Painting landlords as greedy ogres won’t stop evictions

As a landlord I’m always ready to kick a tenant out.

I don’t care how good they’ve been or how long they’ve stayed at a property. If they so much as dare ask for anything to be repaired, that’s it: Section 21, they’re out.

Of course, with rents hitting record highs I’ve got an AI scrooge-bot that scours the market and makes a cash machine *kerching* sound every minute I can put the rent up. And I duly do.

If they so much as whimper they can’t afford it, I serve a Section 21. I have them pre-printed. I sleep with them under my pillow.

It brings me comfort to know the misery I could inflict on my customers.

That’s landlord life, according to a number of housing charities and campaign groups.

What’s the point in letting the truth spoil a good narrative? Make the landlord the ogre and then you’ve set up a fine beast to throw stones at on behalf of the poor defenceless tenants.

These were my thoughts as I read the reporting of no-fault evictions in England reaching their highest level in six years. According to figures released by the Ministry of Justice on Thursday covering April to June 2023, compared to the same quarter in 2022, landlord possession claims have increased by 24pc.

What’s particularly interesting is that within the data itself it cites “changes in regulations and rising interest rates with the corresponding increases in mortgages may have contributed to uncertainty for landlords in the short-term and has very likely led to some landlords selling their properties and exiting the rental market”.

It’s there in black and white: the reason why landlords are issuing more Section 21 notices. Legally, right now, that is the only way a landlord can issue notice to claim their property back if they want to sell it. But the twisting of the facts doesn’t make for such a good story when that’s not the tale you want to tell.

As a landlord, I can tell you from the coal face – I have sold, and will continue to sell, properties which do not make economic sense.

I am not a housing provider and I am not a charity. I have no interest in subsidising my tenants’ lifestyles at the expense of my own. And I am not alone. According to research, nearly a third of UK landlords plan on selling at least one property.

With the introduction of the Renters (Reform) Bill to parliament it’s no surprise that landlords who are worried and thinking about leaving the sector are getting out now. Nobody has a clear timeline for when the removal of Section 21 may happen, and what its replacement may look like.

Of course, the whole situation has intensified with the Bank of England relentlessly increasing rates – most recently for the 14th consecutive time. The Bank Rate is now at 5.25pc, up from just 0.1pc. The predictions were that any rises would be slow and steady, but that’s not what’s happened in practice.

As a landlord, you just have to do what you think is best. When your monthly mortgage payments are higher than the rent, and the tax bill from HMRC demands money on money you never even got (all on account of not being able to claim the full mortgage interest as a legitimate expense) it’s no surprise the nail is in the buy-to-let coffin.

The demand for rental housing won’t go away, but the private people who provide it will. Nobody invests to make a loss.

As increasing numbers of landlords come off their low fixed-rate mortgage deals, they will enter an era of lending where many will fail banks’ stress tests and lead to yet more sell-offs. And more Section 21s being served. And more tenants trying to find new homes.

The pain of the housing crisis has only just begun.

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