A mum of two young children is among tenants who have received eviction notices at flats in Cliftonville because the landlord has decided to sell up.
Charlotte Croxon has lived at her flat in Godwin Road for 19 months after being in temporary accommodation. She is one of 12 families to receive notice to quit from three properties in Godwin Road owned by the same landlord. It is understood tenants at other Cliftonville properties belonging to the same landlord have also been given eviction notices.
Charlotte, 28, says she has no idea where she and children India, 6 months, and Hendrix, two, will end up and has been left “feeling vulnerable.”
Charlotte, who is also a carer for her dad, and the other families in the properties have been told to leave by April 6.
She said: “I had no clue this was going to happen. When I got the letter I thought it was just me and phoned my dad up crying. I thought I had done something wrong but when I phoned the agent they said it wasn’t just me but couldn’t give me more details. I went and knocked on everyone’s doors and that’s how I found out.
“It was only 18 months ago when the council put me here after being in temporary accommodation. In that time I have made it our home.
“Thanet council said the date might extend another 4 weeks as (the landlord) will have to get bailiffs in but they have also told a lot of us that there just isn’t enough temporary housing in Thanet.
“My son is being screened for autism and he doesn’t transition very well so I am really worried about how he is going to react to all this and I am worried about where we are going to go.
“I know the council has a duty of care to put us somewhere but where will that be? It has left me feeling really vulnerable.”
Charlotte says she receives £650 per month housing benefit but finding 2 bed properties for that amount is virtually impossible.
She added: “I have applied for about 10 properties but one flat had 200 people going for it. I’ve also had to apply for flats that are £850pm and that means I am really going to struggle.”
New regulations prompt landlords to sell
The Godwin Road properties are managed by Lovetts, an independent agent based in Cliftonville and with offices in Birchington.
Managing Director Richard Crosby says new regulations, such as those requiring higher ratings on Energy Performance Certificates, are seeing landlords sell up in droves.
He said: “So many landlords are selling up because they need to spend a fortune for the EPC ratings to go to a C instead of D or E, I’d say about 65% of them are still D and E and it means a huge outlay. At a recent landlords’ forum it was said the average outlay is £5k-£10k per property.
“This means more and more landlords are leaving already, we are losing 2-4 a week and 17 notices were served last week from just one landlord. That’s 17 tenants losing homes and 17 properties gone from our portfolio,
“It is really difficult. We have people phoning us in tears, some who have been in their homes for years, and we as a business are losing our portfolio.
“We have registered the tenants with us to try and find alternative accommodation. The landlord has quite a large portfolio and has done for 25 years but all the law changes have prompted them to make this decision.”
But the availability of properties is thin on the ground.
Richard said: “We would normally have between 20 and 40 properties but at the moment we have just 10.”
Increasing demand as evictions rise
Thanet council says there has been an increase in demand for social housing, particularly due to the impact of the covid pandemic. Reasons for the need often include relationship and family breakdowns, growing pressures on the private rented sector and increased unemployment which has had a significant impact on people being able to retain accommodation.
Thanet currently has 1,638 families on the housing register with an average wait of three years. There are currently 160 households in temporary accommodation and 82 households placed out of the area.
And demand is increasing with Thanet council saying an increase in notices to quit being served since October 2021 is likely due to factors including increasing property prices, changes to tax rules, the increase in the conversion of rental accommodation into holiday rental properties and the possible abolition of ‘no fault eviction’ Section 21 notices
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “We do all that we can to provide appropriate support for people in need. Our Housing Options Team has successfully prevented 1,013 households from becoming homeless during this time.
“In situations where emergency accommodation is needed, we always look to provide this within Thanet, whenever possible. The increased level of need for temporary accommodation has meant that suitable accommodation is not always available.
“There are also some cases that require specific types of accommodation and, if that is not available in the local area, we do have to place people further away. Our aim is to rehouse people back in Thanet as soon as there is suitable accommodation available.
“The number of out of area placements has increased due to COVID-19 and a reduction in suitable rental properties. Currently, we have 82 households placed in accommodation outside Thanet and we continue to work in partnership with local letting agents to identify suitable, affordable properties to enable these households to move back to Thanet as soon as possible.”
