I have been living (renting) in Chiswick for 10+ years and I have been priced out by the number of buy-to-let properties in the area. The prices in Chiswick are such that only people that already own properties can afford to buy one, but it is having a diverse effect on the community. Too many temporary residents - it's starting to feel like a holiday town! I also object to the fact that a significant number of buy-to-let are owned by minor celebrities (eg. Saira Khan) who have 15 mins of fame and then use the money to buy in places like Chiswick (where they never lived before).
I would like the government to put a restriction on the number of properties you can own within a certain radius. eg. it is alright to own a house in Chiswick and one on the coast, but if you own a second house/flat in Chiswick the government should tax you more for the second property (that would stop people doing this).

I wish I could afford to 'buy to let'!!!

I have two houses I rent out. My experience has been that of a mixed blessing, especially as interest rates are rising!
The feedback I've had from my tenants is that they feel well looked after as I see to any problems, eg leaks, decorating questions, etc straight away. As an individual rather than an organisation, I can offer tenants a sense of being valued and looked after, qualities you don't get if the council is your landlord.
At the moment it's not the best way to invest money due to rising interest rates and the fact that unlike investment accounts, houses need to be maintained, have safety inspections carried out and be insured... you also have to invest time!

Buy to lets push up not only the cost of property to buy, but also to rent. It all smacks of greed and 'me, me, me'. I agree that anyone owning more than one property should be taxed heavily and progressively on each further property they buy, for whatever reason. My daughter is training to be a primary teacher and will never be able to afford to buy (or even rent) somewhere to live in this country. I will be encouraging her to move to a different country when she qualifies.

But to Let has significantly increased house prices. The investors often never really inspect a property and offer to buy before anybody else can see it, often at a reduced price. This was obvious 4 years ago when a family member was buying, it put up the price by ?20,000 of what she had to buy. At the time I blamed the estate agents who were also acting as letting agents and were keen to move the property on with the sitting tenant, meaning they never lost out on their rental commission.

I live in a rented house which my partner's sister owns and if it wasn't for the buy to let market i wouldn't have a home. The wages in the North West are ridiculously low and the cost of houses are unreasonably high. The rental payments that we make are considerably lower than the mortgage payments which means that our family are having to pay extra to meet the mortgage. We would really like to get on the property ladder but can't see how we can do this with the interest rates rising and the property market so unstable.

People are often forced to 'buy to let' in order to accommodate ill or impoverished relatives. I personally let my houses to both of the above and to couples who have fallen on hard times. Even with help
from the local council, the monthly rents rarely meet the mortgage premiums.
I often wonder how much analysis is carried out by the government before it legislates. Hard cases make bad laws. If I sell any of these houses I have to pay a fortune in capital gains and the actual advantage of housing disadvantaged families is not considered.

I owned a BTL property for a brief amount of time, a few years ago, but due to a bad tenant (no rent for 6 months), increasing interest rates etc I decided to sell. Even with a modest gain in property value, I made a loss, as the place also stood empty while waiting to sell it. All in all I stumped up the mortgage for about a year before the place was sold.

The property market is being propped up by BTL, there's no doubt about it. Many developers sell properties at discounts to BTL investors, although the full market price appears on the register.
This wasn't really happening when I bought.
Nevertheless costs are such that you can just about break even with an 85% mortgage at 5.5% or so.

There's alot of faith that prices will continue to rise. If these people didn't get the discount, then alot wouldn't buy. If that happened, then many 1 or 2 bed places wouldn't sell. The developers would drop the price and property deflation would occur. Prices would be lower and since they appear to be dropping, people would be afraid to buy and the prices would spiral down as a consequence. It's all supply and demand.

If you own, but you see prices dropping, it's a very bitter pill, especially if you've just bought.
In fact at high prices, when they don't seem to be going up, it's psychologically very wearing, you might think that you've bought just at the wrong time...

I don't have a problem with housing as I own my own house [no mortgage] but i do agree with Chris and many others that if a person owns more than one property they ought to levied by the local council or by government, giving less incentive to people owning too much and giving the first time buyers a chance.

