ReggiePerrin

I'd be shocked if the telegraph and Ch4 had found a honest MP

STR = Sold to Rent

Perhaps they're printing old news in an attempt to keep the market afloat? Apparently as I have nothing better to do I had a look at rightmove & properties in Chelsea and there are a ton of properties up for sale. I was under the impression that houses/flats/sheds were being sold as fast they came to market... there are even properties that have been on the market since the summer of 2013 which are priced lower than in 2007 (Going by the Zoopla stats) Perhaps I'm wrong and Chelsea isn't in London? And are we absolutely certain that house prices have taken off again? I mean it's not just the MSM fooling people into believing the property market is red-hot again?

Good explanation by the OP on the disadvantages of taking the lot out in one hit to invest in BTL (although I think going by the past decade most of the population is mad enough to do it) Given the number of references made by the politicians on Budget day to 'paying off the mortgage' I think this is all about trying to defuse the IO timebomb (this has probably been discussed to death here.. my apologies if it has). So if you add the tax lost taking your pension out onto the interest paid over the years on an IO mortgage you'd have lost a small fortune on your 'investment' in a house

and that's what amazes me the most about this property crazed country, people don't understand the negative side of gearing and the media never explains it. You quite often read articles that compare BTL returns with the return on cash savings, but they're nothing like each other from a risk perspective. So I wonder how many of these financial wizards/BTL landlords haven't got a clue how potentially dangerous their investments can be to their wealth, until it's too late of course? They certainly understand the upside, but no clue on the downside... we live in interesting times. [Afterthought:- a lot of people don't know what an Interest Only Mortgage is, so the pro's/con's of leverage would be impossible for them to understand]

using your criteria I think you'll struggle to get enough MPs to form a 5 a side team, let alone enough to run the Country

Those people are not on the same planet as the rest of us.. one example Some of their statements give the impression that they're hoping for wage inflation to kick in to sort out the mess (there is no mention of how people would cope if wages dropped, only the impact of varying degrees of wage increases are discussed)

Scrap all property related taxes ASAP.. the quicker and harder this bubble inflates the better it'll be for everyone. I say this because I can't think of any other way that we're going to break this ridiculous obsession we have in this country with HPI.

The only thing that surprises me is there isn't more of these stories in the press. I was watching 'home here or in the 3rd world' (or something like that) and they talk of 30%. 40%, etc price falls from peak in places like Spain and now is a good time to invest etc etc. But what about all the people who bought at peak, where are their stories? Given people like to complain like mad about being mis-sold anything and everything they're being very quite.

I'll have a go at another one.. An increase in the avg age of the FTB; If you bought in your early 20's you're just starting your career, hence there's scope for further wage increases as you progress, combine that with some increase in the value of the house and you can afford to move up the ladder. If you're a first time buyer in your thirties on or near peak earnings and you have to stretch yourself financially to get on the ladder, you ain't going nowhere fast. So supply is constrained by 30 something FTB'ers stuck in a one bed rabbit hutches. On the same theme; propaganda states that you must 'own' a house before you can have children, buy at thirty and you're going to have [expensive] kids a lot sooner than someone who buys in their twenties...

Assuming the LL had insurance and there was a get out clause for negligence then the renters insurance would contain the same clause, therefore the renter would be liable to pay for the damage out of their own pocket. But then again what's the difference between an accident and negligence? I think the issue is whether the damage was deliberate or not. Did the renter deliberately burn down the house with a candle or simply fell asleep with a lit candle on the go (using your example; did Bloo Loo forget to turn the taps off or did he leave them on deliberately to flood the house?) By the sounds of it the original renter had an accident, they didn't burn the house down deliberately, and if an insurer can use negligence to get out of paying we're all buggered, e.g. car insurance would be useless (how many accidents can be classified as being caused by negligence?.. most of them)

I didn't read too much of the linked article (the author appears to be the last person you'd want to invite to a Christmas party; a miserable sod like me), but raiding savings to pay for stuff is good, because why bother saving if you're not going to ever spend it. So debt on credit cards for stuff = bad; saving for stuff (and I don't mean the gas bill ) = good I think the author of the article doesn't understand what savings are for?

