House price inflation at 26%. Avg London House £400K. How long can this really go on?

[Dogsauce]

And establish a mechanism to ensure that the law is applied. One of the big problems we have - just look at the DWP - is the way in which authorities are often either not applying the law, or actively setting out to impede its application.

My council isn't joined up on this at all. House at the end of my road (actually slightly smaller than mine) was converted to seven bedsits without planning permission, including two in the cellar which hardly got any natural light, not compliant with building regs. After complaints from a neighbour some enforcement was taken and they were forced to have it as a 'house in multiple occupancy' with a separate kitchen (losing a bedroom) and all the cellar stuff had to be ripped out (a skip was sat outside with brand new fittings in). Thing is they've started using the kitchen as a bedroom again (with a single bed in it), ignoring the earlier enforcement.

The ridiculous bit is that they're housing tenants getting housing benefit from the same council that's had to crack down before, in fact parts of the council are using the property to house 'problem cases' (people just out of prison etc.) despite the dodginess of the owner. You'd kind of hope that some kind of discretion could be applied and people who don't follow the rules don't get housing benefit on their property or benefit from council placements. It's stupid.

The landlord (who lives in Truro) has stated that they don't give a shit because they're making several grand a month out of the place (£100 per tenant per week) which they only bought for around a hundred thousand, so any fine would be meaningless.

Maybe landlords and letting agents should be licensed (with a fee that funds inspections), with rule breakers barred from letting for fixed periods (or life in extreme cases). It'd weed out a lot of cunts and maybe free up some homes.

 

[weltweit]

When faced with my landlord's highly paid day job and total of nine properties rented out, I find myself slightly envious. Perhaps that is an unwise feeling, as I am not sure I would like to be like that, but he certainly seems to have his financial situation sorted out, in stark contrast to my own current status. Still he puts the rent up annually despite interest rates on his mortgages not rising, profiteering SOB.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Maybe landlords and letting agents should be licensed (with a fee that funds inspections), with rule breakers barred from letting for fixed periods (or life in extreme cases). It'd weed out a lot of cunts and maybe free up some homes.

there is a scheme for licensing HMOs - more here. May be worth finding out a bit more about how the local council deals with it.

snag is with the idea of licensing the buggers, the dodgiest ones wouldn't give a flying fudge and would do it without being licensed anyway.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

My council isn't joined up on this at all. House at the end of my road (actually slightly smaller than mine) was converted to seven bedsits without planning permission, including two in the cellar which hardly got any natural light, not compliant with building regs. After complaints from a neighbour some enforcement was taken and they were forced to have it as a 'house in multiple occupancy' with a separate kitchen (losing a bedroom) and all the cellar stuff had to be ripped out (a skip was sat outside with brand new fittings in). Thing is they've started using the kitchen as a bedroom again (with a single bed in it), ignoring the earlier enforcement.

The ridiculous bit is that they're housing tenants getting housing benefit from the same council that's had to crack down before, in fact parts of the council are using the property to house 'problem cases' (people just out of prison etc.) despite the dodginess of the owner. You'd kind of hope that some kind of discretion could be applied and people who don't follow the rules don't get housing benefit on their property or benefit from council placements. It's stupid.

The landlord (who lives in Truro) has stated that they don't give a shit because they're making several grand a month out of the place (£100 per tenant per week) which they only bought for around a hundred thousand, so any fine would be meaningless.

Maybe landlords and letting agents should be licensed (with a fee that funds inspections), with rule breakers barred from letting for fixed periods (or life in extreme cases). It'd weed out a lot of cunts and maybe free up some homes.

Perhaps this sort of thing should be a criminal offence. That would wipe the smug expression off his face.

 

[Dogsauce]

there is a scheme for licensing HMOs - more here. May be worth finding out a bit more about how the local council deals with it.

snag is with the idea of licensing the buggers, the dodgiest ones wouldn't give a flying fudge and would do it without being licensed anyway.