‘Further reduction of privately rented accommodation’
Thanet council housing staff are currently trying to help the tenants served notice from the Godwin Road properties.
The council spokesperson said: “We are aware that notice has been served via the managing agent on the properties in Godwin Road in Cliftonville. Officers from our Housing Options team are in the initial stages of booking in households for advice and support and have begun to work with the landlord to try to identify whether support can be given to help to sustain these tenancies.
“We have seen an increase in notices to quit being served since October 2021. This is likely due to a combination of factors which include increasing property prices, changes to tax rules and the increase in the conversion of rental accommodation into holiday rental properties.
“In addition, some landlords may be considering selling their rental portfolio due to the possible abolition of Section 21 notices, which will make it more difficult for them to evict tenants. The impact of this will be a further reduction in the amount of privately rented accommodation available.”
Thanet Labour councillor Helen Whitehead has written to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to outline her concerns over the impact of whole property Airbnb and short term rentals on Thanet’s rented housing supply and a possible solution.
.She said: “Airbnb has become symbolic of a particular kind of economy. Airbnb as originally intended didn’t involve full term rentals; it was an economy based on room rentals, and accommodation that wasn’t suitable for full term accommodation. We still see both of those on short term rentals platforms, such as Airbnb, but we also see entire flats and houses; and for some areas this latter category can become an issue.
“A solution that works relies on looking at all sides of an argument, and every thread that needs to be tied off to produce an answer that will actually hold.
“The answer here lies in central legislation; and so I’ve written to ask that nationally, the government introduces a C5 Use Class, that can be used by councils if needed under Article 4 of our legislation, to require full time Airbnb’s to apply for planning permission.
“This has two significant advantages, if government decide to put it through. It not only allows councils to effectively monitor the numbers involved in short term rentals, and continually assess whether or not there is a significant impact on availability of long term accommodation and allow councils to require planning permission for change of use if so, but it also recognises the importance of having an available legislative response that is effective, proportionate, visible and accountable.
“Introducing this Use Class would enable our council to monitor and act proportionately and effectively, whilst still supporting the tourist economy that has always underpinned our area. We have to support our community and ensure that long term housing is available, both through the council and privately; giving our council the power to act when needed, and also monitor and observe the impacts of short term rental accommodation on our towns and Thanet as a whole.”
She added: “I have, as always, also requested further central funding for the building of social and genuinely affordable housing, to reduce the housing list and reduce reliance on private developers to produce affordable housing, because it’s this lack of supply that underpins our housing issues.”
Get help
If you are at risk of homelessness find advice on Thanet council’s website here and here
Thats awful but my son works all month,year in year out and Charlotte is probably better off.Nor can he afford to rent.
Indeed, not a 650 hand out in sight here either.
Don’t blame the poorest, look to the people making the policies
Why isn’t the father of the children making a contribution to their upbringing Brigadier, or is he?
Dumpton, you are right,
Why isn’t the father contributing. If he is,well that ia how it should be and not for the taxpayer to finance.
Too many fathers from broken homes, get away with not contributing to their childrens welfare.
Or, perhaps, the Greens forcing them into such poorly thought through policies…
Why are you using your title “Dr”? I have letters after my name but never use them unless its for professional reasons, and appropriate to add weight to any particular discussion. No, I’m not impressed “Dr”.
Hey Dumpton/Doc Francis, I have often wondered the same, why doc calls him/herself doc?
Just the same as you say Dumpton, I have letters after my name (11 letters), but don’t use them unless trying to impress someone, or when writing important letters.
Doc, are you a doc by way of medicine, or PhD?
Phil, I only use my professional qualification letters after my name if its relevant, and appropriate, this doctor isn’t either in this case! He’s probably got a phd in geography! I think we should be told!
