Lockdown ? What Lockdown?

[Machpoint005]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

You can either say "too few houses" or the "population is too big".

 

I say too few houses. There is actually no reason why more houses cannot be built, other than the economic (ie capitalist) one.

 

 

 

 

Another major contributory factor might be the reduction in average household size, so more dwellings are needed. Greatly increased numbers of failed marriages/long-term relationships are behind that. 

 

 

 

 

[Victor Vectis]

2 hours ago, Athy said:

Or "making a prudent investment which will provide a steady income for them and their families", as it is also known.

By exploiting the needs of others.......

 

...........Who could probably afford to become mortgage paying home owners if house prices had not been inflated by the buy to let market.

[The Welsh Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Or, the other way of looking at it is that that the birth rate and number of 'incomers' is growing by more than the death rate.

 

You can either say "too few houses" or the "population is too big".

 

I'd actually go with the latter - it is not just the number of houses, but the capacity of sewage works, schools, Doctors surgeries, Hospitals etc etc that are problems.

 

 

Don't forget the water supply as well. Perhaps just as importantly as well, quality of life tends to be better when people have more space, for example, less people equals less traffic. We have to be careful saying such things though, the 'racist' card often comes out.

[Machpoint005]

I have resisted the temptation to feed the troll above.

 

 

 

[Momac]

5 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Your all heart innitt ?

It's the highest offer you have received on here .

[mrsmelly]

15 minutes ago, MartynG said:

It's the highest offer you have received on here .

Yep,  2020 is pretty bad timing innitt  ?

[peterboat]

2 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

I have resisted the temptation to feed the troll above.

 

 

 

It depends Ian if we don't start getting rain soon my allotment will be in trouble along with the rest of the country! We won't have to worry about the virus getting us it will lack of water and failed harvest. Strange how it was the wettest winter I can remember leading into a very dry march and April 

[Sir Nibble]

To go off on a different tangent. I am getting heartily sick of celebs supporting the national morale with their endless efforts to stay in the public eye and remind us all that they're famous.

[Richard10002]

7 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

If the private landlords have sold up and left the business who is living in those houses? 

You are making things up as you go along, aren't you

 

Given that rents are rising, suggesting that demand exceeds supply even more than it did, it is unlikely that these properties have been bought by landlords. More likely owner occupiers, on the whole.

 

Also... given that you seem to understand that the answer to the problem is government and not landlords, you would be better directing your concerns at Boris, and whoever is the current housing minister, (it is such an unimportant post that there have been dozens over the past few years).

 

You keep accusing me of things that are patently not true. I have said many many times that the solution to the problem is to increase supply massively. We keep hearing parties promising this, telling us they are doing it, then telling us they have done it - when they blatantly have not. I criticise them for it, no matter what the colour. What I repeatedly suggest would reduce house prices and rents..... not increase them.

 

What you actually desire would screw things up for the people you are hoping to benefit. I see you have now conveniently kicked this benefit into the long term future, because you have realised what you have been saying is actually a bit stupid  

 

 

 

[Parahandy]

12 minutes ago, Sir Nibble said:

To go off on a different tangent. I am getting heartily sick of celebs supporting the national morale with their endless efforts to stay in the public eye and remind us all that they're famous.

There is something quite unpleasant about it , another gripe I have is some of these Adverts which advertise nothing other than the Company's name alongside some spurious Covid soundbite . " Now more than ever we are in it together " Sainsburys ?????

[Richard10002]

6 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

If only!! Reasonably priced? not even in Yorkshire let alone daarrnn saarrfff. As a percentage of income rentals are getting worse and worse. Its not the fault of anybody in particular, more a problem among many others in society.

You said it was all the fault of landlords a few posts ago???

[Richard10002]

47 minutes ago, MartynG said:

It's the highest offer you have received on here .

He seems to think he needs to wait until estate agents get back to work before he can sell. Given that is the case, he must be thinking that they will add some value to his life, which will exceed their cost - otherwise you would think he would do it himself ????

[Parahandy]

4 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

By exploiting the needs of others.......

 

...........Who could probably afford to become mortgage paying home owners if house prices had not been inflated by the buy to let market.

Is that strictly true Victor given the Help to Buy Scheme and the various Housing Associations operating their own Shared Ownership Schemes

[mrsmelly]

7 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

He seems to think he needs to wait until estate agents get back to work before he can sell. Given that is the case, he must be thinking that they will add some value to his life, which will exceed their cost - otherwise you would think he would do it himself ????

Its obvious why I am waiting. If estate agents are closed its because looking at houses isnt classed as essential so I wouldnt get any takers? Besides I cant be arsed with tyre kickers and they will be sorting that side of things before I get contacted.

[GUMPY]

46 minutes ago, peterboat said:

It depends Ian if we don't start getting rain soon my allotment will be in trouble along with the rest of the country! We won't have to worry about the virus getting us it will lack of water and failed harvest. Strange how it was the wettest winter I can remember leading into a very dry march and April 

I have been out watering today, 6 of our 7 water butts are just about empty. It will be hosepipe next week

 

its climate change don't you know

[Richard10002]

26 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Its obvious why I am waiting. If estate agents are closed its because looking at houses isnt classed as essential so I wouldnt get any takers? Besides I cant be arsed with tyre kickers and they will be sorting that side of things before I get contacted.

Like I said, you must think they will add some value, over and above their cost. 

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

Like I said, you must think they will add some value, over and above their cost. 