It's just they need to be a bit more joined-up, as it's not just HMOs affected (which I think only applies to properties with a certain number of occupants, mainly brought in to restrict student housing from dominating areas - four separate lets I think). Make housing benefit payments only payable on approved houses of a certain standard, managed and owned by reputable/licensed persons. Don't have social agencies place people in houses which contravene the council's own rules or are unlicensed.

The downside of this would be yet more 'No DSS' signs and yet more narratives of 'dirty dole cheats get good housing standards, why don't I?' but at least the worst off would get some guarantee of quality, and maybe it'd push things to be better for others too. The worst landlords specifically target DSS cases because they know that this market is limited and they can get away with lower standards on the basis that the tenant has far less choices than someone not receiving benefits. They're parasites feeding on an already emaciated social support system.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Surely anyone who has earned enough to afford a second home is sufficiently sensible to rent it out for the rest of the year?

You would think so, but a fair number of them aren't. There's about a dozen houses in my parents' village (about 150 dwellings, all told) that are empty except for week at Christmas, and 3-4 weeks in the summer.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I think currently 2nd homes (that little holiday cottage in Corwall for instance) you get a discount on the council tax because it is not the main home and is empty for much of the year. That could stop, for starters. people who can afford a 2nd home can afford the council tax. There could be punitive taxes for leaving properties empty too.

Rates should be doubled, not halved. Second homes do a shitload of damage to communities in the South West, especially small villages.

Also, gentrifying cunts like Rick Stein should simply be thrown in the sea. Let's see how much he likes fish when they're eating his bloated corpse

 

[SpookyFrank]

Surely anyone who has earned enough to afford a second home is sufficiently sensible to rent it out for the rest of the year?

I would think most people would only buy a second home if they could afford to do so without a mortgage. Considering property prices these days, that would mean they'd be rich enough that the income from renting would not be worth the hassle of letting proles into their nice little rural hideaway.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It's just they need to be a bit more joined-up, as it's not just HMOs affected (which I think only applies to properties with a certain number of occupants, mainly brought in to restrict student housing from dominating areas - four separate lets I think). Make housing benefit payments only payable on approved houses of a certain standard, managed and owned by reputable/licensed persons. Don't have social agencies place people in houses which contravene the council's own rules or are unlicensed.

The downside of this would be yet more 'No DSS' signs and yet more narratives of 'dirty dole cheats get good housing standards, why don't I?' but at least the worst off would get some guarantee of quality, and maybe it'd push things to be better for others too. The worst landlords specifically target DSS cases because they know that this market is limited and they can get away with lower standards on the basis that the tenant has far less choices than someone not receiving benefits. They're parasites feeding on an already emaciated social support system.

Problem with this kind of fiddling with the current system is that they can be counterproductive in isolation. The emergency housing lists of councils are already long, so long that in many areas they have started schemes to attract private landlords. Your scheme, in isolation, would just make that list longer. What happens to the tenant who cannot find appropriate accommodation? Stopping the housing benefit hurts the tenant too - what they need is a decent place to live.

The only kinds of scheme that might make a difference are ones that threaten ownership. So you rent out a place and it falls below a certain minimum standard. Inspectors are called in, declare that the place is substandard and issue you with a list of the things that need doing and a timeframe within which to do them. If you fail to do these things, you forfeit the property to the state. Simple as that.

Such a thing would need to be combined with sanctions against leaving houses empty, and of course any sensible approach to tackling the housing crisis has to involve the building of social housing. Big schemes, financed by long-term loans, to construct high-quality homes of the size and kind that people actually want, homes that people will still want to live in in 100 years' time. In the end, this can be the only solution. Everything else is just fiddling around. And it's not even peeping its mast above the political horizon at the moment.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I've heard second homeowners in Devon complaining about how the village isn't what is used to be since the pub/shop/cafe closed down. Obivously they're not aware that replacing actual residents with people who only roll up for three weeks in the year means that local businesses have no trade and can't find staff

 

[ViolentPanda]

double post

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Govt/councils/housing associations take out govt-secured 30-year loans to build new homes. The top architects are involved. The highest specs, both in terms of living conditions and energy efficiency, are insisted on by law.

