The Student Room Group

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Reply 1
Which Government do you mean?

Labour? Conservative, Lib Dem, Greens, SNP? All Governments are in part responsible for the creation of this mess by not having enough working people's money invested in building council houses, and the maintenance burden they all represent (the queue for tax payers money behind ageing water, gas, energy, NHS etc etc) The lack of Government enthusiasm and bright ideas was to push every service provision onto private ownership to save money. Then recognising there could be a major homelessness crisis with no solution created well meaning legislation to prevent the removal of non paying tenants. We should not be surprised at the outcome of rents rising.

Governments in office since the 1960's have chosen not to build and maintain low rent council housing. Governments have cynically preferred to pass responsibility of social housing to private landlords - because the whole country has been and still is in debt and does not have the means, the will or money to build more council housing.

Rapidly rising populations. Supply and demand have pushed both house purchase and rental prices up. Some of this was a lack of control on foreign buyers prospecting. Too many people, losing their own homes on top of the rising population are now chasing too few rental homes. House prices have gone through the roof, so too have rental costs.

Evicting a tenant is now difficult and expensive. Every tenant now knows this and it is an easy option not to pay rent. When they are finally evicted they land on the local authority doorstep - homeless. Eviction legal costs, management costs and lost rental income create a massive loss of income for a private landlord. Who would want to be a private landlord where additional home taxes, licences, maintenance costs and no hope of getting defaulted rent payments back make renting as house a very risky proposition. Now we have a looming crisis with the population growing and no adequate infrastructure and no means to do anything to relieve this.

Your statement is too simplistic.
Reply 2
Original post by Muttly
Which Government do you mean?

Labour? Conservative, Lib Dem, Greens, SNP? All Governments are in part responsible for the creation of this mess by not having enough working people's money invested in building council houses, and the maintenance burden they all represent (the queue for tax payers money behind ageing water, gas, energy, NHS etc etc) The lack of Government enthusiasm and bright ideas was to push every service provision onto private ownership to save money. Then recognising there could be a major homelessness crisis with no solution created well meaning legislation to prevent the removal of non paying tenants. We should not be surprised at the outcome of rents rising.

Governments in office since the 1960's have chosen not to build and maintain low rent council housing. Governments have cynically preferred to pass responsibility of social housing to private landlords - because the whole country has been and still is in debt and does not have the means, the will or money to build more council housing.

Rapidly rising populations. Supply and demand have pushed both house purchase and rental prices up. Some of this was a lack of control on foreign buyers prospecting. Too many people, losing their own homes on top of the rising population are now chasing too few rental homes. House prices have gone through the roof, so too have rental costs.

Evicting a tenant is now difficult and expensive. Every tenant now knows this and it is an easy option not to pay rent. When they are finally evicted they land on the local authority doorstep - homeless. Eviction legal costs, management costs and lost rental income create a massive loss of income for a private landlord. Who would want to be a private landlord where additional home taxes, licences, maintenance costs and no hope of getting defaulted rent payments back make renting as house a very risky proposition. Now we have a looming crisis with the population growing and no adequate infrastructure and no means to do anything to relieve this.

Your statement is too simplistic.


Good old Tories of course. They have changed the rules on what costs you can offset against tax on rentals and as a result, it is not possible to make a profit on many rentals any more. As a result, landlords have been getting out of the game. So now we have a situation where there are not sufficient houses to buy, but previously at least there were plenty of houses / flats to rent. Now there are neither.

Agreed that this is the result of successive governments, but the Tories have really doubled down on the problem over the last 13 years as their supporters love the idea of ever increasing house prices.
Original post by Muttly
Which Government do you mean?

Labour? Conservative, Lib Dem, Greens, SNP? All Governments are in part responsible for the creation of this mess by not having enough working people's money invested in building council houses, and the maintenance burden they all represent (the queue for tax payers money behind ageing water, gas, energy, NHS etc etc) The lack of Government enthusiasm and bright ideas was to push every service provision onto private ownership to save money. Then recognising there could be a major homelessness crisis with no solution created well meaning legislation to prevent the removal of non paying tenants. We should not be surprised at the outcome of rents rising.

