaged up to their teeth with a few houses 40% tax payers. 

Its my belief that a lot of landlords don't declare their rental income to the tax man. Round here I would say it could be as high as 50%

There are several well established ruses to circumvent the tax man, Absentee landlords who live abroad (or claim to live abroad) is the commonest but there are many others 

[henry d]

1 hour ago, Mungler said:

In short, kicking out any paying tenant now is just plain mental

Which is why I find it hard to understand why I some landlords who have property empty, some for a significant time still don't want anything to do with a month or two of rent from someone with the readies. By the time we are gone everyone will be out of lockdown and hopefully there will be a bit of movement.

[TRINITY]

Over the years there has been plenty of bad press for landlords and this has in the main been generated as a result of the ruthless ones out there.

The name land LORD doesn't help either because in the eyes of some from the left it gives the impression they are rich upper class. It is now seen by a very wide section of society that landlords are fair game for fleecing. Much like people dont consider getting one over on an insurance company as doing anything wrong.