I'm young, singlem, live in inner London, and have a passionate hate of buy to let!. It took me ages to find a property I wanted to buy as Investors dont even inspect some flats, they know what others in the same building are worth, do the maths and then buy over the phone if they can rent for profit, leaving no chance for someone who needs to view, get a survey and stump up the 10% to get a rediclous size mortgage. I now live in a decent flat, but not in a nice area becuase it would have broken the 250,000 threshold and the stamp duty would have gone up by another ?5000. The government should impose a tax levied on the number of homes you own after the first home, increasing every time you purchase an additional property, this would work 2 fold as make it unprofitable for buy to let landlords to own too many flats and also provide coffers to pump into subsidised schemes for first time buyers to live in.

People like myself have been pushed down the buy to let route because of Government intervention on pensions and especially the tax grabbing. The whole situation is laughable on one hand we are being told to save for our retirement and on the other we are being punished. If people had more confidence in pensions and the financial industry and the Government this would not be the hot topic it has become.
Dave Long

Buy to let has been a necessary investment due to poor (practically no) realistic return on my pension contributions throughout a 30 year professional career. With luck I may have something to retire on at least when I realise any profit, after taxation, when I sell my proerty. I think ending so-called tax breaks, which they are not, would kill the market, and any hope of people like me providing for at least something to cover their old age.

If regulation in this area is increased then taxation will also increase. This Government regulates through taxation. Is there any other way?

If this happens, then investors will simply look to other countries in which to invest their money. This is already happening - the evidence is plentiful in our media about UK residents purchasing property abroad.

If all of our current UK landlords decided to do this on mass our whole economy would break down over night. Plus we'd have a few million homeless people to look after and a few billion less in taxes with which to look after them.

Bring it on......I'll move abroad tomorrow!

I have tried to sell my house over the last 6 months, with no luck as yet! I may be forced to let my property out. So i can move to another area of the country to be near family and friends. I think this is increasing the number of buy to lets on the market because the house market seems flat above the 250k mark so this is the only option available for people desperate to move.

I am currently not in a position to 'buy-to-let' and had not really considered it before but I am now consciously planning to be in a position to do so within the next 5 years. The reason for this is the diminishing potential returns of a pension fund that I have paid into for over 18 years.

This is looking less likely, each year, to provide what it should do but my contributions are likely to have to go up anyway! I am now oonsidering stopping my contributions and putting this money into an investment fund from which to invest in 'buy-to-let' properties.

Whilst I sympathise with some of the comments made above in relation to knock-on effects for firt time buyers I have to say that most comments smack of 'I can't afford to do this so punish everyone else who can!'. Jealousy or envy - please let the readers decide for themselves as I will not enter into a 'comment debate on this site'.

However, I am making a decision to provide for my family post-retirement because of the lack of the faith in pension schemes, government policy et al. To suggest that people who struggle to do this should then be penalised (taxed) on second properties is ridiculous. What about a tax break for those who work hard so they won't be reliant upon other tax payers pennies to provide for them via government pension schemes, housing benefits etc etc??

Professional landlords already pay income tax upon their rentals whilst others also have to pay capital gains tax. To tax further is a preposterous proposition.

We own a number of properties we rent out and with no exception all our tenants would not want to enter the housing market. Our tenants range from a single pensioner (has always rented) to two male friends who live together temporarily to single girls renting until they find a partner to business people whose jobs are temporary and don't want to settle in one place. Some people don't want to buy having adverse credit and a lot of people prefer to rent and not commit to anything long term. Don't condemn landlords we provide a useful service and fill a gap the Council's can't fill

I can understand first time buyer's resentment to buy to let investors, who they feel are pricing them out of the market. Whilst many buy to let investors have invested due to concerns about pensions, FTBs have stretched themselves so much they are unable to think about pensions. I think the government should discourage people investing in overly large portfolios through taxation and use the proceeds to help affordable housing schemes and key workers. The worry with taxing landlords a proportion of their rental income would be they would simple pass this cost on to their tenants, a banding system would be necessary with higher rates for larger portfolios this would help deter people building huge portfolios and prevent the tax been passed on to the tenants as they would be at a competitive disadvantage compared to smaller investors paying a much lower rate of tax who could undercut them if they tried to pass on the full cost of the tax.

1. The taking away of mortgage tax relief from home buyers gave the advantage to "buy to let" investers.
2. I purchased my last 2 properties from people who would have had them reprossesed if they hadnt sold. They stayed on as tenents, paying less rent than mortgage. With tax relief they would have been able to stay as owners.
3. Perhaps the BoE needs to think on that before raising rates another 50% and then wondering why the repossesions and bankruptcies have risen.