Governments in office since the 1960's have chosen not to build and maintain low rent council housing. Governments have cynically preferred to pass responsibility of social housing to private landlords - because the whole country has been and still is in debt and does not have the means, the will or money to build more council housing.

Rapidly rising populations. Supply and demand have pushed both house purchase and rental prices up. Some of this was a lack of control on foreign buyers prospecting. Too many people, losing their own homes on top of the rising population are now chasing too few rental homes. House prices have gone through the roof, so too have rental costs.

Evicting a tenant is now difficult and expensive. Every tenant now knows this and it is an easy option not to pay rent. When they are finally evicted they land on the local authority doorstep - homeless. Eviction legal costs, management costs and lost rental income create a massive loss of income for a private landlord. Who would want to be a private landlord where additional home taxes, licences, maintenance costs and no hope of getting defaulted rent payments back make renting as house a very risky proposition. Now we have a looming crisis with the population growing and no adequate infrastructure and no means to do anything to relieve this.

Your statement is too simplistic.


Good post.

Shelter (rent or mortgage) inflation is out of hand and sticky (meaning it is not decreasing in price like other goods/services).

The solution (increasing the supply of housing) sounds simple; until the scheme is actually implemented. Land for housing is limited by its very nature. And building vertically is a VERY BAD(Robert Taylor Homes anyone?).

Each "solution" has unintended consequences (I call it "blowback"). Offering first time home buyers an easy (and regulated) path to home ownership seems to help. No one takes care of a home like an owner....
Original post by hotpud
Good old Tories of course. They have changed the rules on what costs you can offset against tax on rentals and as a result, it is not possible to make a profit on many rentals any more. As a result, landlords have been getting out of the game. So now we have a situation where there are not sufficient houses to buy, but previously at least there were plenty of houses / flats to rent. Now there are neither.

Agreed that this is the result of successive governments, but the Tories have really doubled down on the problem over the last 13 years as their supporters love the idea of ever increasing house prices.

Although I think your being overly harsh since I suspect you'll vote Labour and they advocated almost all of the horrid ideas, I do agree that buying into the anti landlord narrative has created a significant problem.

In 2017 I got a place at 285 bills Inc and there were a number of competitive properties. Not only did my higher rate earning landlord decide to sell up but comparable properties are now more than double.
Original post by cimmee1976
Good post.

Shelter (rent or mortgage) inflation is out of hand and sticky (meaning it is not decreasing in price like other goods/services).

The solution (increasing the supply of housing) sounds simple; until the scheme is actually implemented. Land for housing is limited by its very nature. And building vertically is a VERY BAD(Robert Taylor Homes anyone?).

Each "solution" has unintended consequences (I call it "blowback"). Offering first time home buyers an easy (and regulated) path to home ownership seems to help. No one takes care of a home like an owner....

It won't be dealt with until we have a second term PM with the authority and massive majority to force it through against the back benches.

Since Thatcher and Blair are the only applicable leaders, you see the problem. One was too early to feel the problem, the later was not a domestic risk taker (people pleaser). Neither Starmer nor Sunak seem likely to have the authority and majority to do it despite current polling for Starmer. Thus the best we can expect is piecemeal.
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 5
Original post by Rakas21
Although I think your being overly harsh since I suspect you'll vote Labour and they advocated almost all of the horrid ideas, I do agree that buying into the anti landlord narrative has created a significant problem.

In 2017 I got a place at 285 bills Inc and there were a number of competitive properties. Not only did my higher rate earning landlord decide to sell up but comparable properties are now more than double.

It won't be dealt with until we have a second term PM with the authority and massive majority to force it through against the back benches.

Since Thatcher and Blair are the only applicable leaders, you see the problem. One was too early to feel the problem, the later was not a domestic risk taker (people pleaser). Neither Starmer nor Sunak seem likely to have the authority and majority to do it despite current polling for Starmer. Thus the best we can expect is piecemeal.