While I lived in Cliftonville Sweyn Rd in 2016 i believe not too long ago,thanet council were buying houses to increase housing stock and I offered a 8 bedroomed 4 storey house to the council not in bad condition for 150K and they refused it ? This property would have made 4 _2 bed flats this house now is work I excess of 300k well thanet council why didn’t you buy it ? As its now going to cost you far more to house the evicted
Very very high proportion of Cliftonoverspill accommodation given to those from other countries…reap what you sow TDC. Uk should always put its own citizens first in everything be it housing or jobs. The answer is to take it back not build more housing. New housing does not have the interest of residents at its core as will be too expensive and the social housing 30% planning requirement is continually watered down by the feeble self serving body that is TDC.
Notapartyparty, you will be called a racist, but you are absolutely correct, and I totally agree with you.
Notapartyparty may not be a racist, but is ill-informed. What is your source for this ‘very very high proportion’ statement? What sort of numbers or percentages are we talking? “Very very high proportion” doesn’t mean much… You may think that is 1% or 99%, or anything in between. I may think differently.
Genuinely keen to see how you arrived at this opinion.
No not a racist. OBS the first thing to think of…I lived there for 5 years. I have eyes.
Eyes can be deceiving, and they certainly don’t give you the full picture, do they?
Were the people from other countries ‘given’ properties? If so, by who? The council doesn’t own the majority of the property in Cliftonville, it is private sector landlords who own and rent them out. Do you suppose the landlord is giving people from abroad a preferential rate or first dibs on the properties? If so, again, why?
Cliftonville West has 20.42% ‘other white’, 2.72% Asian, 2.15% Black, 0.50% Chinese and 2.47% mixed living there, as per the Kent Public Health Observatory. This leaves a whopping 71.74% of the population as White British. So please, tell me again that a “very very high proportion” of properties are given to people from abroad.
And how many of that 28.26% are renting housing supported by the gvt or TDC?
See ….Part of the wider Operation CeCe – a National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC to tackle illegal tobacco sales – two shops in Cliftonville
Except without a translator they can’t fill in the survey… For one week last summer I walked from my house to the foreign owned shops on Northdown rd and back and never heard one person speak English the whole time… serious.
You seem not to know the true figure either – which, surely, means you are just as poorly informed…
violent offender who carried out a supermarket stabbing in Cliftonville has been jailed for two years and seven months.
suspected illicit tobacco suppliers in Thanet were raided yesterday.
Two shops in Cliftonville
dispersal order will be put in place in Cliftonville this weekend.
The 48-hour order comes into effect from 6pm tonight (February 11) and will cover the Cliftonville area including Northdown Road, Norfolk Road and Athelstan Road.
Yes, there’s always some idiot somewhere looking for an excuse to abuse someone with the ‘R’ word: But you’re correct, just listen to the accents around there.
Small proportion, according to statistics.
Try living there…. Which you don’t
Maybe tdc could have given the landlords a long term loan so the properties can be brought up to the current UK rental (not euro) standards.
That housing condition news is awfully old, every council has had the opportunity to intervene and ger it sorted.
Hope the families are well looked after, really do.
Oh and its not about airbnb and similar tourist/local short term lettings .
Councillors, why has the situation got to where it is ? hey was it brexit or covid or something else. like wfh.
Others will disagree >
James, that’s a good suggestion, but perhaps because it would make a great idea, it will probably be totally ignored by those policy makers.
Let me get this right you want the tax payer to fund new proposed legislative requirements in respect of improved energy efficiency levels? The legislation has not been put before parliament yet. You state its a loan but how long would suggest it needs repaying over and at what interest rate. My properties already achieve the proposed new epc level, can i have a hand out too or are you asking the council taxpayer to subsidise those unwilling to improve their properties and put those that do at a competitive disadvantage.
Why would a private landlord take a long term loan on a private rental which he can sell today for a good margin, especially when it look like S21 might get repealed James?
Truly disturbing situation – over 1,600 families on the waiting list and TDC repeatedly gives in to developers re affordable housing – empty words from them.
It shouldn’t fall to an opposition councillor to champion this – where are the TDC policies re short term let properties and their place in the TDC Housing and Tourism Strategies – if such things exists?
Where is the TDC support calling for govenment action?
The key phrase is “on the waiting list” , they are not necessarily homeless or in emergency housing , they are people who for the most part would prefer a home subsidised by the taxpayer, can i have one too, it’d be much cheaper than my current housing costs.
Exactly right LC.