I was forced into buy to let due to the lack of affordable rentable property for my daughter and grandchildren. I was not prepared to see the grandchildren uprooted every year or so due to rent increases beyond my daughters ability to pay or the house being sold.The council houses of the 60's and 70's had not been built for selling, they had been built to allow low income families to be have a home that they could call their own for as long as neccessary. Most of these right to buys were then sold on at huge profits due to the ridiculous discounts offered to the incumbents.
I wouldn't mind betting that the benificaries of this system are now moaning that their children cannot get on the ladder.
The result is not enough affordable housing.Buy to rent is now the only way the we can ensure our children are housed.

No!!!!

I agree with the comments made by Wolfey whole heartedly. Well said for saying things that others daren't!!

However, in addition I'd like to say that the sense of community disappeared in England a decade or so ago. I'd like to know how many English reisdents / families are now retiring to other countries with warmer climates, less crime, less hassle and so on.

Also, I don't believe Buy To Let is having a significant impact on the First Time Buyers market. Having a second property myself I only paid what I believed to be a reasonable price. I wouldn't force up the market value at any cost simply to win the purchase. I buy as an investment and not to make a loss.

To pick up an earlier thread - the wholesale of Local Authority housing is responsible to a degree for this situation and landlords are simply servicing need. Without them, would we have shanty towns like those we see in developing countries? without them, where would tenants actually live?

Interesting debate...

I own several rental properties. We are filling a market that was left by the govmt selling off the council house stock and not replacing it.
Dont blame us blame the people who sold off the affordable housing stock.

Dont condemn landlords - without them there would not be the rented property that there is available. It is about time people got a grip with the whole issue of housing: if you cannot afford to buy then get over it and remain rented. This is what happened in previous generations. People in all kinds of socio economic groups in Europe are quite happy to rent - why do the British insist on buying, borrowing overinflated sums of money they cannot afford, pushing prices up even further then when there is a wobble go insolvent.Ridiculous.
Susi Felton

PS. Forgot to mention that we have lots of "affordable housing" and housing association property available in our area and no-one is interested so lots of it is empty and then gets offered to local councils. The people it is aimed at don't want it.

This is atricky subject and both sides mak good arguments.

I rent my propert from a couple who brought it 11 years ago. They are great landlords and provide an excellent service. I rent as i simply can't afford to buy a house by myself where i live (Bristol).

There has to be accommodation provided in the private rental sector by people wiht buy to let because a) not everyone can afford to buy, b) not everyone wants to drop themsleves into massive debt just to say they own their own property and c)city council's dont have enought quality accomodation available.

I sympathize with first time buyers but why is everyone in ths country so driven to own a house?
It all seems to be about keeping up wiht the Joneses. Completely pointless really as there will always be someone wiht a bigger and better house than you....

Marts

ps Billy -always enjoy reading your comments mate. You've clearly done well and can speak from long years of good and bad experience!
pps soon as i can sort it out, im moving abroad...might have more chance of buying a house somewhere!

Who cares whether you have nice big house or a nice big car for that matter?

hi heard a rumour last week that some one i know was talking in the pub that he couldnt buy his first house because the likes of me was buying them he drinks down the pub i work every hour including christmas day to keep things running stop bitching you cant buy because of landlords role your sleeves up and just do it its funny the harder you work the luckier you become

Hi We have been building a modest portfolio for around 8 years. We now have 8 properties all in the same area and have done very well even if the market slides. More recently even we find ourselves priced out of the market as rental yields do not stack up with the price of property unless we put in around a 25% deposit plus costs. We keep our houses in top condition and keep our renst as high as the market will allow so that we have good tenants that appreciate the proiperty we have. This strategy was our risk and for us we have simply benefited from taking a risk that could go wrong at any time. Our concern is that there will be people that enter the market and support the rents with their other income. This is a recipe for disaster. The recent interest rate rises have seen our portfolio go from a modest profit each month to break-even. Our plan is to buy one property per year while the market and prices allow but we also have enough ense to know when to stop!!!

We are buying our second BTL property for our daughter and a fellow student as this is cheaper than university accommodation and will reduce the amount of maintenance loan she will be paying off once she completes her degree. Our first property is occupied by a single parent who is not presently likely to be in a position ever to buy even with the 150% mortgages on offer. She is more than happy with the support she gets from us in maintaining the property.