I don't think that is fair. Boris could have done something about it, so could Cameron. But the truth is that all the Tories have been obsessed with these last 13 years is Brexit. Everything they have been about has been Brexit. And as predicted it has been a disaster. Meanwhile having taken their eye off the ball, our NHS is in crisis. Crime is up with shoplifting becoming an epidemic. Homelessness now lines every city street and I have noticed that the latest trend highlighting how bad poverty is in some parts is people begging at traffic lights. Education is freefall. Even the roads are worse now than at any other time. And the government overseeing this are just corrupt. Billion pound PPE contract made to Tory party donors which never materialised was just the tip of the iceberg. I note Grant Shapps is corrupt through the the bone yet has been rewarded as Defence Secretary.

I genuinely struggle to think of just one thing this government has done in the last 13 years that have made anything better for anyone who wasn't a multi-millionaire. Please feel free to highlight them. Just one.

But when I think of Labour (who I didn't vote for BTW) I can think - new schools, new hospitals, class sizes of 30 (do you know some schools have classes of 34+?), deregulation of the Bank of England, Equalities Act, Disabilities Act, homelessness on the street pretty much disappeared, free museums, libraries, swimming pools. All of this has been undone. Libraries and swimming pools are closing unless you are Richie S. It is just disgusting.
Original post by hotpud
Good old Tories of course. They have changed the rules on what costs you can offset against tax on rentals and as a result, it is not possible to make a profit on many rentals any more. As a result, landlords have been getting out of the game. So now we have a situation where there are not sufficient houses to buy, but previously at least there were plenty of houses / flats to rent. Now there are neither.

Agreed that this is the result of successive governments, but the Tories have really doubled down on the problem over the last 13 years as their supporters love the idea of ever increasing house prices.


Arent homes being bought by banks?
Original post by hotpud
I don't think that is fair. Boris could have done something about it, so could Cameron. But the truth is that all the Tories have been obsessed with these last 13 years is Brexit. Everything they have been about has been Brexit. And as predicted it has been a disaster. Meanwhile having taken their eye off the ball, our NHS is in crisis. Crime is up with shoplifting becoming an epidemic. Homelessness now lines every city street and I have noticed that the latest trend highlighting how bad poverty is in some parts is people begging at traffic lights. Education is freefall. Even the roads are worse now than at any other time. And the government overseeing this are just corrupt. Billion pound PPE contract made to Tory party donors which never materialised was just the tip of the iceberg. I note Grant Shapps is corrupt through the the bone yet has been rewarded as Defence Secretary.

I genuinely struggle to think of just one thing this government has done in the last 13 years that have made anything better for anyone who wasn't a multi-millionaire. Please feel free to highlight them. Just one.

But when I think of Labour (who I didn't vote for BTW) I can think - new schools, new hospitals, class sizes of 30 (do you know some schools have classes of 34+?), deregulation of the Bank of England, Equalities Act, Disabilities Act, homelessness on the street pretty much disappeared, free museums, libraries, swimming pools. All of this has been undone. Libraries and swimming pools are closing unless you are Richie S. It is just disgusting.

Wasn't the entire reason they got elected because they promised to reduce immigration?

Brexit I assume was their way of approaching it leave the EU and have more control over british borders, I also dont get why the EU had control over who britain accepted as the union is only meant to discuss economic policies.
Reply 8
Original post by Entrepreneur.
Arent homes being bought by banks?


As in the board of directors sitting around the table and deciding to buy a load of houses on behalf of the bank, or by lending people money to buy houses?

Legally, if you borrow money from a bank to buy a house, that house is yours. It only becomes the bank's if you default on a mortgage payment and banks really don't like getting involved in having to sell houses to get their money back. It is messy business.
Original post by hotpud
As in the board of directors sitting around the table and deciding to buy a load of houses on behalf of the bank, or by lending people money to buy houses?

Legally, if you borrow money from a bank to buy a house, that house is yours. It only becomes the bank's if you default on a mortgage payment and banks really don't like getting involved in having to sell houses to get their money back. It is messy business.


No I mean literal investment banks going around buying residential homes adding them to their portfolio of assets
Original post by Entrepreneur.
Wasn't the entire reason they got elected because they promised to reduce immigration?

