Parallel Lives With A Few Differences

[Ferret]

Not quite the same as posted on this Forum but pretty identical with many porkies throw in.

I am a person of honour and have respect for others............all i ask is the same in return

Posted 16/11/2005 Channel 4 forum. Just shows your true colours does it not Mr Fordham.

fordham

Post 1

I live in London, but was looking to invest in Cambridgeshire BTL. Prices have gone crazy in that area as a specific % of overseas immigrants have been placed in the area. More have been allocated for the New Year. Landlords are buying up anything and then making as many bedroom areas as possible and cramming 7 people in a 3 bed house for example. Only problem is a lovely street is now overcrowded with 7 people, their cars, their visitors and i feel over time it will devalue a whole area. The landlords have no regard for the neighbours or long-term effect their "business" is having on the town. This used to be a town that people moved to retire in! Many of the visitors are 19 – 25 from Poland etc and very tidy/hard working but it is the actual noise that large groups of people make and people living either side of these rental properties are going crazy and worried that their properties will devalue. Most young people want the odd party now and again, which is great unless you live next door to it! Horror stories are circulating where the 7 in a 3 bed becomes 10 as they sub-let to friends and put mattresses in the lounge/hallway etc. Mattresses have even been found in undeveloped loft spaces!!! The young people are charged £50 per person per week on average by landlord (£100 per double room), so it is cheap but even cheaper to invite your friends and split the rent even further!!! And for the £50 a week they do not expect too much in way of home comforts!

For sale signs are going up all over as more and more vendors want to move out. More landlords are snapping up the properties BTL and driving up prices, so now whole streets will soon be overly crammed with people and eventually these people may want to leave the area and rental market will collapse. Then how much will the damaged properties be worth? (and they are getting wrecked because 10 people in a 3 bedder is heavy traffic)

Post 2

Absolutely we have all done this but it is the actual vast number of landlords who are doing it now. I was just wondering about the long-term effect it will have on property prices b/c surely there will be a backlash? (residents in one particular street, complained about the overcrowding in one house and environmental officers demanded the landlord keep it to one person per single room, 2 per double, with no one allowed to sleep in hallways/sitting room etc.) Apparently there are laws regarding this. And if there is a clamp down perhaps it will not be such a profitable business proposition for professional landlords.

Be interesting to see what happens

Post 3

I'm happy that you want to invest in your home town, but your comments are a bit rich, to complain about the effects of BTL on your home town when you are intending to do exactly the same thing. If you want to invest in Cambridge, have you not thought about another business, possibly one that the long term residents of the town want, rather than being an absentee landlord, living it up on your profits in London ( streets are paved with gold you know Big Grin ). I'm sure the FTBers of Cambridge wouldnt appreciate your interest in the houses they would like to get on the ladder with."

Post 4

I personally believe that you can do BTL responsibly and for your information Paulio i am buying in Cambridgeshire as can not afford to buy in London - i rent in London b/c my work is here. I am trying to get on property ladder too so i am a FTB but someone who will not live in the property .hope this is ok with you!! But i do not intend to rent to 10 young men who want to party all weekend bring back "guests" and make life hell for the neighbours. As is happening and what i am commenting on. Nothing wrong with the occassional party but i just dont want to own a house that gets trashed every weeknd.

Post 5

very good points and taking all the advice on board. thanks Paulio and Hatster. Sorry been a bit defensive but to be honest am actually petrified of taking any leap onto property ladder and just don't know if i have just gotten a little bit carried away with it all. (too much watching of Property Ladder et al!!) Perhaps this post was a way to convince myself it is a bad idea....??

But friends have waited for 2 yrs to become FTB and prices are still going up..........if only we could see into the future!!!

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

That`s very interesting fedupwaiting.

[beenhearingthisforyears]

I started the post on channel 4 web site re Cambridgshire. and i am sure many on this forum have posted on other forums.

but at NO time did i mention a house price crash, i mentioned prices GOING UP b/c of BTL BOOM there. So my opinions have not fundamentally changed on that subject. i did research the Cambridgeshire area - as mentioned numerous times on THIS site and after talking to the Polish workers some of my fears/ignorances were allayed. e.g most are happy with set up to share a room and as they work in factories and split shifts: and to pay less rent means to send more money home. And not all are 24hr party animals as i had heard/thought as they are too busy working........But at least i admit to this. i went in to local factories and spoke to them to find out about their requirements/thoughts/etc. If i was ignorant about the polish workers back in Nov i am not as blinkered now...............

Yes this is a crash forum - as people keep pointing out - but i did not think it would be so bullish and i imagined more debate would take place. it is my mistake and i can see that it is not a place for posters with moderate views. And my opinions ARE moderate : all i feel based on my research is HP's will not uniformly crash by 50% in all areas across UK, as some posters believe: especially in London zone 1 and parts of Cambridgeshire, the only areas i have ever commented on. i do not know about other markets in the UK.

i have also offered to provide proof to the moderator that i purchased a 1 bed flat in London in Nov this year 2005. i am not a person who lies but hey i HONESTLY can not do anything to convince you of that....so i will let it rest. cheers.

[theChuz]

the deductive resasoning on here never siezes to amaze me, good cage rattle