Call for 80% rental income guarantee for small landlords

Asset management specialist Spicerhaart Corporate Sales has called for the Government’s 80% salary guarantee to be extended to rental income for small private landlords.

The call follows new measures put in place to protect tenants from eviction as the covid-19 coronavirus spreads across the country.

Last week it was announced that all possessions activity would be frozen for an initial period of three months. Existing possession claims will not progress through the Courts and no new claims can be entered during this period.

Mark Pilling, managing director of Spicerhaart Corporate Sales, said:

“Eviction is always a last resort, never more so than with a deadly pandemic on the loose.

“While a blanket freeze on all possessions activity will protect tenants in the short term, it is bound to lead to an accumulation of arrears that will be all the harder to deal with once the freeze is lifted.

“If there seem to be no consequences to non-payment, some struggling tenants will naturally prioritise other bills, and will be more likely to ignore attempts to communicate with them to manage the situation.

“A three-month ban on possessions activity will result in even longer spells without rental income – possibly six months or more of state-enforced void periods.

“Payment holidays on buy-to-let mortgages will be of limited help to landlords who in many cases rely on income from a small number of properties. If one or more of these is not generating an income for an extended period, it could cause families real financial difficulty.

“Rental income is subject to income tax – to say nothing of the Stamp Duty premium paid by B2L landlords. It seems only fair that it should be subject to the same Government guarantees as other income affected by the restrictions currently in place.”

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32 Comments

  1. Will2

    A good thought but this governments anti landlord policies wants to drive landlords into the ground.

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    1. LandlordsandLetting

      Absolutely spot on. Small private landlords have for some years now become the nation’s no 1 bête noir – even beating estate agents! Most landlords tend to be older people, thus both major parties love to bash them, whilst at the same time trying to look all caring and sharing by young voters (sorry, I meant ‘people’).

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  2. James Wilson

    Taxpayer subsidy for BTL landlords?  God luck with that!  BTL have made out like bandits over the past couple of decades.  Tax system rigged in their favour, rampant house price inflation.  I doubt there will be any public support for bailing them out now.  They can just take some equity release to tide them over.

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    1. JMK

      Still clueless then James

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      1. Deltic2130

        Christ, not very bright is he JMK?!

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    2. catdog

      Tax system rigged in landlords favour? would that be:
      Section 24 – Interest not on loan not an allowable expense exclusively against landlords Capital gains tax cut exclusion – Landlords excluded from recent cut in capital gains tax. Limit on deposit – Doesn’t matter how much of a risk the tenant is. Removal of tenant fees – Costs passed on to landlords Increased regulation – Increasing landlords costs 5 months+ to remove tenants – Tenants not paying rent, legal costs and time taken increasing Removal of S21 – So called “No fault”, in reality there is always a reason but the only guaranteed way of removing troublesome tenants  
      Rampant house price inflation
      The money is tied up in the property and rents have not kept anywhere near pace of house price increases meaning the margins for profit have massively reduced.  BTL has reduced massively over the last few years with all the new regulations etc coming into force yet house prices have increased, the only thing it has affected is rent is now increasing due to a lack of supply.  
       just take some equity release to tide them over.
      Not all landlords are able to access mortgages as they are generally older or it may be their only income, plus increasing the debt will increase the mortgage payments which are already difficult to cover thanks to diminishing returns and government tax changes.  
       
      One point I do agree with you is that its unlikely to happen, the public are blind to the magic trick of the government, the public love a good landlord bashing, increase tax on landlords, get rid of them.  Then when they have to pay more rent its all the landlords fault.    
       
      I would also add that the government have kind of already bailed out most landlords by providing 80% of wages and increasing housing benefit so most tenants should be able to carry on paying their rent.

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  3. undercover agent

    Any help the government give to landlords will likely lead to increased tax for landlords in the future. Better to refuse the help so as to not legitimise a future tax increase. (But I might be being naive).

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    1. catdog

      I think given half the chance the government need little incouragement or excuses to increase landlord taxation.

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  4. kittygirl06

    It would have been much simpler to pay the rent direct to the landlord for all struggling with convid 19. The wording of holiday was bad tenants  wont understand that landlords have been excluded of any grants. Joe Public have no clue on S24 where landlords are taxed even on a loss. Or 100% council tax empty properties. A full time landlord lives on the difference bet mort and rent if no rent yes they can deferr mortgage but will have nothing to live on. They can’t claim any benefits due to S24 and if you own property. So government have done nothing for this sector and have been attacking it since 2015. Landlords with rogue tenants won’t be able to evict this year. These tenants won’t pay a penny and more damage will be done to property Do we really have a landlord association? They have totally let their members down. Not even any articles explaining that many landlords will get zero which might make tenants think before stopping rent payments But they are more than happy to tax us to death Appalling treatment of blt landlords from government and the landlord association holiday lets will get something  

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  5. alex7675

    My Father in law who in his 80’s has a flat he rents out and it’s his 80 % of his income. Luckily there is No mortgage on the flat as it was his wife’s property who sadly passed away. All his other savings are tied up in the stock exchange with ever-decreasing values and share dividends.