And they have failed on that too. So they promised Brexit would stop immigration and instead we see a record number of migrants coming here completely legally whilst illegal migration is also on the rise too.

Yes - banks no doubt are buying housing and that in itself is part of the problem. The idea that the third fundamental need of humans is seen as an asset. But then the Tories turned the first fundamental human need (water) into an asset years ago and look how well that turned out!

Literally every where you look, the Tories have somehow screwed it up!
Original post by hotpud
And they have failed on that too. So they promised Brexit would stop immigration and instead we see a record number of migrants coming here completely legally whilst illegal migration is also on the rise too.

Yes - banks no doubt are buying housing and that in itself is part of the problem. The idea that the third fundamental need of humans is seen as an asset. But then the Tories turned the first fundamental human need (water) into an asset years ago and look how well that turned out!

Literally every where you look, the Tories have somehow screwed it up!


Yeah I agree tories are **** but I dont think the alternative being labour is any better they're essentially the same party if we compare what labour is advocating for and what the tories did
Original post by Entrepreneur.
Yeah I agree tories are **** but I dont think the alternative being labour is any better they're essentially the same party if we compare what labour is advocating for and what the tories did

Does anyone know what Labour are advocating for? From what I understand they haven't published any manifestos. What we do know is that Tories only care about themselves. Even traditional Tories are shocked at how selfish this government are. No idea if Labour will be any better but given them a try. I would like to think they are more interested in running the country in the interests of as many people as possible rather than the current lot who are only interested in themselves at the cost of everyone else.
Original post by hotpud
I don't think that is fair. Boris could have done something about it, so could Cameron. But the truth is that all the Tories have been obsessed with these last 13 years is Brexit. Everything they have been about has been Brexit. And as predicted it has been a disaster. Meanwhile having taken their eye off the ball, our NHS is in crisis. Crime is up with shoplifting becoming an epidemic. Homelessness now lines every city street and I have noticed that the latest trend highlighting how bad poverty is in some parts is people begging at traffic lights. Education is freefall. Even the roads are worse now than at any other time. And the government overseeing this are just corrupt. Billion pound PPE contract made to Tory party donors which never materialised was just the tip of the iceberg. I note Grant Shapps is corrupt through the the bone yet has been rewarded as Defence Secretary.

I genuinely struggle to think of just one thing this government has done in the last 13 years that have made anything better for anyone who wasn't a multi-millionaire. Please feel free to highlight them. Just one.

But when I think of Labour (who I didn't vote for BTW) I can think - new schools, new hospitals, class sizes of 30 (do you know some schools have classes of 34+?), deregulation of the Bank of England, Equalities Act, Disabilities Act, homelessness on the street pretty much disappeared, free museums, libraries, swimming pools. All of this has been undone. Libraries and swimming pools are closing unless you are Richie S. It is just disgusting.


Excellent post. As each additional year of Conservative government comes to an end, Labour's 97-10 record in office looks better and better.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by Gazpacho.
Excellent post. As each additional year of Conservative government comes to an end, Labour's 97-10 record in office looks better and better.


Agreed. I think it is such a shame Blair gets judged by Iraq. It was indeed a horrendous mistake to invade Iraq but sadly overshadowed just how far he brought the UK out of the dark old days of Thatcher. Obviously if you live in the home counties you won't have a clue just how grim northern towns and cities were in the hands of the Tories in the 90s. What I see today is an echo of the early 90s. Every shop door with a homeless person in it and poverty staring you in the face.
Original post by Entrepreneur.
Yeah I agree tories are **** but I dont think the alternative being labour is any better they're essentially the same party if we compare what labour is advocating for and what the tories did


We aren't clear what Labour are advocating for. They are playing their cards very close to their chest. I suspect it is deliberate to avoid the conservative press going to town on them if they suggest anything remotely radical.

However there are rumours that they've got plans for serious infrastructure investments like new towns. That is something I can certainly get behind.
Original post by hotpud
Agreed. I think it is such a shame Blair gets judged by Iraq. It was indeed a horrendous mistake to invade Iraq but sadly overshadowed just how far he brought the UK out of the dark old days of Thatcher. Obviously if you live in the home counties you won't have a clue just how grim northern towns and cities were in the hands of the Tories in the 90s. What I see today is an echo of the early 90s. Every shop door with a homeless person in it and poverty staring you in the face.


