Landlords and property investors

[Gavster]

There’s a deadline of 2030 requiring landlords to have their houses energy performance certification to be rating of c or above, I think that will fuck more people over when that comes in, both landlords spending a fortune and rents rocketing to cover the cost

That’s going to absolutely destroy the rental market in this part of east London. The whole area is packed with 2 bed terraced Victorian ex-dock worker houses which have been rented out to the lowest budget possible. Just look at Jas Atwhal and his 15 properties, that’s only a few miles down the road from me and there is no way that his properties will be up to the energy standards, and I doubt he’d want to spend out to improve them.

In fact, there’s a guy around the corner whose father built a massive portfolio or properties around here back in the eighties when nobody wanted to live here. He’s now getting rid of his residential portfolio and replacing it with commercial, because there’s very little profit and a lot of hassle in residential.

Thinking longer term, but I’ll probably leave the UK for about 5 years. I don’t think I’ll rent my flat out, heard too many horror stories to bother.

Whereabouts would you go? I would love to leave the Uk for a few years.

As for management agencies then yes, they do often give everyone a bad experience.

[ZedLeg]

The energy efficiency stuff is a bit unfair imo.

Up here the greens were trying to force everyone to move to heat pump heating along with making buildings more efficient and it just wasn’t sensible.

My street is a couple of hundred tenement flats with a mix of owner occupier and private rental. The organisation would be a nightmare.

[Mito Man]

Whereabouts would you go? I would love to leave the Uk for a few years.

As for management agencies then yes, they do often give everyone a bad experience.

Somewhere around Stockholm, I don’t want to live within the city but a cottage within a commutable distance.

[Rich B]

yeah, the epc rating rules work well for commercial properties, they had/have plenty of time, most buildings are on long leases and most M&E kit has a10-15 year lifespan anyway. so you just do the upgrades before the next lease.

but trying to do it in the domestic market, with much shorter leases and far more intrusive works to rectify just seems ridiculous.

[jamcg]

yeah, the epc rating rules work well for commercial properties, they had/have plenty of time, most buildings are on long leases and most M&E kit has a10-15 year lifespan anyway. so you just do the upgrades before the next lease.

but trying to do it in the domestic market, with much shorter leases and far more intrusive works to rectify just seems ridiculous.

You can look at the epc rating for any building here https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

It also tells you what you can do to improve the rating of the building and an estimated cost for doing it. For instance mine tells me to insulate my suspended wooden floors downstairs- and the cost to lift every carpet and laminate flooring, lift every floorboard, mesh/rockwool or kingspan between the joists, then refit every floorboard and carpet back down will cost me between £800-£1200. I very much doubt that would cover the materials, never mind the labour involved

[V8Granite]

Don’t forget the cavity wall insulation, that made most council houses in the 90s get damp and mould problems .

Dave!

[Mito Man]

yeah, the epc rating rules work well for commercial properties, they had/have plenty of time, most buildings are on long leases and most M&E kit has a10-15 year lifespan anyway. so you just do the upgrades before the next lease.

but trying to do it in the domestic market, with much shorter leases and far more intrusive works to rectify just seems ridiculous.

You can look at the epc rating for any building here https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

It also tells you what you can do to improve the rating of the building and an estimated cost for doing it. For instance mine tells me to insulate my suspended wooden floors downstairs- and the cost to lift every carpet and laminate flooring, lift every floorboard, mesh/rockwool or kingspan between the joists, then refit every floorboard and carpet back down will cost me between £800-£1200. I very much doubt that would cover the materials, never mind the labour involved

Ed Miliband levels of math here!

[Jimexpl]

There’s a deadline of 2030 requiring landlords to have their houses energy performance certification to be rating of c or above, I think that will fuck more people over when that comes in, both landlords spending a fortune and rents rocketing to cover the cost

That’s going to absolutely destroy the rental market in this part of east London. The whole area is packed with 2 bed terraced Victorian ex-dock worker houses which have been rented out to the lowest budget possible. Just look at Jas Atwhal and his 15 properties, that’s only a few miles down the road from me and there is no way that his properties will be up to the energy standards, and I doubt he’d want to spend out to improve them.

In fact, there’s a guy around the corner whose father built a massive portfolio or properties around here back in the eighties when nobody wanted to live here. He’s now getting rid of his residential portfolio and replacing it with commercial, because there’s very little profit and a lot of hassle in residential.

Thinking longer term, but I’ll probably leave the UK for about 5 years. I don’t think I’ll rent my flat out, heard too many horror stories to bother.

Whereabouts would you go? I would love to leave the Uk for a few years.

As for management agencies then yes, they do often give everyone a bad experience.

It’s not too difficult to get them to ‘C’ as long as there’s a gas boiler and double glazing. If they’re still on old draughty sash windows and electric heaters then quite a bit of cash needs spending.
There’s quite a bit of variety in the scoring - our building has 15 apartments, and of the properties that have a certificate they range from B to D, and aside from led/halogen bulbs, they all have the same construction.

[jamcg]

There’s a deadline of 2030 requiring landlords to have their houses energy performance certification to be rating of c or above, I think that will fuck more people over when that comes in, both landlords spending a fortune and rents rocketing to cover the cost

That’s going to absolutely destroy the rental market in this part of east London. The whole area is packed with 2 bed terraced Victorian ex-dock worker houses which have been rented out to the lowest budget possible. Just look at Jas Atwhal and his 15 properties, that’s only a few miles down the road from me and there is no way that his properties will be up to the energy standards, and I doubt he’d want to spend out to improve them.