Having both worked all our lives and already paying umpteen taxes with less services provided in return, both our properties are investments for pension purposes because of poor returns on pensions. However, we are unlikely to make much money on either of these with the increase in interest rates and high BTL mortgage charges. If we can afford another property - it will be in Spain !

I have 7 houses I let out.
I bought my 1st as a student 21 years ago, and 7th in 2002.
It wasnt in vogue to BTL in the mid 1990s and I had great trouble getting loans,Barclays even told me they didnt lend money to Landlords.
How times have changed.

But to let does not drive up house prices ,as a Landlord do you really expect me to pay more than market value,of course not, if anything I would want to get it cheap!
I wouldnt get the return I need to pay the mortgage, especially in London.

Take a look at the world you insular lot house prices in OZ (where I know live) have in some places risen by over 100% in the past 5 years.
I believe croatia, Ireland,spain, or almost wherever has seen dramatic house price rises in the same period.

Stop blaming Landlords for house price rises when it is just a cyclical event that happened in the late 1980s dont remember anyone blaming Landlords for that one ,in fact it was single people claiming MIRAS which helped drive that one up..
When houses drop in value who you gonna blame then, Landlords? Government?,

Anyways all you people who have no BTL and whinge why dont you buy in a less expensive area ,and become a landlord yourselves.Or are you too scared.
Maybe you could pal together with a mate to get started.
The 1st one is always the hardest.
Cheers
Working class boy come good

Hi i am at present btl property with two others it my first and last one .It is just as stressfull as buying your first home if not more . There so many regulations and rules to follow ensuring the safety of the property .Its not that easy to get a mortgage for btl anymore either. Why not btl if you have some money that you have saved over the years your not going to make money through the banks . Ihave worked 20 years and would like to retire early to enjoy my life when im older not when i am tooo old. As mentioned earlier its not easy and its risky so dont mock it unless you have tried it . Start saving your money and get on with it instead of moaning aout it .

For those of you against buy-to-let.

Buy-to-let only accounts for 7% of all mortgages - get your facts right before you start villifying landlords!

Without the level of rented stock (and more is needed)tenants wouldn't have anywhere to live anyway - we have a far lower proportion of rented accommodation in the UK than any other European country - get a life!

without btl tenants would be homeless?! there are alot of tenants being forced to rent even tho they would like to buy. i'm one of them. btl IS pushing the market prices up. as more than one person has pointed out, supply and demand. the demand by landlords or potential landlords, is taking away options for first time buyers, i live in a relatively cheap area for property. but down one street alone every single house is btl. not one is a owner occupier. its all very good having responsible landlords, but i'm afraid they are the exception to the rule. my last landlord had over 50 houses and you got put on a waiting list for repairs, i had no boiler for a month and eventually had to get on to environmental health to make him do it. this is the norm around here. landlords that live out of the area and dont care about the properties as long as the rent comes in. my present landlady is a pleasure and a joy to rent from but i'd like to own my own home so i've something to leave me children. its all well and good to say knuckle down and work for it but wages just dont cover the rent, bills, pension, and savings for a home, i dont think it is just landlords tho to be fair, the boe has to take some responsibility. if banks where not willing to loan ridiculous amounts of money then we wouldnt be in this posistion in the first place.

i have a buy to let mortgage purely to provide us with a pension because the government carn,t sort out a good scheme

My mother has had to go into a nursing home so her house is now empty, I own that house, I bought it for my parents 25yrs ago. it has been refurbished to a high standard, and is being sold for ?119.950 for a quick sale, money needed to pay for mums care, but after 6 months it is still not sold. the market is dead flat for all price levels, we are selling more than 5000 below its value because we need ed to sell. but now we are thinking of renting it out so we can pay for mums care. why should we be taxed for that, dont you all think that we pay to much in tax anyway, and if i do manage to sell the bulk of the prifit goes to the tax man. so very unfair, it makes me not want to sell knowing just how much he will get, to me that is punishment for trying to do the best for my parents so they would have a comfortable old age. All i can say to all you people out there I hope you never find yourself in my situation, it hurts like hell, the big companies that buy on block i agree with your comments, but not us ordinary jo soaps doing the best we can for our family's. so please back off and stop giving this money grabing tax man another stick to beat us with, sure as eggs is eggs he will get somthing of yours then we will listen to your squeals.

Never mind the Buy-to-Let debate, I am shocked at the poor level of spelling and grammer demonstrated in some of the postings!

