Author Topic: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it  (Read 1141 times)

Offline markedasred

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Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« on: June 17, 2023, 06:48:42 pm »
Got sent a letter from the Estate agent that handles my landlords business, a Section 21 telling me he wants the house back on the 24 of July, so, about 5 weeks time. He gave me the minimum 2 months, and we have lived here for about 19 years. I don't even suspect he is a particularly bad person, he is a vicar after all, they supposedly get a low wage and he inherited the place I think, so is probably cashing in for his pension.

Plus of course, the tenancy law is changing (supposed end of no fault evictions), and mortgage interest rates are rising, so the profit margins are shrinking, and tenants rights are about to get better in theory, so many of them are selling up all at once, creating a perfect storm.
Problem is, when I look at anywhere around here (Worcester in this instance) there are another hundred plus people looking at each property as well. I am a single dad with a 15 year old daughter, and this seems a nightmare, as the last professional I spoke to said, drop your (20 year old) son from the application to improve your chances (of social housing, private is even worse), and expect that as things stand the most likely scenario is you will get put in a hostel and your daughter will get assisted living, a sort of bedsit with a warden I think that means.

What a conundrum.

When you check the scene out, Liverpool has the worst housing situation in the country, so can't get in there. Worcester is not even in the top 10 places with a problem, so I just can't find a solution.
I'm not looking for sympathy, more highlighting a massive new scale of an old problem based on where the country is right now.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2023, 06:57:43 pm by markedasred »
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Offline Peabee

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2023, 07:18:57 pm »
I'm hearing more and more of this.

The crazy thing is that there are lots of empty houses. Also, as a test, I checked the number of available Airbnbs in Chester on a Friday evening and there were ~700. That's 700 potential homes. Buy-to-let landlords are selling up because they thought interest rates would be 0.5% or below forever. The tories are landlords and so are their donors, so they're reluctant to do anything. They announced the s21 policy to give landlords enough notice to get them in now when they can.

I've heard from people having their rents increased by hundreds of pounds.

I'm renting too, and I worry the same will happen to us. There is hardly anything available here because it's a tourist town and Airbnb is taking over. Definitely need some regulation with Airbnb.

The best thing we can do is get rid of the Tories in the next election. I really hope you find somewhere.
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Offline redbyrdz

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2023, 12:49:16 pm »
Sorry to hear that. The law is crazy, thank fuck its changing. Even if its too late for you.
In other countries its different - in Germany each year in a place adds a month to your notice (but not the landlord's), so after 19 years they'd have to give you 22 months notice.

Are you in a position to offer to buy the house yourself?

Can you talk to the owner directly? If  you could talk to him, maybe you could offer signing a new fix-term contract that gives you a year or so to find somewhere else. They are probably just trying to force the section 21 while they still can.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2023, 12:53:31 pm by redbyrdz »
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Offline markedasred

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2023, 07:40:04 pm »


Are you in a position to offer to buy the house yourself?


No chance of that, it is supposedly worth £400K. I can scrape together 6 months rent in advance for anywhere if its near the £640PM I've been paying, but that's about it for now. My heavy spending non earning wife has gone back to France leaving me to sort all this out.
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Offline Slippers

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2023, 08:48:53 pm »
Our daughter and her partner have just had to move for the fourth time in five years,they're living in an absolute shit hole now but it was all they could find.

Offline damomad

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2023, 09:01:58 pm »
Just be grateful you aren't suffering like this guy

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/mortgages/mortgage-bomb-middle-class-britain/

Quote
Don’t ask Adam Fraser*, 42, and his wife, who bought their £7 million house in Berkshire in July last year having secured a mortgage in the January. “It was at the tail end of when there were still good deals to be had,” says Fraser. “We passed our affordability test with flying colours and so I had no problem buying at the top of the market.”

At the time, Fraser was a partner in the start-up he had co-founded and received hefty dividends twice a year with which he was planning to pay down his £5.25 million mortgage. Of this, £2.75 million was fixed for five years at 1.49 per cent and £2.5 million was on a variable rate, which was then 1.89 per cent. “I genuinely thought that I’d be able to pay down the variable side of my mortgage really quite quickly,” says Fraser. “As it turned out, that was the worst decision in history.

