It is also an alarming hike in rents, which are, however, insufficient to cover the costs of some highly-geared (over-borrowed) landlords who are selling their properties as quickly as they can, so increasing the scale of homelessness and disruption, whilst also removing property from the rental housing stock, at least temporarily. It’s a perfect storm for the councils involved, and it can only get worse since it is the policy of the Bank of England to maintain high interest rates as inflation declines, which can only make rents increasingly unaffordable whilst forcing more landlords out of business.
Did he say all of this when mortgage intertest relief was limited for landlords? When those other tax changes came in which also reduced the supply of rental housing?
Does he say this about his ideas on adding a 15% surcharge to “unearned” income?
Sure, it’s true, higher costs for being a landlord will lead to fewer landlords, that’s obvious. But does he run with this when it’s an argument against something he likes?
It’s so simple that even the simple-minded should understand. The recent legislation to make life less profitable and more uncertain for landlords will result in landlords selling up and there being fewer rental properties.
So the sort of thing demanded by Guardianistas will result in hardship for tenants and would-be tenants which, happily, the Guardian can profitably grouse about.
I almost typed “the Guardian and like-minded malevolent people” but decide that the implication that the likes of Murphy has a mind would upset too many readers here.
I wonder if the rise in rents is because of a rise in demand not costs?
If it were because of costs surely landlords everywhere would rise rents by the same amount.
First, begin cutting interest rates now. This will have no impact on inflation and very little, if anything, if properly explained on the exchange rate.
Second, impose rent caps. They work, at least in the short term. Then buy up at arbitrated prices former rental properties made available for sale.
Third, increase tax to relieve destitution. I have shown how.
Fourth, stop quantitative tightening.
Amazing.
It’s not all bad. At least he is using ‘geared’ rather than the American ‘leveraged’ (to rhyme with leather).
@BiP
Yes
Every time fire is directed at private landlords the govermment simply make the current housing situation worse
If I was one I would be getting out of the business and either selling up or changing my business to holiday lets/AirBnB where the over-regulation is less of a problem and property recovery is infinitely easier
Wait, is he saying landlords *should keep renting*? I thought they were unproductive parasites that lived on the hard work of others?
So a landlord selling a home they were hoarding in order to extract immoral rent from tenants is not up for sale for those tenants to buy. Which they didn’t do in the past only because the house had been snatched up by a greedy exploiter?
@Agammamon – stop using logic. Think more 15 year old pimply youth with a grudge against the popular boys at school who knows everything but get’s his head flushed down the toilet at regular intervals. Then drink a bottle of white lightning and you might get somewhere near the potato’s thought processes. Oops forget to mention you need a bevvy of prepubescent schoolgirls cheering you on saying “your so wonderful !”
Bloke in Pictland
Given he is the closest thing to pure evil extant in the Blogosphere today describing him as malevolent would be to my mind underplaying how malign his influence is
Steve had already pointed out the quote I was going to add in – important to memorialise how incoherent he is – I also suspect he knows that most of the economic problems we face are caused by him and his ideological cohorts directly. So he may be panicking, envisioning the pitchfork wielding mob besieging his house.
So the fixed-rate period on his mortgage has expired and he’s found out that getting a new one is a lot more expensive.
“@ Matt
So the fixed-rate period on his mortgage has expired and he’s found out that getting a new one is a lot more expensive.”
Last time he mentioned it, he was mortgage free. I have suggested that (i) equity release might be a better solution to any money issues than begging from his blog readers and (ii) the money he has tied up in his house is doing nothing when more equity release would enable him to invest in the green energy sector so vital to ‘save life in earth’.
But he chose not to respond.
Sometimes the thumb is on top of the scale pushing down and sometimes the thumb is under the scale raising up. But whichever applies the ‘reading’ is not the true reading just one that has been manipulated for personal (or organisational) benefit.
The ‘whatever I feel like today’ mindset is no way to run a life, let alone an economy.