Seriously though I am a BTL landlord investing for my later years. The rewards maybe high but the risks are higher. There are many good schemes available now for low paid and key workers. Contact your local authority or housing association who have loads of information.
Good luck.

We have been involved in buy to let properties since I was 18, and had a large sum of money to invest but did not feel ready to leave home. I brought a house and rented it out to someone less fortunate than myself that even, 23 years ago
could not afford a home of their own.
Some people do not come across large sums of money to invest in property, some cannot afford mortgages, or have debts, bad credit, black listing or are self employed with not enough showing on paper to afford a mortgage, but can rent. Getting a mortgage is harder than renting for some people.
I understand some peoples feelings in buying to let, being both positive and negative. However, I feel that there is a need for buy to let properties. There would not be this problem, if Council, housing associations worked to accomodate the low income people more fairly.
My friend was not as fortunate as I, 23 years ago, and put her name on the Council list, after 7 years she was still waiting for a property to be made available and was told start a family, make yourself homeless and this will get you a home. What attitude is that ???
In the end she rented off me at a resonable rent, while trying to work towards better paid jobs for her and her Husband, after a while they were in a position to buy the house off me at a fair price and get on the property/mortgage ladder.
I agree also, with concerns over the pensions. I have had a pension since I was 18 and so has my partner and we are concerned that our pension schemes are not sufficient and are topping them up.
I love Britian and would never consider leaving, but I worry about our economy. Every thing seems to be so expensive conpared to incomes.
I have a brother living and working in America and since loosing Dad this year, he would like to come home to be near Mum, but after 30 years living and working in America, he cannot afford to come back to England. 1 of my other 2 brothers, had to go to Australia to live after his 2nd heart attack because he could not work and had 2 young children and his wife being Australlian they could have a better life over there for their children on 1 income.
England seems to be the place that wants Britians to leave and foreign immigrants to come on a free ride.
I am 1 of 7 children and out of us, 3 already live abroad and another is making plans to go and live in Spain. Come on England, what is this saying about us as a Country.
If the Goverment acted for its people, we would not need let to buy or to leave England to better our lives.
Wake up Goverment and Britian, people are taking control of their own destiny.

PS: How many homes does the Queen or PM have/own/rent out.

With regards,
Paula

The banks are to willing to lend money to people who all ready have 6 properties, but refuses to lend it to a person to buy a HOME, there is something seriously wrong with that.

Richard Branson makes too much money and footballers make too much,or are they talented and lucky people.No matter which they are lets moan and bitch about them , and buy to lets especially those of us with no balls or drive to do what investors do.........COME ON THE LANDLORDS.

Good point Tony

I work very hard on my properties to keep them in good shape - almost every weekend and a lot of evenings for the last four years since I started it - on top of a pressured full time job. I've had to put up with all sorts from some of my tenants because the law is completely on their side, and the tax breaks are really not there as some people think. So why shouldn't I get a reward for my endeavours?

We have such a blame culture in this country - I can't afford it so it must be someone else's fault - no personal responsibility at all. I can't afford the house or the car I want, I have a bent nose and wonky teeth too - but that's just tough because that's just the way it is. If you want to blame someone, blame this government for the tax raid on pensions that makes them worthless, blame other governments and councils for selling off social housing stock, and blame the super rich for inflating prices in property hotspots. Alternatively, just accept it and get on with it (though I do think the tax raid by this government was heinous - and we keep voting them in).

My rents are less than a mortgage payment, so my tenants are quids in - if they don't want to make the sacrifice of having less money to spend now to buy a house - is that my fault? Don't blame or penalise the likes of me who has had to sacrifice a lot to build my modest portfolio.

I'm trying to protect my old age by working my nuts off now and going without because I feel taxed to the hilt and don't have a pension scheme to speak of. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Off my soap box now.