“I remember my mortgage advisor looking at me and saying, ‘Are you serious?’ But it didn’t cross my mind that rates would go up as steeply as they have. And it’s not like I’m reckless. I have worked in finance for 25 years, so I’m more financially “literate” than a layman. I had a contingency – I knew that we wouldn’t be struggling with payments even if the variable rates went up to 3.5 per cent or 4 per cent. The trouble is that now they’re around 7 per cent.

“The current situation is, well … a little painful.”

Fraser’s monthly mortgage payments have gone up from £8,300 a month to £20,000. “If things were to carry on this way, we would be looking to pull our three kids out of school – which costs us £45,000 a year – and possibly be looking to sell the house too.”

It doesn’t look as though it will come to that. In January this year, Fraser sold his share of the business. “It’s proven to be an absolute godsend. While we’re just about running on air now – I’ve already told the bank I may not be able to meet next month’s repayment – I’ll have enough funds from the sale in a month or two to pay off the part of our loan that’s on a variable rate.

“To say we’ve dodged a bullet is a massive understatement.”
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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2023, 09:40:42 pm »
Just be grateful you aren't suffering like this guy

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/mortgages/mortgage-bomb-middle-class-britain/

£7m house. £45k a year to send his kids to school.

My heart bleeds for him.
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Offline Slippers

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2023, 10:01:52 pm »
£7m house. £45k a year to send his kids to school.

My heart bleeds for him.

He must be starving.

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2023, 04:01:21 am »
I'm hearing more and more of this.

The crazy thing is that there are lots of empty houses. Also, as a test, I checked the number of available Airbnbs in Chester on a Friday evening and there were ~700. That's 700 potential homes. Buy-to-let landlords are selling up because they thought interest rates would be 0.5% or below forever. The tories are landlords and so are their donors, so they're reluctant to do anything. They announced the s21 policy to give landlords enough notice to get them in now when they can.

I've heard from people having their rents increased by hundreds of pounds.

I'm renting too, and I worry the same will happen to us. There is hardly anything available here because it's a tourist town and Airbnb is taking over. Definitely need some regulation with Airbnb.

The best thing we can do is get rid of the Tories in the next election. I really hope you find somewhere.

It's a global issue. We've got massive new home shortages down here in Australia.

The Airbnb issue in regional/coastal towns has had a massive impact on people finding a place to live in towns that need people to work in hospitality/education/emergency services. Byron Bay is proposing to reduce the cap from the current 180-days down to 60-days per annum that people can short-term rent out their properties. Hopefully, this will force investors to sell out due to their lower income and therefore release more stock onto the market for locals to purchase.
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Online Riquende

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2023, 07:03:52 am »
Plus of course, the tenancy law is changing (supposed end of no fault evictions), and mortgage interest rates are rising, so the profit margins are shrinking, and tenants rights are about to get better in theory, so many of them are selling up all at once, creating a perfect storm.

Question: I've heard a few times that landlords are dumping their properties, so who is buying them? Are they going on the housing market for buyers, or being snapped up by bigger rental companies etc?
« Last Edit: June 19, 2023, 08:22:20 am by Riquende »
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Offline Kenny's Jacket

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2023, 11:34:49 am »
Got sent a letter from the Estate agent that handles my landlords business, a Section 21 telling me he wants the house back on the 24 of July, so, about 5 weeks time. He gave me the minimum 2 months, and we have lived here for about 19 years. I don't even suspect he is a particularly bad person, he is a vicar after all, they supposedly get a low wage and he inherited the place I think, so is probably cashing in for his pension.

Plus of course, the tenancy law is changing (supposed end of no fault evictions), and mortgage interest rates are rising, so the profit margins are shrinking, and tenants rights are about to get better in theory, so many of them are selling up all at once, creating a perfect storm.
Problem is, when I look at anywhere around here (Worcester in this instance) there are another hundred plus people looking at each property as well. I am a single dad with a 15 year old daughter, and this seems a nightmare, as the last professional I spoke to said, drop your (20 year old) son from the application to improve your chances (of social housing, private is even worse), and expect that as things stand the most likely scenario is you will get put in a hostel and your daughter will get assisted living, a sort of bedsit with a warden I think that means.

What a conundrum.