    I think there are a good proportion of the older generation who have bought property as a pension for there retirement income, who now have no / very little income and tenants wanting to leave and little or no chance of them being replaced until this problem is sorted out. This situation really needs looking at for people who have this as there main income ( up to a certain level), and the stark reality they can’t sell either.

    What should they do ??

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    1. James Wilson

      They should sell the property and use the capital.

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      1. JMK

        Did you read the last sentence of the main body of text James?

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      2. The_Maluka

        James you seem to have stopped mid sentence, for what purpose should the now ex landlords use the capital, always assuming that there are customerds willing to buy of course?  And what should the landlord do with the now homeless tenant?

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        1. alex7675

          Thanks for the feedback !!

          There’s no point selling when you cant do viewings and no home reports being done in Scotland at the moment for sales.  I guess interesting times ahead.  Also, why would you now want to sell when prices could be dropping with fewer mortgages available and people’s incomes are so uncertain !!

          Let’s hope we get this virus under control and things get back to normal asap.

          Stay safe and try to be positive

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      3. catdog

        What is the guy going to live off when the capital is gone?  Instead of being a burden to the state this guy has been sensible and saved his money.  Im sure if he did not have the rental property he would be entitled to way more benefits that would likely almost cover the amount lost.
         
        Being self relient should be applauded as financial prudence, not vilified by the socialist left that don’t realise that the problem with socialism is you soon run out of other peoples money to spend.

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  6. DASH94

    I don’t understand – and do excuse me if I’m being dim (I shan’t be shocked), but if the government were to provide 80% rental guarantees – wouldn’t that just be more support for the tenant?   A lot of whom are already getting the  80% ?

     

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    1. kittygirl06

      It would support the tenant in this difficult time and ensure the landlord gets paid, but it’s not free. 
      The government can Reclaim from tenant a small amount via hmrc. 
      A landlord will struggle to Reclaim the rent so  might need to start evictions. 
      I bel government stopped all evictions to stop tenants being pushed onto council. 
      This would have taken the stress away frm tenant and landlord
      It would stop mass evictions when it’s over
      Landlords would be able to live as rent still flowing
      It would stop having to ask for mort holiday
       
       
       
       
       

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      1. PossessionFriendUK39

        Yes Kitty,  I think your right, as I’ve explained below.

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  7. PossessionFriendUK39

    But there is  ABSOLUTELY  No justification on a Total ban on evictions. There are many applications for Possession that don’t relate to money outstanding,  AND,  there will be many cases  where the Outstanding rent is NOT  (  found by a court ) to be Covid-19 – related.
    There is EVEN  Less,  justification for  Shelving all exisiting Possession claims,   what on earth has this got to do with the virus ??? What it has got to do with,  is relieving the burden of housing rightly-evicted bad tenants by the Local authority.
    For anybody representing Landlords to support the Govt’s Total  3 month ban on evictions is – ‘ selling out ‘ Landlords and Agents.

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    1. Lola71

      From a public health perspective, it is really important people stay where they are. Evictions sound like the archaic subjugation by colonialist from the 1800s, and if they are as rare as posters on here say, and only used in extreme circumstances, then they should be easy to shelve until after the covid-19 crisis.

      However, if amateur, or even professional, landlords have arbitrary power to evict tenants on a whim or at the end of a short term contract, they should be prevented from doing so right now to prevent the spread of the virus.  As the housing market seems to have been suspended because lenders don’t know how to value property, in the light of an impending recession and mass job losses. If this happens there would be high possibility that house prices might be ripe for a downward price correction also.  In this event, landlords may be tempted to evict perfectly reliable tenants and put their properties on the market and avoid the worst of such a correction.

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      1. kittygirl06

        The trouble with shelving them for rogue tenants the landlords costs could be an extra 10000 with little chance of recovery.

        If the tenants rent had been paid via government it would have avoided so much

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      2. PossessionFriendUK39

        Lola,  you are so far out of touch with Reality that its patently obvious your Not a landlord and haven’t had tenants fleece you for £ 000’s and damage your property. Could you explain what rationale a Landlord would have to ‘ evict a perfectly reliable tenant ‘ ?  Its what all Landlords dream of finding,  not Evicting. Have you any clue how long and what the expense of an eviction is ?  ( thought not ) How long have you been working for Shelter,  because organisations like that spread the myths your pedaling.