Margate Clown, use your eyes. It’s been an enormous problem in Cliftonville for years, and progressively getting worse.
So many landlords are selling up because they need to spend a fortune for the EPC ratings to go to a C instead of D or E, I’d say about 65% of them are still D and E and it means a huge outlay. At a recent landlords’ forum it was said the average outlay is £5k-£10k per property.
Have I read this wrong ?. £650 a Month = 6 and half K , outlay by landlords 5-10 K so they go without profit for a year maybe two.
It also says 12 families in 3 properties and that it cost 5 10 k per property so it four in each one = ?? each Month.
You seem to have forgotten , mortgage costs, insurance, gas and electric certification, general maintenance and repair, bad debt, agents fees, etc etc.
Not forgotten I never even thought about that , what I see is ??? a Month in rent and how much landlords will have to pay out in this instance.
Did landlords think about cost of insurance , gas and electric certificates maintenance , bad debt agent fees when they bought , clearly not , mortgage costs so they didn’t have the money from the start.
Of course they took those costs into account when they decided to get into the lettings business. The imposition of additional costs has meant that for some they are better off exiting the industry and doing something else.
You could of course get round this by increasing the local housing allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents that it should be , so around £750 a month. Many of those exiting house those on lower incomes and so there is not the profit in the current housing allowance to make it a sensible business decision to spend considerable amounts on the upgrades required.
All a mess for many different reasons
You are right on this , I would sell up , not worth the hassle at the end of the day.
I do not see why some bought it up as to who is living there but maybe I do as there is always a few.
Does it matter in a way who lives there ? maybe some think they are scum .
Having known top Doctors who have been non English they have been brill , others may come into the country and sponge but so can the many English that were born here.
There’s no problem with migration, where those arriving want to work and join in with the uk’s way of life ( not expecting them to give up their own ways, but just accept and integrate with ours) , but we already have enough of our own miscreants and most certainly don’t need rejects from overseas.
Surely all this is included in the 5-10 Grand outlay?
Paul,
really? Have you not heard of mortgages, insurance, damage, wear and tear, upgrades, non payment of rent etc etc etc.
Do you know what a Section 21 is and what it’s repeal means?
Yes landlords do take normal costs into account, not ridiculous extra costs imposed like this, and repeal of vital parts of the legislation.
To put your calculation into perspective, £10,000 cost spread over your suggested time period of 2 years at a rent of £650 is £415 per month.
How many landlords do you think make a profit of £415 per month on a rent of £650?
I suggest you do some research 😉
Margatejim the local people should be given priority, unfortunately this doesn’t happen.
Priority by who? Private landlords can rent to who they please! Do you really think they are intentionally overlooking White British people to give the properties to Johnny Foreigner? Is that what you really believe is happening? If so, ask yourself why? Why would they be doing this? What possible reason could they have? What sensible business reason could they have for doing this? You’re not making sense…
“Johnny foreigner” sounds like a racist trope there Jimbo …..
Margatejin TDC offer very little help for Thanet people, it’s mostly about wanting to be seen helping and supporting migrants, who then abide by no rules and laws.
Now this isn’t true, Scot. I’ll correct the statement…
“TDC offer very little help for ANYONE in Thanet, irrespective of their country of origin.”
Doesn’t that look more accurate?
Migrants are human beings who, for the most part, want a better life and the best for their family. They are like you and me. What you’ve done is believe the bile spewed by nasty tabloid rags and sleazy politicians, rather than look at the evidence. You see stories printed and tales told about nasty foreigners coming over here and doing X, Y and Z, when the reality is, like will all people and all nationalities, these are the slim minority. White British people commit crimes but, guess what? It is the minority! Eastern European people commit crimes, too! But, guess what? Yep, you’re catching on… IT’S THE MINORITY!!!!
Stop blaming others and look at the root cause of the problems in this country. Trust me, it isn’t a migrant coming here to ‘steal your tax and your house’.
Margatejim, perhaps you are unaware that TDC have an agreement with the local estate agents, they put forward whoever they wish, to the agent, the agent then gets the property filled quicker, often with financial help from TDC.
Migrants always get priority.
