Employed to be given council house "priority"

[ViolentPanda]

But rent controls are Big Government - everything that Dave and his chums claim not to stand for.

Big society is (among other things) small time (buy to let?) landlords charging whatever they can get away with.

Absolutely. The govt can't be stifling the entrepreneurial spirit of the rentier class. That'd be hitting entirely the wrong social class in the pocket!

 

[ViolentPanda]

I know - labour at 13 years and they didn't do it

You say "labour", I say "another bunch of neo-liberal shit-kickers who want to fuck over the poor, just with differently-coloured rosettes".

 

[marty21]

You say "labour", I say "another bunch of neo-liberal shit-kickers who want to fuck over the poor, just with differently-coloured rosettes".

-


what he said ^^^^

 

[mentalchik]

No they dont. Im sure Tory councils would love to make tenants pay 40% of their wages in rent though.

I live in a HA flat and the rent is 40% of my wages............

 

[rover07]

I live in a HA flat and the rent is 40% of my wages............

Oh

How much is the rent?

 

[scifisam]

Oh

How much is the rent?

Lots of 2-bed HA flats are around the £450-500pcm mark. Minimum wage is about £897 per month before tax. I'd imagine there are tons of HA tenants whose rent is 40% or more of their wage.

(Mine is and I'm now in month 4 of trying to get housing benefit).

 

[mentalchik]

Oh

How much is the rent?

My rent is £400.50 a month...............luckily at the moment i get tax credit......don't get HB..........this rent has gone up by 17 % in the 4 years i've lived here

 

[_angel_]

Lots of 2-bed HA flats are around the £450-500pcm mark. Minimum wage is about £897 per month before tax. I'd imagine there are tons of HA tenants whose rent is 40% or more of their wage.

(Mine is and I'm now in month 4 of trying to get housing benefit).

The Leeds tenants mag reckons quite a lot spend more in the region of 60% or more on th.eir rent, and these are lowish rents too

 

[rover07]

Ours was £30 pw for a 3 bed flat. 20 years ago but it was about 20-25% of a lowish take home wage.

Sorry to hear its gone up so much.

 

[_angel_]

Ours was £30 pw for a 3 bed flat. 20 years ago but it was about 20-25% of a lowish take home wage.

Sorry to hear its gone up so much.

once upon a time your rent was meant to be 1/4 of your income.How things have changed

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

if the government brought in rent controls, like the fair rent system (still active for pre 1989 tenants in England, not sure about Scotland) HB bill would be reduced, and private landlords would 'share the pain'

Rent controls would just lead to an even greater shortage of available housing, so what would be the actual benefit? It sounds like a great and noble policy proposal but would ultimately be damaging. A preferable solution would be to increase the housing stock and so bring down prices via the market mechanism.

 

[weepiper]

Rent controls would just lead to an even greater shortage of available housing, so what would be the actual benefit?

how would it?

 

[_angel_]

how would it?

maybe he means people would sell rather than let????? still thnk some form of fair rent - and regulation of private lets is needed, with added increase in council housing

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

how would it?

By keeping rent artificially low you increase demand for rented properties. Supply cannot keep up with this demand because the incentive to build new housing (i.e. being able to make a profit) has been removed.

 

[weepiper]

wut? most rental properties are not new build.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

wut? most rental properties are not new build.

I never said they were.

 

[marty21]

Rent controls would just lead to an even greater shortage of available housing, so what would be the actual benefit? It sounds like a great and noble policy proposal but would ultimately be damaging. A preferable solution would be to increase the housing stock and so bring down prices via the market mechanism.

well, the 'market mechanism' has really served us well of late hasn't it...

 

[weepiper]

I never said they were.

Well I don't understand your point then.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

well, the 'market mechanism' has really served us well of late hasn't it...

Cheers for saying absolutely nothing whilst appearing full of wisdom. Care to offer anything on the subject that isn't a platitude?

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Well I don't understand your point then.

Ok sorry, I wasn't very clear I admit. What I was trying to say is that if you keep rents below market value, no-one will want to rent anything because they cant recoup the costs of buying. The cost of buying is ultimately linked to the number of new houses being built.

 

[weepiper]

Ok sorry, I wasn't very clear I admit. What I was trying to say is that if you keep rents below market value, no-one will want to rent anything because they cant recoup the costs of buying. The cost of buying is ultimately linked to the number of new houses being built.

but what is 'market value'? Currently rents are as high as they are because there's high demand surely?

 

[Blagsta]

Ok sorry, I wasn't very clear I admit. What I was trying to say is that if you keep rents below market value, no-one will want to rent anything because they cant recoup the costs of buying. The cost of buying is ultimately linked to the number of new houses being built.

market value, lol

 

[FridgeMagnet]

but what is 'market value'? Currently rents are as high as they are because there's high demand surely?

There's constant demand (people always need places to live) and property is vastly overpriced, a bubble which no politician wants to address because it would mean that property owners lose capital. We're already at the stage where rents just cannot go higher, though. In fact we've been there for a while.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

but what is 'market value'? Currently rents are as high as they are because there's high demand surely?

Yes, rents are high because there is high demand. Another way to put it is that there is low supply. What do you think would happen when the incentive to increase the supply is removed?

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Yes, rents are high because there is high demand. Another way to put it is that there is low supply. What do you think would happen when the incentive to increase the supply is removed?

That is not why rents are high.

 

[scifisam]

Yes, rents are high because there is high demand. Another way to put it is that there is low supply. What do you think would happen when the incentive to increase the supply is removed?

Maybe the government would actually start to compulsory purchase empty properties and build new ones?

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

That is not why rents are high.

If the demand was half what it is now, would the rents be just as high with the current housing stock? No, so demand must be a component of that high price. That's not to say there are not other components, but demand is a major one.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Maybe the government would actually start to compulsory purchase empty properties and build new ones?

That would work.

 

[weepiper]

Yes, rents are high because there is high demand. Another way to put it is that there is low supply. What do you think would happen when the incentive to increase the supply is removed?

no, rents are high because there will always be people who need to live somewhere to work or to send their kids to school but don't want to buy (for whatever reason), and because landlords set their rents to the maximum they can get away with to make a profit. Private rents are WAY higher than the cost of a mortgage on the same property.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Currently rents are as high as they are because there's high demand surely?

Yes, rents are high because there is high demand

no, rents are high because...

hmm