When you check the scene out, Liverpool has the worst housing situation in the country, so can't get in there. Worcester is not even in the top 10 places with a problem, so I just can't find a solution.
I'm not looking for sympathy, more highlighting a massive new scale of an old problem based on where the country is right now.

Thats rubbish, Im a lanlord and thankfully Ive only served a section 21 once, I was working abroad and had to return for family reasons. I gave him 3 months as I was in a position to do so

Labour need to build more social housing more than anything and then these situations wont occur.

A few years ago I bought some land without planning permission. When I applied for planning they made it really difficult and expensive, I even went down the route of offering them to the housing association, but they werent interested. Makes no sense


Good luck
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Offline Boston always unofficial

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #11 on: June 19, 2023, 05:22:12 pm »
It's a global issue. We've got massive new home shortages down here in Australia.

The Airbnb issue in regional/coastal towns has had a massive impact on people finding a place to live in towns that need people to work in hospitality/education/emergency services. Byron Bay is proposing to reduce the cap from the current 180-days down to 60-days per annum that people can short-term rent out their properties. Hopefully, this will force investors to sell out due to their lower income and therefore release more stock onto the market for locals to purchase.

Yep,same here,https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/07/15/report-mass-building-100000-fewer-homes-than-needed-each-year.They do not give a fuck about ordinary folk,building near me has studios 400-450 sq ft starting around 3,500 a month.

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #12 on: June 20, 2023, 09:30:47 am »
It's a global issue. We've got massive new home shortages down here in Australia.

The Airbnb issue in regional/coastal towns has had a massive impact on people finding a place to live in towns that need people to work in hospitality/education/emergency services. Byron Bay is proposing to reduce the cap from the current 180-days down to 60-days per annum that people can short-term rent out their properties. Hopefully, this will force investors to sell out due to their lower income and therefore release more stock onto the market for locals to purchase.

Yeah, I'm all for disruptive tech, but not in housing. Housing should be a human right not a privilege. It's getting out of hand now. My partner is doing a Masters in Urban Planning, and it's a massive talking point as an issue of its effect on the housing market. At least your govt is looking at doing something. Even my local Labour council, and party, are in two minds as they think it benefits the city with tourism, but there's new hotels going up every year, so it would be interesting to look at their occupancy rates. I'm going to keep collecting data on empty airbnbs and present it at a future Party meeting.
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Offline markedasred

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #13 on: November 14, 2023, 08:05:24 pm »
There are many kind souls in here who will not mind me posting our good news that My daughter and myself have finally got a new front door key for a social housing home.
My 21 year old has gone off to Australia for six months to a year, but I have held out for a 3 bed so he has somewhere to come back to, having seen how hard it is to get anywhere.
Just got to figure out how to move a couple of tons of mainly my stuff now, after throwing out as much as I could over the past 5 months. Have been over most days with a car load, but will get a loan for a removal van later in the week.
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Offline reddebs

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #14 on: November 14, 2023, 08:19:46 pm »
There are many kind souls in here who will not mind me posting our good news that My daughter and myself have finally got a new front door key for a social housing home.
My 21 year old has gone off to Australia for six months to a year, but I have held out for a 3 bed so he has somewhere to come back to, having seen how hard it is to get anywhere.
Just got to figure out how to move a couple of tons of mainly my stuff now, after throwing out as much as I could over the past 5 months. Have been over most days with a car load, but will get a loan for a removal van later in the week.

Congratulations mate, your forever home 🎉🥳

Offline Kenny's Jacket

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Re: Homelessness and a new proliferation of it
« Reply #15 on: November 14, 2023, 08:20:31 pm »
There are many kind souls in here who will not mind me posting our good news that My daughter and myself have finally got a new front door key for a social housing home.
My 21 year old has gone off to Australia for six months to a year, but I have held out for a 3 bed so he has somewhere to come back to, having seen how hard it is to get anywhere.
Just got to figure out how to move a couple of tons of mainly my stuff now, after throwing out as much as I could over the past 5 months. Have been over most days with a car load, but will get a loan for a removal van later in the week.


As I've said before, the Full English is just the base upon which the Scots/Welsh/NI have improved upon. Sorry but the Full English is the worst of the British breakfasts.