Generation Rent

32 the old school, the oval, stafford ST17 4US

can hear everything next door does. neighbours also smoke weed. The landlord (cassandra smith) is extremally rude and arrogant and breaches contacts – informed me a week in advanced that I was to move out for no reason when the contract remained in date – she even tried to increase price of rent after I’d signed the contract. She also made a false claim on my deposit claiming 50 pounds for cleaning of the carpet when they were already clean.The landlord would never visit the property to complete any maintenance, and when maintenance was required she would refuse to do it or even pay for it.
When landlord did visit would leave a mess for you to tidy after her, such as unwashed dishes, hair from her wig and rubbish that she hadn’t put in the bin.
When I first moved in, the landlord had not cleared out the fridges and there was therefore out of date fish and meat that stunk the whole flat out. This was therefore a health and safety hazzard! Landlord had not cleaned the property when I moved in, which I therefore had to do – the majority of this was her hairs they were everywhere!
Word of advice, do not rent off this woman, she is untrustworthy and unhelpful you will be better off renting from a reliable agency.

James, sorry, one last point I forgot to add. You say that the situation is different in London. Irrespective of where I may be located, people who need to be in or near London should not be disadvantaged, as you do seem to accept. And BTL activity as I describe carried out elsewhere can do nothing but bring the “London” scenario to other areas, so eventually it will be country wide. and then where would FTBs be? Wider picture needs thinking about…..

James M, just as you tell me I’ve made some fundamentally wrong assumptions concerning your personal lifestyle, I can assure you that your most recent post also has very much got the wrong end of several sticks about my situation. Let me just say that I absolutely agree with you about the financial choice FTBs have to make when deciding to purchase, and I agree indeed that far too many choose the iPhone/gym/flash car/too many visits to the nail salon etc. choices. But sensible ones don’t, they do save, have done for many years, and have a deposit which frankly exceeds the total purchase price of some properties in areas such as those examples you mention. They also have regular jobs earning above the reported national average wage for which they have studied for some years, never accumulated a student debt, paid their own way and done everything you would expect and more. Please believe me, I have done all the relevant research to back up my opinions as stated. It IS difficult to converse with strangers on emotive topics online, especially if, like me, you do not want to put any personal information out there. You have to trust your correspondents more than normal, which is why I took such exception to you effectively telling me I was lying with my example about the 17 BTLs v the 1 FTB. It’s quite true. I take your point about there “only” being 1 FTB interested, but that was on the first day of viewing, which happened to be a weekday when most FTBs would have been at work. So you could take the inference that only the BTLs were available on that day as they don’t have a “proper” 9 – 5 job, but are living off their property income. Additional FTBs did view the property in the evening and at the weekend, but it was sold to a BTL. I’ll also say that it’s impossible to generalise; there are always going to be BTLs with genuine motives who do try to help their tenants. You may be one, it’s impossible for me to tell. And there are regional variations in many factors. So, very tricky, as there will always be a counter argument. You have given some in this last post, but with respect, I still think you are hiding behind them, and not acknowledging my main, indeed only, point. If I want to buy your hypothetical fish and chips, I have a choice. I might choose a savaloy instead of fish, or just go for the bag of chips. Or indeed, only have bread and butter that night as I don’t have the cash available. But I HAVE to live somewhere, and if the only properties which I might be able to afford in the area I have to live in for work or family purposes are owned by BTLs, I’m forced to rent from them, or maybe stay at home with ageing parents well into my middle age, if they have a home of their own to offer me and the space to spare. This allows the BTLs to say they’re providing a vital function for me, whereas if I’d been able to outbid them, I’d have my own place. I assume you own your own house as well as those you rent out – isn’t it nice to know you do, or will one day, own it outright, then no-one can evict you, you can choose how to decorate and manage it without needing to consult the owner, you can leave a major asset to your kids…. I could go on and on about the advantages, but you must already know them. The vast majority of BTLs aren’t as “Good” as you make yourself to be (many examples all over the media), but you are ALL taking properties out of the market for fundamentally your own personal profit, albeit in the longer term, and denying that option to others at an earlier stage of their lives. If you choose to assuage your conscience by buying holiday homes for the disadvantaged, then that’s good, but it does highlight just how much profit you’re making to allow you to do so, and the cynical may choose to examine the tax break situation which this allows. I do accept some do choose to rent. If it’s their free choice, they will have presumably weighed the pros and cons before making it. If they are forced to rent, as in my example, it crushes the sprit out of them, and they wonder whether it’s all worth the effort. Constantly. This is why I think BTL for private individuals is wrong, immoral and should be banned. You gave an example earlier asking should profits from retail be banned. No, because I have a choice to shop there. If I owned your electricity, gas or water supply, there was no other option available to you, and I charged what I wanted, you’d be concerned, even if I charge a “fair” price. And if I could make a huge capital profit when I chose by selling it, would that be right? Of course not. So, thanks for your offer to meet up and justify things from your personal perspective, but it wouldn’t change things one jot. I’m not interested in how the figures may add up for you or any other individual BTL. I just feel the practice should not be allowed on moral grounds. I could go on, it’s an enormous topic, but I don’t think we’re going to convince each other.