Help is offered on a needs based basis, if you have the same needs you get the same help. In some cases an inability to speak english may be considered something that places in greater need. Having a greater number of children will also mean greater need. Local schools and health services are often under great pressure to assess a child as having special needs of some sort as again this helps in the needs assessment.
All this effectively means anyone who works has a reasonably stable life and currently has somewhere to live will be at the bottom of a very long list.
It’s so easy to say that a problem can be solved by punishing the immigrants, then it will all be OK.
But how would you define an immigrant?
You would need an army of officials trawling through all the ownerships of all the houses and flats in Thanet alone. Working out which ones are occupied by “immigrants”. Are “immigrants” people who have just arrived? What about my sister-in-law whose Polish parents came here just after the war. So her maiden name is Polish. Will she be “sent back”?
Is she an immigrant? Or her children, now adults and parents themselves. Or just her own parents, still alive and living in their own house in Lancashire. Must they be sent “back” to a part of Poland that is actually now a part of Belarus?
Where will the anti-immigrant brigade draw the line?
At a particular date, sometime in the 1960’s?
Or all those from certain countries? Which countries?
No exceptions for refugees? No exceptions for valuable, skilled workers. How skilled?
What about very rich immigrants? Will they be allowed to stay? But only if they promise to spend their money here? How will we keep a check on that? Request receipts? Another army of civil servants to check the documents.
Cheaper to just build decent flats and small houses for affordable rents!
No its not cheaper, central government grants these days are around 17% of the new build cost of social housimg property, the social provider needs to come up with the rest, deals are done on council / county council/ government land to keep costs down , councils may add to the pot, the rest is raised as effectively a commercial mortgage, which is why social housing rents in new properties are much higher than traditional council rents.
KEEFOGS
I think the idea reports to the current situation of constant huge numbers of migrants, not previous migrants, post-war etc.
They arrive in the country, knowing they will be given housing, in an unfair situation, which places them above local people.
But, as you say, it is East to place blame on others, when actually the cause relates to government policy, and landlord costs and profits.
Easy, not East (predictive text).
Are you sure, Ms “Talia”, that migrants “know they will be given housing”? If so, how did you find this out? Who will be giving them the housing? Please provide impartial evidence to back up you statement.
Marvin, if they didn’t know they would be given housing, they wouldn’t come.
Do you think they would bother coming if they knew they were going to be living on the streets, like English people.
Or do you think they would bother coming if they were going to be offered a tent?
They arrive in the country, claim all the benefits, then tell their mates back home how good it is, that they get money and housing for nothing, who then also come over. Absolutely draining benefits from the system, that already can’t cope.
Then there are the legal migrants, who sometimes work, claim child benefit etc, then return home, to Romania (or elsewhere), and the money continues to flow into their bank account, despite not being in the country and longer, and not intending to return. When will this government wake up?
My name is not Marvin Rees but Marva Rees.. Why don’t you use yours instead of “genitalia”?
How rude, are you suggesting that I do something with my private parts?
Marva Rees, I am appalled at your reply comment to Jenny Talia, especially from one lady to another.
I think you owe her an apology as I am sure she just misread your name.
Marva, i’ve worked in around 50 countries alongside local labour , a theme common to just about every country was the wish of some of the locals to come to the uk where they will be guaranteed housing and access to the health service. Given the opportunity hundreds of millions of people would happily come to this country to work for a pittance in return for housing , health care and education for their children.
The UK is seen as a country of great fairness ,safety and opportunity by huge numbers all round the globe
Well,they’re wrong about that.
Perhaps you should try living where they do, you might then appreciate the priveleges of living in the UK
Not that hard, either you are a British citizen or you are not. Black n white dare I say at the risk of being called a racist again ….?
Again, I’ll ignore the whole ‘are you a racist / aren’t you a racist’ thing… But, what difference does it make? I mean, people can apply for citizenship, which is surely a good thing, no? Are people not welcome to come here, forge a career and a life for themselves and their families and contribute to society? Or, do we now think that all foreigners are scroungers?
I’m really trying to understand your angle, but I’m struggling.