They are now much cheaper than they used to be, I am guessing this is due to the online firms of late? In all honesty I dont know how they make it pay today, unlike years ago. 1 percent is what one has quoted me and 1 and a quarter percent the one I am going with. That means they have to come out and foto and do leaflets and a website and deal with eejuts on the fone and in person for 2 grand. They are welcome to it, I just wish they were not so slippery in dealing with, its like talking with Uriah Heep.

[Momac]

7 minutes ago, Loddon said:

 

its climate change don't you know

There is significantly less air pollution recently - sky looks blue, or with lots of blue bits ,  more often than it has been for a while. The air is fresher.

Maybe that has had an influence on the weather  too.

 

We have had some rain here but the ground is quite dry. 

[GUMPY]

6 minutes ago, MartynG said:

We have had some rain here but the ground is quite dry. 

Could do with a couple of days solid rain down here in the SW.

Only had one or two showers and that's after a month of solid rain in Feb.

[Richard10002]

32 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

They are now much cheaper than they used to be, I am guessing this is due to the online firms of late? In all honesty I dont know how they make it pay today, unlike years ago. 1 percent is what one has quoted me and 1 and a quarter percent the one I am going with. That means they have to come out and foto and do leaflets and a website and deal with eejuts on the fone and in person for 2 grand. They are welcome to it, I just wish they were not so slippery in dealing with, its like talking with Uriah Heep.

I made my living for 30 years charging between 1 and 1 and a quarter per cent. My experience was that the customers, (buyers more than sellers), were more slippery than I could ever be. Having said that, I was usually one step ahead, having experienced most attempts to try it on after my 1st decade in the job.

[peterboat]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

I have been out watering today, 6 of our 7 water butts are just about empty. It will be hosepipe next week

 

its climate change don't you know

Some scumbag opened up the valve on the IBC and drained a ton of water off! Luckily my allotment benefited from it, but it  means putting a lock on it now 

[ditchcrawler]

Locally we got hit with 30 mm of rain in one day last week, but it was very local. we have had about 5mm since

[The Welsh Cruiser]

3 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

You are making things up as you go along, aren't you

 

Given that rents are rising, suggesting that demand exceeds supply even more than it did, it is unlikely that these properties have been bought by landlords. More likely owner occupiers, on the whole.

 

Also... given that you seem to understand that the answer to the problem is government and not landlords, you would be better directing your concerns at Boris, and whoever is the current housing minister, (it is such an unimportant post that there have been dozens over the past few years).

 

You keep accusing me of things that are patently not true. I have said many many times that the solution to the problem is to increase supply massively. We keep hearing parties promising this, telling us they are doing it, then telling us they have done it - when they blatantly have not. I criticise them for it, no matter what the colour. What I repeatedly suggest would reduce house prices and rents..... not increase them.

 

What you actually desire would screw things up for the people you are hoping to benefit. I see you have now conveniently kicked this benefit into the long term future, because you have realised what you have been saying is actually a bit stupid  

 

 

 

It's not just added demand that inflates rents. Of late we've seen a number of legislative measures that will/ have resulted in the same. Gas safety checks are old hat now, but they increased landlord's costs. Various local 'landlord registration schemes' have been put in place which don't achieve much other to keep town hall workers in jobs. Section 24 restrictions on landlords offsetting their loan interest costs against profits is another. Mandatory energy efficiency regulations for rented houses by this month, or spend £3,500 to gain an exemption is yet another cost. Shortly we'll have compulsory electrical installation checks.

 

Interestingly, none of this applies to owner occupied properties, only rented ones. Is it more dangerous to have a dodgy gas or electrical installation in a rented house rather than an owner occupied one? If we care so much about people's energy bills and the environment, why are owner occupiers exempted from such notions?

 

Every time a new regulation is introduced it increases rents. I know some people don't like this, we sometimes hear statements from politicians such as 'we'd expect landlords to absorb the additional costs'. The reality of course is that no business can absorb additional costs, it must raise its prices accordingly or otherwise, go out of business.      

[peterboat]

30 minutes ago, The Welsh Cruiser said:

It's not just added demand that inflates rents. Of late we've seen a number of legislative measures that will/ have resulted in the same. Gas safety checks are old hat now, but they increased landlord's costs. Various local 'landlord registration schemes' have been put in place which don't achieve much other to keep town hall workers in jobs. Section 24 restrictions on landlords offsetting their loan interest costs against profits is another. Mandatory energy efficiency regulations for rented houses by this month, or spend £3,500 to gain an exemption is yet another cost. Shortly we'll have compulsory electrical installation checks.

 

Interestingly, none of this applies to owner occupied properties, only rented ones. Is it more dangerous to have a dodgy gas or electrical installation in a rented house rather than an owner occupied one? If we care so much about people's energy bills and the environment, why are owner occupiers exempted from such notions?

 

Every time a new regulation is introduced it increases rents. I know some people don't like this, we sometimes hear statements from politicians such as 'we'd expect landlords to absorb the additional costs'. The reality of course is that no business can absorb additional costs, it must raise its prices accordingly or otherwise, go out of business.      

I think that the government would like slum landlords out of business or so it seems with these additional costs 

Edited April 20, 2020 by peterboat

[Markinaboat]

On 19/04/2020 at 11:02, mrsmelly said:

All house are poxy, boring etc etc. Its actualy mums house which I came up here to sell and the day the bloody lock down came was the day the estate agents was coming who then cancelled lol. Stuck here now but may well go to my boat which is my actual abode in two or three weeks time if estate agents are still not working ?

poxy is an understatement then! ?

On 19/04/2020 at 11:01, peterboat said:

Cos he is a boater and wants to be back in his boat in oxfordshire

I'm the same, in poxy house in Oxfordshie and want to be on the boat in Harefield.