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        1. JMK

          Agreed Possession Friend.  I have no idea as to who Lola is but she clearly knows nothing about the business of landlording.

          There are a number of silly assumptions she makes but I’ll only comment on the one about landlords selling because they fear prices will drop.  If she knew anything about what we do then she’d know that that is the exact time we’ll be out buying.

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          1. Lola71

            There are so many people who claim to support the NHS and healthcare workers during the fight against this pandemic.  And yet, when it is patently clear social distancing is part of the solution, as soon as vested interests come into it – that all goes out the window.

            The UK government put things measures in place to control and enforce social distancing which gives those who work in healthcare a chance to be able to stagger the need to resource those affected by Covid-19.   Many more people will die in this pandemic. It is vital that as many people stay right where they are until it is under control. That means, in Boris Johnson’s words ‘flattening the sombrero’ until a vaccine is available – and that will happen.  I find it disgusting that there are people on here that would jeopardise public health by evicting and moving people about unnecessarily, for money – and incredibly attempting to maintain the moral high ground while they do so.  Disgusting.

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            1. PossessionFriendUK39

              Lola,  Renting is like the seasons, its a cycle,   there are always Bad tenants  who are free-loaders and work the system, moving from one rented property to another like rent-free parasites.

              Meanwhile,  there are always people in genuine need of a property to rent that have to go without until one becomes available.   That would be a far swifter and more just process with a more efficient Courts system. [ not the temporary absence of one ]

              Lets talk stark facts, tenants are evicted by the courts and only then, eventually, for Very good reason.

              Those that defend such tenants are the enemy of the majority of Good tenants who are looking for scarce property for rent.   Its clear who you support., so lets not hide behind the Corona virus.

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              1. Lola71

                 ” Its clear who you support., so lets not hide behind the Corona virus.”   Explain what you mean by this?
                 

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                1. PossessionFriendUK39

                  You are a Shelter or Bad-Tenant sympathiser, which you haven’t denied.
                  Tenants who deserved to be evicted, and there are many, between 5 & 10 %,                     need to be OUT of homes that genuine, law-abiding tenants are waiting for.
                  You either support Law-abiding tenants, or you support spongers,  there’s No ‘fence’ to sit on, and its clear where you stand. 

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                  1. Lola71

                    I am a staff nurse who works in an NHS hospital and finished two long shifts earlier today. You, on the other hand, are a selfish person who thinks about nothing else but how much money you can accumulate at any cost, including the health of others – and maybe yourself.  
                    You genuinely disgust me how you casually throw aside the necessity of social distancing to combat covid-19 and then accuse me of hiding behind the greatest threat to public health in our lifetime to tell me that I have to take sides on trivial arguments between tenants, landlords or spongers. You truly live a cocooned existance and I hope the world is kinder to you than you are to the world.

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                    1. PossessionFriendUK39

                      A Nurse, who’s not a Landlord, just finished a double-shift but spent most of the evening on a Property blog ?  Not a busy shift was it   ?  –  Your a Fake,  like one of the actors Shelter use to try and make Landlords out to seem bad. Half of Landlords are single-property owning Blue collar workers, like Nurses, who Loose £ 5 – 10 k to sponging tenants, and they DON’T  think its Trivial.

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                    2. JMK

                      Well called Possession Friend.  This man or woman is an out and out liar.

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      3. Deltic2130

        Actually Lola, many anti-landlords in society have had whole campaigns against us trying to get us to sell! If you want landlords out of business,  then presumably evicting their tenant fir them to sell up is a welcome move – right?

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  8. JMoo31

    Lola suffers from delusional hate syndrome

    Anyone who thinks landlords either can arbitrarily evict or do arbitrarily evict tenants is delusional and should seek help now. There is also no such thing as a short term contract, get your waffle checked. She demonstrates she knows nothing about the PRS and the value a good or even poor tenant is to us, and the lengths we go to in order to keep even poor tenants. 10 years with no rent increases so the tenants stay in place, refurbishments to keep the place in good order, allowing tenants who’ve lost jobs stay on rent free for months while they gain employment then lightly spreading arrears over several years so as not to pressure the tenant, allowing them to take in another person who helps to top up the rent. Her comments about colonial subjugation demonstrate a loony leaning to marxist ideology that has long been destroyed as a brutal controlling totalitarian regime which is what Lola and her comrades are moving towards. Their faux concern for the vulnerable is only topped by their hatred for people who take personal responsibility for themselves, their family, friends and community, all the enemy of her dream, a totalitarian regime. What a sad envious and hateful troll she is.

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