bridge too far Posted 25 July, 2010 Share Posted 25 July, 2010 I agree that there are issues around the affordability of housing. These are issues at the low end though and I am pretty confident that the number of middle/working class people who mortgaged themselves to the hilt to get a buy-to-let or two far outnumber the minimal number of people who receive large bonuses in the city. Generally, I'm all for freedom but I think the idea of restricting property ownership may be a good one. I think I agree with you. However, it would be difficult to implement. If the drawbridge was raised, suddently there would be a lot of BTL owners forced to give up their investments. Where would that leave the tenants? The upside might be that the property market became flooded with 'average' houses, driving down their values. BTW I'm not envious. I'm quite happy in my average 3 bed semi although I'm sure we could probably buy something a bit bigger. But we don't need or want to. I do worry about young people trying to buy their first place, however, and that's why I get cross about the ridiculous price of property. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 25 July, 2010 Share Posted 25 July, 2010 Stanley is right though. You cant import 800,000 people at the same time as house building levels are at a record low and not expect it to create shortages and drive prices up. Housing in the UK is far too expensive and mostly **** poor quality. If house prices fell slowly or stagnated for thirty years that would be a damn fine thing imo - and the only ways to do that is to reduce the population or increase house building dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnyboy Posted 25 July, 2010 Share Posted 25 July, 2010 Stanley is right though. You cant import 800,000 people at the same time as house building levels are at a record low and not expect it to create shortages and drive prices up. Housing in the UK is far too expensive and mostly **** poor quality. If house prices fell slowly or stagnated for thirty years that would be a damn fine thing imo - and the only ways to do that is to reduce the population or increase house building dramatically. or stop people fighting over becoming buy to let landlords by placing restrictions... of course if our economy plummets and with the planned cuts, we will have no immigrants and fewer students, so property prices and rents may plummet i guess? negative equity anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted 26 July, 2010 Share Posted 26 July, 2010 or stop people fighting over becoming buy to let landlords by placing restrictions... of course if our economy plummets and with the planned cuts, we will have no immigrants and fewer students, so property prices and rents may plummet i guess? negative equity anyone? What would be the purpose of placing "restrictions", whatever they may be, on landlord ownership? The buy to let market has been shocking for the last 2 years and anyone trying to buy a property with a view to a short term let to make some cash is in for a suprise, not least because very few lenders will give the average punter a mortgage for a b-t-l now as it is. No-one is fighting over becoming a landlord at the moment, the only way to get cheap property is through the auctions, for which you really need ready cash at your disposal. There is a shortage of affordable housing for first time buyers and the rental market and this is something the Housing Associations were addressing, but their funding has been cut and their output will diminish quite a bit in about 2 years time, so I don't expect the situation to get better anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 26 July, 2010 Share Posted 26 July, 2010 the letting thing is changing...something about a property with more than 3 bedrooms has to have a HMO or something like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnyboy Posted 26 July, 2010 Share Posted 26 July, 2010 What would be the purpose of placing "restrictions", whatever they may be, on landlord ownership? The buy to let market has been shocking for the last 2 years and anyone trying to buy a property with a view to a short term let to make some cash is in for a suprise, not least because very few lenders will give the average punter a mortgage for a b-t-l now as it is. No-one is fighting over becoming a landlord at the moment, the only way to get cheap property is through the auctions, for which you really need ready cash at your disposal. There is a shortage of affordable housing for first time buyers and the rental market and this is something the Housing Associations were addressing, but their funding has been cut and their output will diminish quite a bit in about 2 years time, so I don't expect the situation to get better anytime soon. restrictions - see previous posts Maybe there should have been restrictions 10 years ago... I dunno Whats an HMO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjii Posted 26 July, 2010 Share Posted 26 July, 2010 What would be the purpose of placing "restrictions", whatever they may be, on landlord ownership? The buy to let market has been shocking for the last 2 years and anyone trying to buy a property with a view to a short term let to make some cash is in for a suprise, not least because very few lenders will give the average punter a mortgage for a b-t-l now as it is. No-one is fighting over becoming a landlord at the moment, the only way to get cheap property is through the auctions, for which you really need ready cash at your disposal. There is a shortage of affordable housing for first time buyers and the rental market and this is something the Housing Associations were addressing, but their funding has been cut and their output will diminish quite a bit in about 2 years time, so I don't expect the situation to get better anytime soon. I dno't doubt it's hard to bet a BTL mortgage now. But it wasn't previously. So implementing restrictions would not deal with the present problem (and they wouldn't be retrospective) but could help to prevent a similar scenario in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridge too far Posted 26 July, 2010 Share Posted 26 July, 2010 restrictions - see previous posts Maybe there should have been restrictions 10 years ago... I dunno Whats an HMO? Houses of Multiple Occupation. Usually applied to e.g. student rented houses / bedsits. There are special regulations such as fire doors, fire escapes and probably lots more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted 27 July, 2010 Share Posted 27 July, 2010 I dno't doubt it's hard to bet a BTL mortgage now. But it wasn't previously. So implementing restrictions would not deal with the present problem (and they wouldn't be retrospective) but could help to prevent a similar scenario in the future. I don't think the problem is with the number of houses a landlord has, more the borrowing profile used to purchase those properties. This is more to do with the banks / lending institutions than the landlords. Any future similar scenario will be fuelled by these banks and whether they offer the same environment in which to borrow. There are a number of responsible landlords who are careful with their investments and i don't see how restricting them is beneficial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now