We villify people for having the guts to give it a go. All you 'buy to let'ers' out there all I can say is I wish I had half your tenacity and wisdom to do this some years ago. I'm 52 and already experienced redundancy when my company relocated 100 miles away. At my age jobs are not that easy to come by and though I'm now employed am aware how precarious any job can be. My current company does not have a pension (as with most companies these have been stopped and think about the Maxwell debacle when the Mirror Pension fund was raided leaving people with nothing)and my wages are not high enough to be able to plough a significant amount into a fund of my own. I would welcome the opportunity to buy to let if only to provide an income for my old age as the current pension system will be in dire straits in another decade or so. I am lucky, to an extent, I have a house (with mortgage until 2013) so hopefully will be able to sell and maybe have enough equity to downsize even more than now. But is this how home ownership is evolving? Sell when you're old when you won't be able to afford to keep your money tied up in bricks and mortar? That said I agree with previous comments that home ownership is not the be all and end all. The last largest council house building programme in the UK was in mid 1950s under the MacMilland govt. Thatcher saw to it that we became a home-owing culture. Can anyone tell me why the country was forced in to this position? Has it really benefitted us? If a landlord can offer a fair rent with the benefits of good accommodation then all power to their elbows! People will move around the country more where jobs are without worrying about house prices being an obstacle.

I'm a buy to let mortgage broker and feel that although the buy to let bandwagon has been jumped on by many people there are still gains to be made if you buy the right place in the right area you can make a tidy profit in the long run.

Property has doubled in the UK on average every 11 years since records began in the 1930's - Its still worth getting involved in because as the stats show property will continue to grow in value. You can even access your equity free of tax provided you never sell and live off the equity.

give me a ring if you want to chat it through on 01326 560694

I have just bought a buy to let in order for my two grown up children to live in affordable accommodation. I think alot of people help their family members in this way and these houses bought with this type of mortgage are not really true buy to let properties, but are the only way people can obtain affordable housing for family members. My two childen pay rent to me rather than an unknown landlord/lady. I reccommend this to any parent who wants to help their adult children.

Hi again,
To James re the doubling of house prices since records began in 1930s.

Doesnt that sound just great.
They spruik a level of 7 years over here in Oz.

It sadly isnt going to maintain as house prices are tied to wages, unless of course we return to the victorian era where most people rented from the wealthy landowner/mill owner/factory owner.

Will the phenomenon keep increasing every 11 years? because if we extrapolate it forwards to 2029 my house which cost 45k in (1990) will be worth about 600k. So the purchaser/s will need to be on about 170-200k pa. If average wages are say 25k now theyve got to grow by 700-800% in 22 years somehow I dont think socertainly not for the average geezer.

However, there has been BIG dropsin house values between 1930-2007 ( the great depression lasted for nearly 2 decades and the 7 year blip in the mid 1990s.
So it isnt a steady increase so BTL beware if you want a quick buck. Youve got to be in it for the long,long run. And be expectant of the unexpected.
I needed 2 roofs fixed in 2 months last year both unclaimable through the insurance. Why do we pay insurance?
My house in 1990 was 45k but in 1994 it had dropped about 20% to just 35k granted its worth about 150k now but had I needed to sell earlier I would have been scuttled.
It seems as though that this price drop is happening to some extent now, all depends when and where you bought.
It really is hard now for 1st time buyers to get on the ladder,unless they buy in a slightly seedier part of town.
But that is sometimes where BIG gains can be made. Just gotta do your homework. Its no good buying in an affluent area or you will pay affluent prices and have a big mortgage and nothing else youve got to live.
My advice is buy the cruddiest rat infested hole your money can buy( provided its structurally sound) and have great fun renovating it. With The money you save on the initial cost you can go to town on doing it up but dont get too carried away and overcapitalise.(unless you going to stay for ever)
Then in 1-3 years depending on the cycle ,when its worth lots more buy another one and rent the 1st out do this ad finitum and retire at 45.(Ive now got 4 kids so i cant till im 46!)
Keep the houses for ever and in 25-35 years! Yes isnt it quick.
You may have approx 25 houses and a portfolio worth millions.
Any one can do it. Yes you.and you.
You just need the 100% desire,a lot of hard work,a bit of luck ,some more hard work 60+ hours a week (but I love it) ,and a very good letting agent.
cheers
billy

Sorry but I don't agree with buy to let investors being taxed on second or third properties. If you have the means and put in the work you should be free to buy what you like. We live in a free market society - unfortunately some unfairness will arise from that - that is life.
As I indicated above, if you don't earn it you can't have it. When I bought my first flat in 1987 I was paying an interest rate of 17%!! I moved in with only a bed to sleep on. My furniture was second hand for several years until I gradually replaced it. I gave up foreign holidays, meals out and wore charity shop clothes until I could afford otherwise and meanwhile did two jobs. People these days seen not to want to sacrifice in the same way - they want it all now. Well I'm sorry but you do have to choose.
There is quite enough bureaucracy and taxation in this country already thanks - dont penalise the people that are trying to invest for themselves and their future. These people will be less likely be bedependent on welfare when they get old.
Susi

To Sue Daran

If you are looking for a quick sale (depending on where you live in the UK), I may be able to help. My no is 07766 330981.