Let me put a hypothetical to you… Would you rather have:
A) A home-grown, indiginous British family here, none of whom work, all on benefits, all cause trouble, none seek to better themselves
or
B) A migrant family who come here, find work, find a home, raise a family, promote education and excellence to the children etc.?
Now, as I said, this is a hypothetical with extreme examples. In real life you have people along the entire spectrum. But, the point I’m making is, what does it matter what your passport says? Surely, any sensible person just wants people to contribute to a fair and equal society, no?
As much as I agree local people should be given the housing it does not stop the fact the landlord is receiving rent be it ANY race.
My idea on migrants is they should be returned as soon as they arrive by a safer means.
This would save many problems including saving lives , there would be no point in coming here.
It would end the gangs who make huge profits for getting them here.
It would free up our nhs.
It would save police time/ funds that are involved over the person who walks up the road and says f off you ??
Now if we were still part of the EU, then under the Dublin Agreement, the UK could have simply returned migrants to their first EU country of contact.
But now we’ve enjoyed Brexit, and can’t.
But we do have control of our borders!
If Thatcher hadn’t introduced the Right to Buy, and successive governments of every hue sustained it, there would be a range of well-maintained, affordable Local Authority property available for rent.
These properties *are* available, but in poor condition and at elevated rents with no protection for tenants from landlords who made the most of the RtB scheme.
When we were in the EU none were sent back then, main reason the majority voted for Brexit
If no right to buy then those that have bought would be in social housing now and there would be even less now …doh !
if the new housing being built all over Thanet are affordable why does the council just buy them problem solved, and all houses built in the future to be social housing. Thats one way to stop huge profits being made from builders and farmers.
Because TDC doesn’t have any money.
Why would you want to do such a silly thing May?
Lack of affordable housing due to tdc allowing property developers to reduce their minimum limit from 30percent to 18 percent citing they can’t make any money.bullshit
The social housing element of developments still needs to be bought, they are henerally houses built to a lower specification interms of size and quality of materials , fixtures and fittings etc. They are then bought by any social provider willing to do so. If that provider happens to be a london borough then they ship tenants from their list down here. Have a wander around the westwwod cross homes and ask where people are from and who houses them.
Mikthebrik, 30% affordable housing was always a ridiculous unacheiveable number.
It’s not her fault the benefits system is broken. She would need to earn over £25k a year just to break even with current benefit payments.
Way more than that when you factor in the additional benefits triggered by being on benefits (ifnthat makes sense)
Two words. Social Housing.
just go to work and u will have money to rent flat. easy
Social housing- it is indeed sad but true that there is nearly enough of it.
First time you have been right ..
NOT nearly enough of it!
And there never will be, we allow too many more people into the country, illegal migrants, legal migrants, asylum seekers , they all need to be housed. Take the 20,000 afghans say an average of 4 per household thats 5,000 3 bed houses even at a very conservative 200,000 each thats a billion pounds and takes no account of education , health and training costs.
BLINKERED TDC Planning and attitude of Senior Officers.
We are surrounded by idiots who don’t even live in Thanet, but they are ‘in charge’ of it.
Your A and B are interchangeable of course. But have you ever been to Cliftonville, Athlestan Rd, Harold Rd, Derby Sq…to name three. Why do you keep mentioning racism, are Russians, Bulgarians a race ?
I made a point of ignoring the whole ‘is he isn’t he a racist’ thing, but your protestations seem to hint at an answer, irrespective.
Yes, I have been to and lived in Cliftonville and the rest of Thanet for most of my life, having been born and raised here. But again, I have provided facts to demonstrate that your are fundamentally wrong in your assertion that the vast majority in Cliftonville are foreigners and, in return, you have given anecdotal “well I walked down the road and didn’t hear anyone speaking English”, the only conclusion obviously being that we are overrun with foreigners.
It’s obvious there is no point trying to talk fact and sense.
Police officers remain at Cliftonville’s Dalby Square today (February 11) after cordoning off the area early this morning after a man was discovered with serious stab injuries.
What did they expect was going to happen really … there’s going to be plenty more homeless families out in the street if the government continue their slaughter of the private rented sector ….
EXACTLY correct Jane, I sold up all my properties a couple of years ago, I saw this coming.