Pension funds find a place to put their money (although they could just print the money if they really wanted - quantitative easing put to practical use). People get decent places to live. Architects and builders get work. The loans are repaid through rents so the whole exercise is cost-neutral to the govt, which ends up with improved housing, more employment and a housing crisis solved.

The solution is so simple, it is effectively criminal that it is not done. No need for revolution or even a socialist government - the mechanisms are already in place to make this happen. It could be started tomorrow.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Govt/councils/housing associations take out govt-secured 30-year loans to build new homes. The top architects are involved. The highest specs, both in terms of living conditions and energy efficiency, are insisted on by law.

Pension funds find a place to put their money (although they could just print the money if they really wanted - quantitative easing put to practical use). People get decent places to live. Architects and builders get work. The loans are repaid through rents so the whole exercise is cost-neutral to the govt, which ends up with improved housing, more employment and a housing crisis solved.

The solution is so simple, it is effectively criminal that it is not done. No need for revolution or even a socialist government - the mechanisms are already in place to make this happen. It could be started tomorrow.

You left out the bit about the private sector making shitloads of money for doing fuck all, how can you call this a viable solution if the private sector won't make shitloads of money for doing fuck all?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

You left out the bit about the private sector making shitloads of money for doing fuck all, how can you call this a viable solution if the private sector won't make shitloads of money for doing fuck all?

That's the 'effectively criminal' bit. All the major political parties are effectively criminal.

 

[SpookyFrank]

That's the 'effectively criminal' bit. All the major political parties are effectively criminal.

In terms of the harm they do to society they're incalculably worse than a mere criminal could ever hope to be.

 

[weltweit]

I've heard second homeowners in Devon complaining about how the village isn't what is used to be since the pub/shop/cafe closed down. Obivously they're not aware that replacing actual residents with people who only roll up for three weeks in the year means that local businesses have no trade and can't find staff

Dorset is the same. I suspect it is like that all over with second homes.
Of course in Wales they burn em down!! or used to.

 

[Dogsauce]

From a national perspective it's a gross waste of capital having all this dosh going into a relatively unproductive part of the economy. And it also means loads of shit building work is being done.

The way capitalism works in the UK is that rather than expand on traditional methods of growth such as inventing and building things people might want (capitalism of yore, still practised in some European countries) we instead go for one of the two available options:

a) Make people pay for things they don't pay for already (watching football on telly, booking fees for gigs and travel, healthcare (eventually))
b) Make people pay more for things they already pay for (rent, festival tickets, utility bills, further education)

Nothing is created by this except profit, what counts for 'innovation' in today's economy is discovering a new way to fleece people out of more cash.

 

[Quartz]

You left out the bit about the private sector making shitloads of money for doing fuck all, how can you call this a viable solution if the private sector won't make shitloads of money for doing fuck all?

No he didn't. Those pension fund managers and the traders who work for them get paid squillions. And the building companies and architects and engineers and sewage companies and everyone else (don't forget all the additional infrastructure required) get paid.

The real problems with the scheme are firstly that it's too sensible and secondly politicians are too afraid to take a decision, because some of the electorate won't like it, forgetting that there's a difference between not liking a decision and not respecting one. (Though with the current showers of shite there is indeed now no difference.)

 

[quiquaquo]

The way capitalism works in the UK is that rather than expand on traditional methods of growth such as inventing and building things people might want (capitalism of yore, still practised in some European countries) we instead go for one of the two available options:

a) Make people pay for things they don't pay for already (watching football on telly, booking fees for gigs and travel, healthcare (eventually))
b) Make people pay more for things they already pay for (rent, festival tickets, utility bills, further education)

Nothing is created by this except profit, what counts for 'innovation' in today's economy is discovering a new way to fleece people out of more cash.