Cheers
Jack

By to Let is selfish and immoral in a country with limited landmass.

hi every body back again i now notice all the critics have almost stopped commenting now that they hear the sacrafices some of us landords have made in our lives working in full time jobs then quickly running to tennents at 9 10 oclock at night on our own. during the late nighties when there was no growth but now when there is growth the landlords are to blame look at davids coments im sure he has only scratched the surface in my experience any way. well done david you had the guts and got on with it any body looking for a quick sale im here leave a posting, leeds area

Landlords put their own money, time and risk into property and provide accomodation for those who don't wish or are unable (for whatever reason) to purchase - what's wrong with that? They are not taking houses out of occupation or denying anyone a home. We have happy tenants who choose to rent so as to be flexible in the job market or because they are not yet ready to purchase. Good luck to them and to all the landlords who make it possible.

I am a btl landlord and as other people have mentioned, into it, as part of my pension. I think that a very significant factor in the lack of housing is that there are alot of single people living in properties that are for couples and families. My brother until recently was living in a 3 bed house that he had bought by himself, my sister was in 2 bed flat by herself which she also owns. As we now live in an age whereby people live on their own because of divorce etc, its easy to see where alot of the housing has gone.

The housing market has always gone boom bust in the U.K.
What I believe has happened is that Blair and Brown have orchestrated this whole charade for their egos. It would appear that Blair has just stepped out of the elevator just before it hits the ground leaving Brown to hand over to another party. ?It was all OK when I was running it?.
Lets hope the buy-to-let landlords understand investments can go up as well as down.
The sad thing is now the US sub prime market has crashed the ripples on the pond won?t take long to get to the U.K. And, the buy-to-let landlords may lose their properties to the banks but it is the ordinary people that will lose their homes.
The pensions markets are extremely poor for returns, I know I have 2 defunct pensions, and property will not sustain either. The mortgage payers ?renters? only have so much spare income to assist the landlords? demands for increased rents to the landlords? mortgages.
Surely ordinary people should be able to afford housing.
It won?t be long now. I think its all going to go bang. It always has done.
It will never happen again?until the next time.

Another point or 2.

A lot of people who rent are young. They study or work somewhere for a short to medium time. They have other priorites, even upto age 30 or so. The old fashioned way was to buy when you settle down and get married. Do you really want to own a property and have all the headaches that come with it when you don't know where you'll be? You have to have a roof over your head, so renting is the answer.

When I left University it was just at the time when property prices were going crazy in the late 80s.
It really made me think twice about buying because it would only have been possible to buy a studio near where I grew up in London. Then everything "crashed" and people were in "negative equity". If
I'd bought then I would have probably regretted it and never got the wealth of work / life experience I have got as a consequence of moving around, as well as pumping more than I earned into keeping on top of the mortgage.

Also, at that time, to let a property that you own was not really an option.

Renting is not always such a waste of money, and someone has to own the property you're living in...

Someones earlier comment about the worldwide property market comes to mind. The US, Spain, France etc etc have all boomed, it's not isolated to the UK. Some markets are already frothing/wilting. With interest rates high your money earns more in the bank. Will they crash as (if) interest rates keep rising?

You still have to live somewhere. A lot of landlords may sell up if things go bad. Then what happens? Probably it'll be restricted to your "pension" BTL landlord who owns 1 or 2 properties,
who'll sell if things go bad.

The small time BTL market is still a drop in the ocean. It's always been the "Professional" landlords who've owned most rental properties.

The small time landlord is the most vulnerable.
Trying to be entrepeneurial has upsides and downsides...