How is insisting that rented houses are fit to live in “slaughter of the private rented sector”?
Ever since there were landlords and tenants, there has (almost always) been one winner: the landlord.
It is, frankly, disgusting.
The homes are fit to live in, the proposal is for energy efficiency to increase from an e rating to a c, when it is applied to social housing the taxpayer will pay. Private landlords could have nigh on perfect homes ( which in cliftonville given the 10 years of selective licensing there should be nigh on zero substandard homes had the council done its job properly with all the cash extracted from landlords)
There is talk of a decent homes standard for private rented accomodation similar to that for social housing, the taxpayer coughed up 40 billion to bring social housing upto scratch because social rents were insufficient to provide enough to maintain the social housing stock properly.
If the same is applied to the private rented sector , expect to see many more landlords exit.
Disgusting. Air bnb no doubt. This has just happened to me and my family. After 8 years at my home, my landlord is now selling…now his mortgage is paid, by me, i know ill sell up and make a family homeless after 8 years at the property.
Wa**ers.
Will everyone just go back to work and stop looking for the freebe.How much does it cost more freebies more taxes.Stop pouncing.
This is what happens when you over regulate the private housing market and stack the deck even further in favour of the tenants.
It’s sad for the tenants concerned, but this has been absolutely inevitable for some time.
The problem is with AirBNB as a start. My neighbours were all evicted from 7 flats 3 years ago as the new owner said he was doing them back up as houses to sell off. He did convert them back into two houses but instead opened a permanent Airbnb renting the rooms out to high paying guests all year round with no regulations at all and not even paying any tax on their income. They are making a mint out of it and which is why many landlords of regulated accommodation are also selling up to these people who convert the stock back to houses and rent out as AirBNB.
There needs desperately to be regulations and fees paid by the owners of these establishments before all rented accommodation is lost to the money grabbers. People’s lives are no longer safe and secure in homes they rent. Also, 6 month contracts should be banned as it is not worth unpacking if you are going to be turfed out every 6 months. There should be a 12 month minimum.
The six month minimum contract is there so that in the event the tenant turns out to be a wrong un the time to evict then is not interminable. A change of tenants is for many landlords their greatest expense and avoided whereever possible. Much better to be very fussy about who you accept as a tenant and then hopemthey stay as long as possible.
In the real world ( outside of media scare stories and on line keyboard warriors) there are lots of tenants who enjoy good quality decent homes at reasonable rents for as long as they look after them and wish to stay. I have a small block of 4 flats where the average tenancy is over 10 years ranging from 6-15 years, to encourage decent tenants to staty landlords often keep rent rises to a bare minimum.
As for your assertion that the airbnbn pays not tax , if this is the case then the owner is in breach of tax law the 7500 tax free allowance only applies to rooms let in someones own resdidence.
That must be what the neighbouring landlord is claiming then as no tax is paid, although he advertises it as ‘Serviced Apartments’ they have two houses but only live in one themselves, we know it is Airbnb. TDC know about it but are unwilling to do anything about it. They never even completed the building control inspection after conversion and they have no fire safety, gas or electric inspections on either property. It is a total disgrace that the law allows all this.
I used to live on Godwin Road, f*cking sh*thole of a road…. glad I moved out. garfield road was just disgusting the women upstairs had a bunch of kids staying and they would piss in the hallway (I once questioned it and they denied it, I installed a camera above my door and suddenly the smell stopped), leaving rubbish everywhere.
And the road itself was nay better, drunks, people shouting at me in another language while throwing shit.
Just a cesspool, whole road should just be sold off and knocked down to restart
What saddens me about all these aforementioned posts in favour of social housing ghettos being upheld, and with landlords expecting to foot the huge EPC improvement cost, is the hypocrisy.
I am willing to bet most of them probably live in the hinterlands around Thanet; litter free, big gardens, detached homes and tree-lined streets. The hypocrisy is suffocating.
Stand behind your comments; sell up, move to Goodwin road, and other streets in Cliftonville like them and revel in the waste and low brow standard of civic behaviour. It’s not so easy to watch the Antiques Roadshow with Hip Hop blasting out in the flat next to you. Try it.