In fact, there’s a guy around the corner whose father built a massive portfolio or properties around here back in the eighties when nobody wanted to live here. He’s now getting rid of his residential portfolio and replacing it with commercial, because there’s very little profit and a lot of hassle in residential.

Thinking longer term, but I’ll probably leave the UK for about 5 years. I don’t think I’ll rent my flat out, heard too many horror stories to bother.

Whereabouts would you go? I would love to leave the Uk for a few years.

As for management agencies then yes, they do often give everyone a bad experience.

It’s not too difficult to get them to ‘C’ as long as there’s a gas boiler and double glazing. If they’re still on old draughty sash windows and electric heaters then quite a bit of cash needs spending.
There’s quite a bit of variety in the scoring - our building has 15 apartments, and of the properties that have a certificate they range from B to D, and aside from led/halogen bulbs, they all have the same construction.

If you look at the epc cert thing, my house doesn’t move into band c until I install solar hot water and solar pv panels, all the insulating works leaves me in band d still

[duncs500]

The rent will be £250 a month lower than others in our area, we know the tenant who wants to be there forever and we get a guaranteed good neighbour and a mortgage paid for.

Dave!

Sounds like you're just buying someone a house so that you can have a nice neighbour to me. Although the value of having neighbours that aren't dicks shouldn’t be underestimated!

[dinny_g]

Every landlord thinks they’re a good one but in 25 years of renting I’ve never seen anything to suggest that good ones exist.

Have you ever thought you may be the problem??

Just sayin’…

[V8Granite]

The rent will be £250 a month lower than others in our area, we know the tenant who wants to be there forever and we get a guaranteed good neighbour and a mortgage paid for.

Dave!

Sounds like you're just buying someone a house so that you can have a nice neighbour to me. Although the value of having neighbours that aren't dicks shouldn’t be underestimated!

I wish I was that generous, it’s mutually beneficial. For no other reason is Playboy Bunny July 2008 being given an easy ride.

Dave!

[duncs500]

The rent will be £250 a month lower than others in our area, we know the tenant who wants to be there forever and we get a guaranteed good neighbour and a mortgage paid for.

Dave!

Sounds like you're just buying someone a house so that you can have a nice neighbour to me. Although the value of having neighbours that aren't dicks shouldn’t be underestimated!

I wish I was that generous, it’s mutually beneficial. For no other reason is Playboy Bunny July 2008 being given an easy ride.

Dave!

[ZedLeg]

Every landlord thinks they’re a good one but in 25 years of renting I’ve never seen anything to suggest that good ones exist.

Have you ever thought you may be the problem??

Just sayin’…

I pay my rent on time, I look after the flat, I haven’t been unemployed for more than about a year since I was 15.

I’ve been renting since I was 19 and I’ve had problems either getting things fixed or getting my deposit back on every single lease.

[dinny_g]

You're right - it's not you, it's "all of them"

[Swervin_Mervin]

Whereabouts would you go? I would love to leave the Uk for a few years.

As for management agencies then yes, they do often give everyone a bad experience.

Somewhere around Stockholm, I don’t want to live within the city but a cottage within a commutable distance.

Sounds shit.

I need to spend some time in Sweden in the colder months to see if I could adjust, as it hugely appeals otherwise.

[Mito Man]

There is no bad weather, only bad clothes

[ZedLeg]

You're right - it's not you, it's "all of them"

I don’t know what to tell you buddy.

Dealing with landlords is like dealing with insurance, a pain in the arse but hopefully not something you have to do very often.

[dinny_g]

I'm only pulling your leg Zed...

I've rented in 5 places over my life and 4 of them ripped me off / Were't very flexible at all...

Landlord 1. Kept entire security deposit when I had to move out early due to circumstances changing (Work called me back to England). He was entitled to but I'd only re-signed 3 weeks earlier so hoped for some flexibility. Didn't get any.

Landlord 2. Wanted to do away with Estate Agents (Serviced Let) and manage it himself. Wrote new Lease which made us responsible for painting the front and back of the house (3 stories) every year. Wouldn't remove the clause - just said "Oh I won't actually hold you to it but I'm not removing it". He also let himself into the house without notice when we weren't home and searched the bins to see if we were smoking - we were, outside only, but had deposited the butts into the bin. He dug down into the bin to find them.

Landlord 3. Seemed great - really quick to address issues (e.g. I phoned him that the fridge was playing up - 2 hours later, he arrived with a brand new fridge). When we moved out, he kept the entire security deposit for spurious reasons (e.g. there was 3 tea spoons instead of 4 left so he charged us £90 for a new set). He also charged VAT at the end on top of the entire bill including charging VAT on items that already had VAT and also, VAT on items that were exempt

Landlord 4. Signed lease, moved in, then a week later he informed us that the house needed major structural work and builders had to be onsite for 4 months. He basically moved out so that someone else could be inconvenienced and pay his mortgage. We dug in our heels and said no so 6 months later, he wouldn't renew.

After that, we decided to buy...

[Swervin_Mervin]

There is no bad weather, only bad clothes

Yes, yes yes. I got sick of hearing myself say that when we were there.

If money were no object I'd be over there in a heartbeat. My lottery win scenario is October-May living in Seville and May-October on an island in one of Sweden's archipelagos. Probably Gothenburg's.