I admit to being one of the wicked BTL landlords.
I try to provide good standard accomodation for my tenants, who I do not regard as some lower sub-species, but as families who choose to pay for the roof over their heads in an alternative way to buying. This is essential for many who are working on short contracts and needing to be mobile and flexible for their career. Also some tenants do not want to put down roots, need tempory accomodation whilst looking to buy in a new area, or do just not need the grind of saving for a deposit. Each to his own! Few tenants of private landlords would choose to buy, even if house prices were a little lower.
Landlords do pay tax on rent received, capital gains on property sold & cannot claim roll-over if selling one house to buy another. BTL mortgage rates are generally higher than for owner occupiers & at the present time the capital held within BTL properties could attract more income in a good savings account than in the bricks and mortar.
However if we all quit now,who would house our tenants? There are few council houses left available and waiting lists are long. House prices would fall temporarily, but then rise with market forces again. Many more "children" would be forced back home to share with parents and subsquently required to quit jobs and career prospects to boot.
Unemployment benefits would rise and the tax payer would be hit again.
BTL is one form of occupation and investment, equivalent to playing the stock market or owning a shop,to enable the landlord to be independant of the State in latter years, subsdising failing pension funds and consequently reducing the drain on the public purse. If the properties are still owned at the time of death, just think of the additional IT reaped by the Government!!
If responsible landlords are prepared to take the risk, do the work, take the hassle, and still invest and provide others with living accomodation, then surely this is their choice. Perhaps those who snipe are just displaying a touch of the "green-eyed monster."

Hi
I have been just purchased my first BTL, my son and daughter will move into this house, I have had to do this as they cannot afford to purchase a house on their own. I am thinking of purchasing another property , however I do not have enough info on how to be a landlord. Can anyone help me.

Well said sue! by the way gordon and his gofa's are now instructing estate agents to hand over details of all rented properties ie rent recieved,name and address of landlord ect, and are now chasing for every single penny of tax,capital gains are now being chased as well via solicitors using ni numbers ect on registration.
seems like gordons boys are also saying things to try and get us into trouble ie they asked me how much i bought them for? they already knew!!!
Seems like their strategy is to bust up the btl market in between upsetting the russians and building on flood plains??? god help the british we have our own George bush???

I am tired of jealous whingers who want something for nothing. I worked 3 jobs and lived frugally to save, single handedly, for the deposit to buy my house. I am looking at changing my mortgage status to btl. I will be providing a much needed low rent accommodation where the government have failed people. There is little guarantee I will profit from renting or selling my property in the future. The inland revenue induced penalties for trying to better my life are tempting me to take advantage of the opportunity presented to me to live abroad.

This country is a haven for the people on benefits, specifically the criminals, junkies and the work shy.

I love my country but my country is kicking me in the teeth.

We are now selling our house to a landlord and renting it back why? because the mortgage is going up and up and we just cant afford to live a life we work to keep a roof over our heads...the kids are now in their teens wanting to go on school trips or even putting food on the table is a major problem sometimes so this is our way out and a saving of near 400 pounds a month and a better way of life for us...so yes i like landlords!! if we stayed with the mortgage which has 20 years left i will be 60 when the mortgage is paid and where is my life then i know you can enjoy your self when you are older but hey im young now and want to enjoy life so i am glad for landlords...

I just wish people to "buy to let" would keep an eye on their tenants who do not maintain the properties. I live between 3 lots of houses being rented out and none of them care what the outside of the properties look like. I spoke to one of the landlords yesterday and told her that I was fed up of people like her letting properties out and not even coming round to see what is going on with them. I am buying my house and have to live amongst all of this - it is not fair!!!

A agree with you kathy as we are in the process of selling our home and renting it back i surpose its different for us but i would not let my home or garden go to the dogs i take pride in making my home look good on the outside as well as in and although soon we will have a landlord i dont think its his responsibility to do the garden (i wouldnt want him to anyway!!) but those that do move into a property to rent i think there should be a clause to say that they have to maintain the up keep of the garden or yard and make it nice i know some places send in a gardener but then thats taken care of in the rent....

Its not worth selling a property now if you wish to move due to the high capital gains tax and the original costs such as stamp duty to buy the property. Rather than apy all this tax over to the Government just beacuse you want to move house, its bettter to remortgage the property and let it out. Also due to the lack of good pensions available its the only way I know I'll be secure in my old age.
So basically rather than blaming the Landlords, bitter people who can't afford to do it themselves should be blamingthe government!

I rent out a property, which I had hoped would be an investment and provide an income and some capital gain, to provide a pension. I don't see why landlords should be penalised with extra tax, when tax breaks are given to people who have their pensions invested elsewhere.
Letting out property takes a lot of time and effort and you also run the risk of bad tenants. I think that the quality of rented accommodation has improved considerably through competition now there are more people buying to let.