Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Bit of (West London landlord) anecdotal evidence here + bit of BBC op-ed there = Factual news
BBC "News": 'Rents rise' as house prices fall
With typically lopsided reporting panache, the BBC claims it to be fact that rent prices everywhere are rising. Widespread oversupply of new build flats is given a cursory nod, then dismissed as "niche market". This is breathtakingly biased reporting. Why have the BBC chosen to only interview West London landlords only? Why have they chosen to dismiss the rest of the country? All questions that should be answered by any credible state media - if only we had one. There is no comments section in the BBC media, and Have Your Say is heavily censored.
Posted by paul @ 10:12 AM (1222 views) Add Comment
30 Comments
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1. little professor said...
I don't fall into the camp of accusing the BBC of being in bed with the government, but this is a truly outrageously bad article. Not fit for a local newspaper, let alone the BBC.
2. Rental John said...
The BBC is constantly dumbing down it's news coverage, and a lot of important issues do not even rate a mention.....still I guess they need to divert the licence payers money in to all their digital 'offerings'.
Regards this article - a lot of it is true for the high demand areas.....if you can't buy you'll have to rent, but prices will be set by local market forces...
3. confused76 said...
B/S!!
4. Panda said...
Absolutely ridiculous. They're falling everywhere within 150 miles of where we are - and we are looking urgently to move out of an overpriced, CRAP house. Things never get fixed and we may reduce our rent in protest anyway.
They will be VERY LUCKY INDEED if they get within 100 quid (revised downwards) of the current rent in a few months. We are NOT PAYING.
5. Hosko said...
Say what you like, but I live in Hammersmith having bought after renting for a few years in neighbouring Brook Green and rents are definitely on the up and have been for the last year or more. The flat I moved out of was given a bit of a re-fit and went from £280wk to about £380wk. Sure some of that is due to the refurb but looking at rents in the area this is not all just due to a lick of paint.
18 months ago, before settling on buying, I looked at moving to a bigger rental and found a reasonably decent 2 bed in Chiswick for around £15-1600pcm - I doubt I'd have any chance of getting anything similar at that price now.
Just my 2p worth from the West London coal-face....
6. stillthinking said...
Rents will go up. Why not? Houses that would have been sold and filled are empty waiting for a buyer. Eventually the empty houses will either become available for rent, or sold. Rents will go up as long as sellers can tolerate the houses being empty, they won't be able to do this for long, and so rents won't be high for long.
But I can imagine they are higher. Wait until they all come back on and watch rents then.
7. Crutchley said...
Have your say on the BBC is also heavily astroturfed by extremist loonies to make their point of view sound representative of the publics
8. C'mon Correction said...
If my landlord even thinks twice about putting our rent up, we'll move into one of the thousands of vacant properties within a stone's throw of where we live now. Then he'll be stuck with a void for 6 months or more too !
I don't know what's happened to the BBC. Take the license fee off them and share it around the other channels i say.
9. need-a-crash said...
I know of a number of properties in the Herts area which have been on the market for the last 2 months, tenants have just moved out (as landlord obviously expected 2 months to achieve a sale) except the properties haven't sold and now they're empty.
As you say @3. this is a small example of previous rental properties which are now not available on the rental market... and because of the landlord's greed for 2007 inflated prices they're not available to buy either (well not to any sane buyer anyway!)
10. doomwatch said...
A greedy land lady in Bristol who last year was boasting about how clever she was with her BTL is
now chasing the tenants through court for rent.
11. Landedgentry said...
There is enough mention of amenities in these articles to make ashworth proud, the chesnut trees, balcony, the coffee shop round the corner etc. Why do the mainstream media keep doing the estate agents job of dressing up what is in fact soon to be valueless sh1te? like somehow a property is immune to sharp decline because it has a lovely garden. Using their logic, I can say from an aesthetic point of view that this property from the picture looks like an ugly 70's piece of crap. Now knock 50K off for that.
12. Jayk said...
I am getting very, very tired of this petty obsession with lauding and elevating everyone who agrees with a poster's view and viciously attacking everyone who doesn't. Stop complaining and stick to rational debate that doesn't use the ad hominem and the strawman. It seems articles are not posted for their value or information anymore, but so the poster can add their own four sentence invective and personal problems.
The BBC's "Have Your Say" is not heavily censored so stop being silly and making stuff up. Just sign up and write what you want, minus the abuse and crank claims. I have used the BBC fora to make some critical - but factually correct - comments a hundred times this past year, including on house prices, and I have never once been censored.
As for rents (and not personal politics and conspiracy theories), the evidence I see is that they are going up. Deal with it. They certainly are in the areas in which I, my friends and family live (Hampshire, Sussex, Berkshire and Surrey). As for the BBC only interviewing in West London, well, you accept therefore that rents must be rising there? Yet only last week another HPC contributor laughed at and mocked such a belief. Can't win: everyone is always wrong, HPC posters are always right, even when that contradicts a view or thread elsewhere. No wonder we have such an awful reputation here.
13. Sickofitall said...
I'm renting in North London and am in the process of finding another place to rent. From my experience here, rents are definately going up, as landlords try to pass on the costs of their rising mortgage repayments.
14. paul said...
little professor,
If you don't think the BBC is the puppet mouthpiece of the government, then how would you explain stories like this:
'I thought I'd be found out one day'. The government is feeding these "do as we say" scare stories to the BBC and the BBC is obediently and unquestioningly publishing them.