But of course they won’t. The NIMBY devotionalism is just too strong!
Your speculation on where people live is wrong as far as at leat one of us goes. I live in a terrace of small houses in Ramsgate which backs onto another such terrace. We have small gardens (about 6 metres by 5).
Regardless of all the speculation about the ‘type’ of people who live in Cliftonville’s HMOs, the fact is that the prospect of being homeless is terrifying for everyone.
The EPC regulations are not clever. A moment’s thought makes it obvious that landlords will evict tenants and sell up rather than stump up. And aside from the cost of carrying out the necessary changes, doing so with tenants in situ requires landlords or agents to have people skills and tenants to be cooperative while enduring a fair amount of disruption. I’d guess that the majority of people on low incomes do not have somewhere to swan off to while work is going on in their homes, even if moving out temporarily were an option.
I know that homes and other buildings do need to be more energy efficient, that’s a no-brainer. And in fact the kind of costs mentioned in the article should not be prohibitive for landlords who have what is pompously called a portfolio of properties. (Whatever happened to the term ‘slum landlords’? I guess nobody who rents out units in those crumbling properties in Cliftonville to poor people could be described that way). I’m a small landlord who keeps rent as low as I possibly can but while £10,000 would take a big chunk out of my savings, £5,000 expenditure would be doable. However those who are truly raking in the rental income won’t see it that way unless compelled to.
This the government going for the low hanging fruit in order to appear to give a damn about climate change. They know all too well that landlords will evict and the victims have, as yet, no voice. Even internet discussions about this horrendous situation will disintegrate into arguments about migrants etc. thereby conveniently muddying the waters.
In the proposed legislation there is a “3rd party consent” clause where the tenant in situ can choose to decline to consent to the works being done on the grounds of the disruption they’d cause. As such the proposed date for existing tenancies being bought upto the required epc level is a mute point.
Otherwise landlords would be serving evcition notices on tenants , getting the work done , which would mean full redecoration , new flooring etc and so command a higher rent once completed., giving no chance in many cases for the original tenant to return even if they wanted to., in doing so exacerbating an already difficult housing situation.
Govt started Negatively impacting expenditure on Energy efficiency in 2015 when the meagre allowance of £1,500 for Energy improvements ended.
Parliament are increasingly ‘ putting the squeeze ‘ on Landlords, half of whom are blue-collar individuals owning Only One property ( usually from inheritance )
Don’t be surprised to shortages of rental accommodating increasing massively. As obviously, will rents.
Everything done to Landlords has an impact on their customers ( Tenants ) which is usually Negative.
Or as Govt like to term it with abolishing Sec 21, ‘ Unintended consequences ‘
How can consequences that can be foreseen by a school child be called Unintended !
i would be ashamed if my children behaved as immaturely as some of the MP’s in the commons. It is little wonder that they cannot foresee the consequences of their actions.
As a landlord why are the goverment making it so difficult for us ?
All the cost of renting will only be passed onto tenants .not it looks like we have to register we are landlords nozpt at my cost I will pass that cost on as rent increases
The eventual goal is to force the small private landlord out of the industry , which for the government has a number of implied plus points
It creates a market best suited for large corporate landlords, they will be wanting long term stability and have no intention of exiting for decades.
The private rented sector becomes “professionalised”
The homes held by private landlords return to the owner occupier market
The government collects considerable capital gains receipts.
However there seems to be no plan to cater for the lower end of the private rented sector, properties rented at local housing allownce rates of close to, such low rents are of no interest to the corporate landlords as aren’t the destructive and antisocial tendencies of the small but significant number of said tenants.
The social housing sector doesn’t want them and would need huge grants to build enought to house them all ( possibly the capital gains tax receipts from landlords selling up would provide much of this) but the social sector is hugely inefficient and bad value for money so will need topping up.
If it weren’t so tragic it would be lmost comical that the social sector has killed far more tenants thanthe private rented sector (grenfell being the reason) yet the social sector is left alone. Remember the gas safety scandal at TDC properties under EKH , where were the calls for fines and the damming of tdc for its actions. No they got away with “lessons learnt” local government hypocrisy atmits finest.