Why are rents so high

it's because landlords are *insert favourite expletive(s)*

Reply 2

SomeonesDad

14

1. Recent changes mean that landlord costs have gone up. This includes changing the amount of expenses they can offset if they have a mortgage, the higher rates they pay themselves if they have a mortgage, increased costs for regular maintenance due to cost of living, the need to try and recoup lost income when students all went home during Covid and the landlords let them off rent that was contractually due etc. etc.

2. Supply & Demand. Recent political decisions have left many landlords to sell-up and quit renting properties. This includes all of the above plus the £000s that some are facing to increase the fuel economy ratings. Many are fed up with the attitude of people thinking they're all leeches rather than business owners who need to cover their costs and make a profit. Some are worried that a change of government after the next General Election will see the introduction of 'rent controls' where they're not allowed to set the price of their own properties. In some areas, this has led to properties being taken out of the private rented sector and refurbished and re-let as Airbnb's or Holiday Lets which have the tax advantages that long-term lets don't. Some are selling up because of the increased Capital Gains Tax burden. Some because they've had really poor experiences with tenants.

Reply 3

ajj2000

Large population increase and much lower rate of housebuilding - demand vs supply.

Reply 4

londonmyst

Likely a combination of reasons.
Higher mortgage repayments & insurance costs, limited supplies of rental properties in safe neighbourhoods with good transport links, increased borrowing costs, inflation, past problem tenants, plenty of landlords experiencing surging bills for their own household's fuel & food, higher levels of tenants losing their jobs or falling behind on rental payments.

Reply 5

Quady

Original post by artful_lounger

it's because landlords are *insert favourite expletive(s)*

Is it?

Why don't nice people become landlords offering accommodation cheaply?

Reply 6

ageshallnot

Original post by Quady

Is it?

Why don't nice people become landlords offering accommodation cheaply?

Two of my friends are landlords. Both are lovely people. Neither can offer "cheap" rents because of their costs.

Reply 7

Kutie Karen

Most landlords have buy to let mortgages and these have constantly going up. They have no choice but to pass this on otherwise they will be making a loss and it is not viable.

Blame the interest rates hikes and shortage of housing and rogue tenants.

Reply 8

Original post by ageshallnot

Two of my friends are landlords. Both are lovely people. Neither can offer "cheap" rents because of their costs.

Have they considered just not hoarding housing and using it to profit from other's labour by virtue of simply having had more capital to start with?

Reply 9

Original post by Kutie Karen

Most landlords have buy to let mortgages and these have constantly going up. They have no choice but to pass this on otherwise they will be making a loss and it is not viable.

Blame the interest rates hikes and shortage of housing and rogue tenants.

On the contrary, it's quite easy to blame the concept of "buy to let" itself, as well as the landlords that buy into it. If they were not so greedy as to buy property they didn't even need, they wouldn't "need" to charge inconceivably high rents to support the cost of the house they don't actually need. And someone else could've bought that house...cheaper.

Reply 10

Kutie Karen

Original post by artful_lounger

On the contrary, it's quite easy to blame the concept of "buy to let" itself, as well as the landlords that buy into it. If they were not so greedy as to buy property they didn't even need, they wouldn't "need" to charge inconceivably high rents to support the cost of the house they don't actually need. And someone else could've bought that house...cheaper.

There is nothing to stop people to buy their own home if it indeed it was possible. How else would the rental market work?

Reply 11

Original post by Kutie Karen

There is nothing to stop people to buy their own home if it indeed it was possible. How else would the rental market work?

There is actually something stopping them which is that buy-to-let landlords and developers are buying up all the housing in order to rent at high prices, driving up the cost of housing in the first place. The issue is circular.

Reply 12

ageshallnot

Original post by artful_lounger

Have they considered just not hoarding housing and using it to profit from other's labour by virtue of simply having had more capital to start with?

One is an LGBTQ+ single mother who sought asylum in the UK because of her sexuality and has been struggling financially since Covid skewered her income. She has recently been totally ripped off by a con artist who moved in, paid a single month's (below market level) rent then didn't pay any more. He has a history of this, with similar debts all around the area and he left the flat in such a state that it need totally gutting before she could let it again. She needed to borrow money from friends to pay to redecorate and is still in serious debt.

The other recently moved in with his girlfriend for a trial period. While this is going on, he rents his flat out to friends who have recently arrived from his country of birth at "mates rates".

As ever, there are human stories at every level, not just principles.

Reply 13

Original post by ageshallnot

One is an LGBTQ+ single mother who sought asylum in the UK because of her sexuality and has been struggling financially since Covid skewered her income. She has recently been totally ripped off by a con artist who moved in, paid a single month's (below market level) rent then didn't pay any more. He has a history of this, with similar debts all around the area and he left the flat in such a state that it need totally gutting before she could let it again. She needed to borrow money from friends to pay to redecorate and is still in serious debt.

The other recently moved in with his girlfriend for a trial period. While this is going on, he rents his flat out to friends who have recently arrived from his country of birth at "mates rates".

As ever, there are human stories at every level, not just principles.

How exactly is someone owning multiple properties "struggling"? Perhaps if they were "struggling" they ought to have just stuck to the one house? Please fetch me the world's smallest violin.

Reply 14

SomeonesDad

14

Original post by artful_lounger

There is actually something stopping them which is that buy-to-let landlords and developers are buying up all the housing in order to rent at high prices, driving up the cost of housing in the first place. The issue is circular.

Hmm.
1) If landlords didn't buy property then the private rental sector, by definition, wouldn't exist. Students and many others do not have the capital nor the desire to own the property in which they live. Many people (more so in Europe than in this country) are happy enough to leave matters such as maintenance and repairs to someone else and have the freedom to move on to somewhere else after having given a couple of months' notice.

2) The majority of private landlords don't own a portfolio of properties (source: NRLA). Sometimes they look to rent out their deceased parents' home for a while or if a couple who each own their own home move in together, they rent out the 'spare' one to help cover their own costs. These types of properties weren't on the open market to be snapped up.

There are also cases such as flats in high-rise tower blocks which were formerly public-sector stock. Originally built for families, they were bought by long-term tenants under the right-to-buy legislation. These days, mortgage lenders are not prepared to accept flats in tall blocks nor - in many cases - ones where there are decks rather than a few flats per floor. This means that there is no market for such flats except for cash buyers. Personally, rather than seeing these stood empty, I'd expect most people to be happy that a landlord was keeping the property in use.

Reply 15

Quady

Original post by artful_lounger

There is actually something stopping them which is that buy-to-let landlords and developers are buying up all the housing in order to rent at high prices, driving up the cost of housing in the first place. The issue is circular.

Indeed, with renters and rent-to-sublet organisations are renting up all of the property put out to let in order to rent somewhere better than the current accommodation they have, driving up the cost of housing in the first place. The issue is circular.

Reply 16

lcvedingdong

17

- inflation rate
- interest rate
- excess demand in the housing market and because there is barely any houses (supply) they tend to raise their prices as housing is a "scarce" resource.
- renters being greedy

Reply 17

MissMathematix

2

Really basically, because people are paying the rents that they set, they have no reason to make it any lower.

Reply 18

Quady

Original post by MissMathematix

Really basically, because people are paying the rents that they set, they have no reason to make it any lower.

I understood that many renters were bidding above the advertised rent to secure somewhere.

Reply 19

londonmyst