I largely agree with you. Blair's home policies were relatively sound. However, where New Labour got things wrong is continuing the Thatcherite consensus. We've got a fundamentally unbalanced economy, both in terms of sectors and geography. Take away the wealth generated by the city of London, and the UK starts looking poor. I can't find the article right now, but the FT have made the case that many UK regions have a level on wealth on par with some Eastern European countries. Labour did not address this elephant in the room.

Of course, the Conservatives decided to go a purely ideologically-driven anti-growth anti-investment austerity programme in 2010 despite the consequences of being so reliant on the financial sector was staring everyone right in the face. So here we are in 2023 wondering why Britain is stagnating.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by Gazpacho.
I largely agree with you. Blair's home policies were relatively sound. However, where New Labour got things wrong is continuing the Thatcherite consensus. We've got a fundamentally unbalanced economy, both in terms of sectors and geography. Take away the wealth generated by the city of London, and the UK starts looking poor. I can't find the article right now, but the FT have made the case that many UK regions have a level on wealth on par with some Eastern European countries. Labour did not address this elephant in the room.

Of course, the Conservatives decided to go a purely ideologically-driven anti-growth anti-investment austerity programme in 2010 despite the consequences of being so reliant on the financial sector was staring everyone right in the face. So here we are in 2023 wondering why Britain is stagnating.

Politicians aren't incentivised to think long term why do any of that when your in government for a decade at most lol
Original post by Entrepreneur.
Politicians aren't incentivised to think long term why do any of that when your in government for a decade at most lol


While I do agree with you, a decade is a long time (although apparently not long enough for the Conservatives to develop a serious macroeconomic policy), so I’d refine you statement to an election cycle.

Politicians reflect the people who vote for them and too many people prefer cheap slogans to long term planning. We saw this with Brexit. We were promised prosperity but no one ever explained how this prosperity would be achieved. Instead Brexiters were relying on fairy dust.
Original post by hotpud
I don't think that is fair. Boris could have done something about it, so could Cameron. But the truth is that all the Tories have been obsessed with these last 13 years is Brexit. Everything they have been about has been Brexit. And as predicted it has been a disaster. Meanwhile having taken their eye off the ball, our NHS is in crisis. Crime is up with shoplifting becoming an epidemic. Homelessness now lines every city street and I have noticed that the latest trend highlighting how bad poverty is in some parts is people begging at traffic lights. Education is freefall. Even the roads are worse now than at any other time. And the government overseeing this are just corrupt. Billion pound PPE contract made to Tory party donors which never materialised was just the tip of the iceberg. I note Grant Shapps is corrupt through the the bone yet has been rewarded as Defence Secretary.

I genuinely struggle to think of just one thing this government has done in the last 13 years that have made anything better for anyone who wasn't a multi-millionaire. Please feel free to highlight them. Just one.

But when I think of Labour (who I didn't vote for BTW) I can think - new schools, new hospitals, class sizes of 30 (do you know some schools have classes of 34+?), deregulation of the Bank of England, Equalities Act, Disabilities Act, homelessness on the street pretty much disappeared, free museums, libraries, swimming pools. All of this has been undone. Libraries and swimming pools are closing unless you are Richie S. It is just disgusting.


Re your comments - very little to do with Brexit. If you really want to look at wasted money and uncontrolled borders look no further than Tony Blair and the dubious lawful Iraq war. Billions wasted trying to misguidedly convert Afghan's to UK progressive thinking. Labours spend spend spend, borrow borrow borrow and diddly to show for it. How many council houses could have been built with all of that wasted money? We are still paying for the spending excesses and someone somewhere has to grip this country's uncontrolled fruitless spending - we have no public money. We are bankrupt. We cannot keep this reckless borrowing going and feeding the sky high interest payments. Stop all of the frivolous spending on show boating politics and we might have some money to build some basic council houses (or have a UK wide building apprenticeship - build your own rental home!!)