No naked flames?? Does this mean you can't have a gas cooker in a rental, or a pilot light in the boiler, put a candle on a Birthday cake, etc? The idiot Landlord had no insurance, that's the real problem

This is the very meaning of a catastrophe; a fiasco, a complete disaster I hope the tenant recovers, yes the candle was a mistake, but then again it wasn't so long ago that someone successfully set fire to themselves decanting petrol from one continer to another in the Kitchen, with the gas oven turned on, so a candle isn't a biggie and they had enough sense to have contents insurance On the other hand the landlord is a moron.. not an amateur moron but a grade A professional moron. The term 'amateur landlord' should be banned.

Anyone know what Balls is on about... I haven't a clue, it just sounds like random sentences? (the speaker reminds me of being at skoll, "It's your own time your wasting!")

you can only hope... nice shade of red

Nope, the real reason was cheap credit, mewing, etc. We spent on the never-never until never came and kicked us in the soft parts, and looking at the latest lending figures, we learnt bugger all from the experience.

I would say that Flowers is a symptom of the banks failure, rather than the cause or a contributor to it (I'd guess the Co-op etc would like everyone to think their problems could be attributed to him, so now he's gone everything will be just fine)

This could level the playing field a bit. No stamp duty on a residential property Stamp duty if it's used as a business, e.g. BTL. (Anyone taking out a BTL mortgage on a property that has a residential mortgage against it has to pay stamp duty again, e.g. let to buy) The obvious argument is people will lie about their intended use of the property - So Banks/insurers must be required to inform HMRC of every BTL mortgage/building insurance application Cash buyers are a bit of a problem.. although it's nothing an anonymous helpline won't cure

Congrats on the new arrival, and good luck with catching up on the sleep; Me and Mrs Perrin (mainly Mrs Perrin tbh) have successfully raised two Perrins in rented accommodation over the past 13years with no problems, quite the opposite, as the new Boiler we had fitted would have crippled us when we were struggling the most to keep with the expensive of the first Perrin. Then when Perrin number two arrived we were able to rent somewhere larger for a fraction more rent. Tip:- Buy shares in a company that makes Nappies.

Thanks for that, I'm learning a lot today; I've never heard of a 'LPA Reciever', thankfully ... Found this on t'Internet for others like me.

That was a typo on my part: I meant to write 'It might also explain why the Government is so certain HTB isn't going to push up prices to bubble levels.'

I'm probably putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 10. HTB2 was announced back in March and launched early, for what looked like Political point scoring, but shortly after the launch ME starts getting serious about decimating the bad debts left over from the B&B and northern rock collapses (I hadn't heard of this until today). So is HTB2 primarily designed to stoke up demand to absorb the ME disposals and prevent a HPC; and the sudden urgency to offload these loans now, before house prices are pushed up, is because the IO timebomb is due to blow up in a few years, so there's no time to wait, i.e. the market in a few years time can't possibly absorb all the pent up problems without imploding? Looks like the Banks/Government know that they about 4-5yrs to get rid of their bad loans, so is this the tip of the repossession Iceberg, cunningly hidden by HTB? If so things might get interesting. edit:- It might also explain why the Government is so certain HTB isn't going to push up prices to bubble levels.

I guess the same as Koala just replied to someone else.. repo. ME don't seem to be the sort of organisation that will just walk away from a 260K debt. Give it a few months and they'll be posting that they're being taken to court for the shortfall I wonder how long before other BTL lenders start checking whether any of their clients have a connection to ME? Strikes me this could be the trigger for a lot of BTL'ers finding themselves with some very serious financial problems... If I was lender I'd want to be first in the queue to get my money back before ME goes to work. You have to feel for anyone who takes up a H2B mortgage and gets into financial trouble... they're going to be taken to the cleaners.

That's appears to be a high risk strategy, one missed payment and MX goes to work.. it bit like prodding a bear trap with a stick; great fun until it takes your arm off (I know it's a pathetic analogy) This is on a linked article on Pottery 118 , or something like that ... Potty 118 site It appears that BTL is a little bit more risky than saving cash in an ISA... strange, this doesn't get mentioned on the mainstream media.