Exactly, infrastructure and housing in the UK is shockingly poor compared to the rest of Europe (Ireland excluded). The road surface was melting outside where I live today and it was 23 degrees only, what's that about? And double taps for that matter

 

[tbtommyb]

When faced with my landlord's highly paid day job and total of nine properties rented out, I find myself slightly envious. Perhaps that is an unwise feeling, as I am not sure I would like to be like that, but he certainly seems to have his financial situation sorted out, in stark contrast to my own current status. Still he puts the rent up annually despite interest rates on his mortgages not rising, profiteering SOB.

making money isn't hard if you're prepared to be a cunt.

 

[SpookyFrank]

The way capitalism works in the UK is that rather than expand on traditional methods of growth such as inventing and building things people might want (capitalism of yore, still practised in some European countries) we instead go for one of the two available options:

a) Make people pay for things they don't pay for already (watching football on telly, booking fees for gigs and travel, healthcare (eventually))
b) Make people pay more for things they already pay for (rent, festival tickets, utility bills, further education)

Nothing is created by this except profit, what counts for 'innovation' in today's economy is discovering a new way to fleece people out of more cash.

The biggest 'innovation' in the UK economy in recent years has to be letting agencies, or possibly recruitment agencies and temp agencies. Even though their services are effectively useless, they've gained so much traction in their respective sectors that many people have no choice but to use them. If you work in certain industries you basically have to hire a recruitment agency to 'sell' you to employers; lower down the food chain there's all sorts of work you can only get from temp agencies, with even local authorities refusing to take on staff on real contracts or without middlemen creaming something off.

 

[Quartz]

The biggest 'innovation' in the UK economy in recent years has to be letting agencies, or possibly recruitment agencies and temp agencies

Personnel agencies have been around for over 100 years if not 200. Of course back then they dealt in servants.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Personnel agencies have been around for over 100 years if not 200. Of course back then they dealt in servants.

I can't help but notice when perusing the job ads that 'recruitment consultant' is among the most common, right up there with potwasher and shelf stacker. Maybe there's just a really high turnover of recruitment consultants because the recruitment agencies repeatedly fail to pick the right candidates

 

[SpookyFrank]

And at least domestic servants would get board and lodgings. No such luck for the modern day peons.

 

[spanglechick]

I can't help but notice when perusing the job ads that 'recruitment consultant' is among the most common, right up there with potwasher and shelf stacker. Maybe there's just a really high turnover of recruitment consultants because the recruitment agencies repeatedly fail to pick the right candidates

nah - it's because it's high-pressure sales work, largely commission-paid. people don't stay in it because it's not what most people consider fun.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Exactly, infrastructure and housing in the UK is shockingly poor compared to the rest of Europe (Ireland excluded). The road surface was melting outside where I live today and it was 23 degrees only, what's that about? And double taps for that matter

There's only one sort of double tap I'm interested in, where politicians are concerned.

 

[friendofdorothy]

I blame Margaret Thatcher - encouraging everyone to aspire to buying a house, selling council homes - restricting how councils to build more rental homes and deregulating the private rental market.

Govts could have build sociallly rented homes, could stop oppressing squatters and homeless, could regulate private rental market and could tax non-resident house owners - but they have simply lacked the political will to do anything at all for decades. rant rant rant.

 

[chilango]

Rent strikes, mass organised squatting and the relentless popular expropriation of assets belonging to absentee landlords coupled with industrial action for wage rises in line with housing costs.

That oughta do it

 

[mentalchik]

I blame Margaret Thatcher - encouraging everyone to aspire to buying a house, selling council homes - restricting how councils to build more rental homes and deregulating the private rental market.

Govts could have build sociallly rented homes, could stop oppressing squatters and homeless, could regulate private rental market and could tax non-resident house owners - but they have simply lacked the political will to do anything at all for decades. rant rant rant.

It's not about lack of political will it's about protecting self interest.............the housing market boom was deliberately manipulated to make developers and their cronies in high places a lot of money etc etc....they won't institute a social housing building plan because it would take the pressure off the private market...........no one ever questions how in a relatively short amount of time we went from being able to support a mortgage on one wage to it being impossible and why that was seen as the way forward...

 

[DotCommunist]

I blame Margaret Thatcher

generally a good idea, no matter what the subject