Meanwhile, MPs are claiming themselves virtuous for keeping their second home expenses (courtesy of the taxpayer) secret ... !
15. little professor said...
Rebuttal:
http://www.moneyhighstreet.com/blog/267/
16. the haunted said...
Jus to clarify, my rent has not gone up for 3 years and I don't see any noticable increase in my area. Anyhow, just because people are asking for more rent does not mean they will get it. If they are going up they will be coming down in the next few months as house prices continue to fall.
17. plato said...
More Rent Ramping.
18. Ijjhall said...
Personally I have found that responding to a rent increase with one month's notice can concentrate the mind of the amateur BTL landlord. Suddenly they are faced with losing reliable tenants, returning deposits, marketing the property for new tenants and until the property is reoccupied finding for themselves the now unpaid rent and council tax. Quite a hefty sum when you add it all up particularly for those landlords already operating at the margins and who struggle to reoccupy quickly. This is one of the reasons BTL discussion boards are full of moaning about tenants only have to give 1 months notice while they have to give 2..
19. indiablue19 said...
Oh yes? And we've heard just the opposite. There are continual reports in the French media, from Brits who were living on the continent and are now returning to the UK, that UK rents are decidedly down. They are one and all in agreement that in the several years they were away, rents have fallen drastically and they are spoilt for choice on rental property, including in choice parts of London and the home counties.
20. inbreda said...
Jayk - please refer to stillthinkings post above.
21. brian t said...
"Why have the BBC chosen to only interview West London landlords only?"
Two words: White City.
22. Mytimeis Nigh said...
Everyone without a family should move back in with their family (ma n pa) or friends or just rent a room in a house for 12 months or so. Lets smoke um out.
23. A_landlord said...
As a landlord, I increase rents at the time I remortgage. I go for 3 to 5 year fixed rate and then let my tennants know what rent I need to cover my interest only mortgage, insurance and a small amount for annual maintenance. I don't need to make profits as my houses are investments for my retirement in 20 years time. My next house for remortgaging is in Spring 2009 and from February 2009 I will warn the tennants of the likely new rent after reviewing the market and let them know again that it will stay fixed for 3 years. A happy tennant makes for a happy landlord.
24. Free2breathe said...
We had a choice of renting in Berks or N.Wales - easy answer N.Wales and commute. Same pay but a third of the rent for a 3 bed detached. Our rent hasn't moved for 3 years and is virtually half what we required if we where mortgaged (based on our circumstances 3 yrs ago). If the the rent goes up we'll just move to one of three places for rent within 200yds of us, and all roughly £20/month less.
My BTLL will be out of pocket for at least 2months rent, have to return my deposit - I hope!, a new advert, the house will need a few jobs doing and the council tax will need paying. He even hinted at selling in March!
BUT, things in Berks seem to be different. A 3 bed semi which I assume has not been rented recently has been relisted twice since Feb at an increased rental price each time??
Make of it what you will.
25. Mmm_ok said...
I wish they were going down... but that's not my experience.
I live in west London and my lease expires in July. The landlord says he wants £200 more per month (20% rise). I refused and countered with inflation... which is the most I can pay.
I'm pretty sure I'll have to move out. That's ok, I've been living it large and now I want to move into somewhere cheaper and save up a deposit for the coming crash...
26. drewster said...
@indiablue19:
I assume your French expats left the UK 10+ years ago. Compared to ten years ago, there is now a vast supply of rental property on the market at competitive prices. For this we have to thank the BTL landlords.
House prices are currently overvalued when compared to rents. The price/rent ratio is way above its long-term average. For this anomaly to correct and revert to mean, either house prices must fall or rents must rise; or both. We're witnessing both.
27. Joel said...
I am from West London and rents have been going up like crazy. It is logical, if people don't buy, they will rent. Those waiting for the fall to buy (like I do) have th ewrong end of the stick as you will fork out more and more for your rent with the prospect of buying at the right time moving further and further away.
28. Dead Money said...
Rents falling where I live. Down about £100 a month since christmas.
29. p. doff said...
A landlord @ 23
I assume that you are a novice landlord, as a professional would surely have learned how to spell tenant by now!!
30. Hosko said...
It'd be interesting if people said where they saw cases of falling rents... lot's of general "rents falling where I live" but no indication of where. Three posts from West London and one from North London all concurring that rents are on the up. I have zero doubt that rents ARE falling in some parts of the country - I've read enough stories about vast oversupply of BTL flats in Leeds etc to accept that some markets must hugely favour the renter - but where I live, this isn't the case.
When I was renting my contract said that the landlord was allowed to put the rent up a maximum if 6% per year - which worked for both of us. He didn't choose to enforce it every year but we both knew where we stood... previous flats without such a clause tended to stay reasonably static as long as you continued tenancy, but when people move out of flats and places are re-appraised at market value (as just happened with the flat i moved out of). Anyone saying "my rent hasn't moved in 3 years" is probably benefiting from a landlord who appreciates the pain in the butt that finding new tenants can be, but if you move out, you'll probably see the landlord upping the asking price, assuming you live in an 'in demand' area.
It's obvious from articles and comments that some areas of the UK are struggling while others are still pretty healthy.... no surprises there then.