Life during lockdown

Landlords still have payments to make even if there is a mortgage holiday.  Landlords still have a responsibility to maintain the rented accommodation and are liable if they do not meet those requirements.  Once the mortgage holiday is over, the mortgage interest still has to be paid.  I'm not sure the Mayor, in proposing the tenants to be exempt from rental payments really understands the economies of renting?  will he take responsibility if, say, a wall falls down because there isn't the money to repair it?

It's all well and good saying a landlord should have funds to cover this, but a lot of landlords are elderly people, with one or two properties, who are relying on this as their main source of income and are getting no government help.  One might as well say that the tenants should have built up funds to cover the payment of rent - it is about as realistic. 

By all means do something about large corporate landlords and bad landlords, but don't  look at the market as a whole and don't look at it solely from the point of view of the tenants. Small landlords are feeling a persecuted bunch.  It's not their fault.

The Chancellor needs to be asked to increase the rent a room tax relief as in London there are many people with one or two spare bedrooms but the London rent a room rate is higher than most of the country. When taxed at 40% it’s a big disincentive to private home owners who otherwise could contribute to London’s housing shortage by renting out more rooms. 

And note that further pressure on small landlords who have mortgage costs is only going to reduce supply. 

Totally agree. More should be done to help renters in terms of government support. It's no good offering payment holidays if they still have to be paid later. Who will be able to pay back double rent in the future to pay it back? Makes no sense. Renters instead need discounts/rent deductions so their money goes further. Worth a think. Us single mums have little to no support during this covid-19. Will there be more help available? If so, where? Best of luck!

These discussions seem to always assume that landlords are these horrible people - in our case we started as "accidental landlords" but have found some lovely tenants over the years so have kept the flat.  We rely on that income though so would be in hardship if the rent wasn't paid for any length of time (we have a very low mortgage so a mortgage holiday won't help).   Any solution needs to think of both the landlord and the tenant - expecting landlords to simply pick up the tab for struggling tenants is unfair especially as that is not the case elsewhere in economy. There are already laws to protect tenants - these should be enforced instead of assuming all landlords are terrible or terribly rich.   Rents in London are high because property is so expensive.  

I recently had to leave a property where I rented a room from a private landlord, because the landlord broke so any rules e.g. showing up unannounced whenever he felt like it, not making necessary repairs and refused to do anything about obvious drug use in the property, even after the police was called and he tried to conn me out of my deposit when I wanted to leave. The landlord is not registered as he doesn't need to because there are 4 tenants or less in his property (Islington) 

So many young people are caught with horrible landlords because they can't afford to pay an agency 6-12 months rent up front and more needs to be done in order to supervise the private landlords and offer assistance to tenants.

I am a high risk group but currently employed on self employed agency basis, ie no paid holiday no paid sickness. Working as a keyworker. Should be self isolating but rent and at the start of this rental agency sent a rather nice email about expecting rents to be paid. Levels if anxiety through the roof. Two forms of public transport to get to work and living with the worry that I will catch COVID and then not get paid and working in a capacity which means I cannot get furloughed. Not self employed in usual running own business capacity so do not qualify for government help. Incredibly stressful.

Our landlord is great but the issue we are having is unscrupulous behaviour from letting agency and referencing agencies who misled landlord into taking out a re referencing process he didn't need.. This involved my employer being contacted "off the record" multiple times to confirm my employment status! Not good! Luckily I know my rights but these firms can't behave like this surely? Borderline harassment! Landlord haulted the process in the end as it was expensive and causing tenants distress. 

This is an interesting topic. I have to move ... I found a less than half size accomodation than I had before and the rent is 20% more expensive than the previous was. It annoys me, however only one good thing is, this place is closer to my workplace, a tiny bit easier to go to work every day.

I own my own small business and pay myself a small amount via PAYE and take money out of the business by way of loan repayments (I had put my life savings into it).  Unfortunately that is not recognised by letting agents, landlords or furlough help.  So I had to pay a full year's rent in advance for my rented flat as I fail all the affordability checks - which are designed for the 75% in standard jobs.  I pass credit checks with flying colours and despite paying rent on the button for the last 5 years do not pass affordability checks.  The system is inflexible and is now causing hardship.  If any solution is found to ease rent payments I won't see it because I have already paid.

I rent out a flat, and make a very small profit each month, after I pay the mortgage, agency fees, and high service charge payments to Camden Council. Camden have not offered a reduction, even though they have announced (understandably) severely reduced services. I am a pensioner, and whilst I have some savings, I am worried that if my tenant were to leave or not pay rent I would run through my savings very quickly. I'd be happy to pass on lowered service charge payments to him. I don't know if I'm eligible for a mortgage holiday as a landlord, and have not been contacted by the mortgage provider.

What security might be offered to landlords in the event of rent payments being suspended? It's the thing I'm most worried about. 

i am still able to pay my rent due to being able to work from home so am still paying full rent to my landlord and he has been delaying the rent fro my unemployed roommates so things going OK for me but i think that generally speaking rent should be axed for people who lost their job or are unable to find jobs due to the lockdown.

my Rent  is too high and could hardly afford it even before Covid-19 emerged. Rents in London are ridiculous and making the quality of our lives extremely difficult especially for young people who don;t earn enough to sustain these rents.  Having to share tiny little flats with a group of people because they can't afford to live on their own, or live with their parents, is not right.  NO wonder so many people suffer from mental health problems.  While we are paying off greedy landlords' mortgages their properties are increasing in value by the day.  As tenants we probably increasing the value by making improvements at our own cost while they live in luxury.   This needs to change and rent control introduced as a matter of urgency!

I live in a property owned by the largest landlord in the country - L&Q - despite making massive income for year on year service charge hikes and making millions in profit - they have not offered any of their residents a rental holiday or reduction. This is in stark contrast to indiviudual landlords, who may live off their rental income - being incredibly generous and understanding to their tenants. It is not okay that L&Q are relying on the tax payer via Housing Benefit (for those who are eligible) to take up the slack. This is exactly the same as large profit making supermarkets only paying the minimum wage and the tax payers picking up the tab for staff who used to qualify for tax credits. L&Q should have been made to not impose their 1st April rental and service charge hike at the very minimum as their contribution to Covid19. Please let me know what the largest landlord is offering to London residents who pay rent? What have your discussion been with them? L&Q are a social enterprise so should be living their values now more than ever.

Thank you.

As for what City Hall and Government can do - if you want working professionals like me to stay in London, then something has to be done to make renting in London an attractive option. More housing association properties, more affordable rents, and more regulation (and, crucially, more enforcement capacity within local authorities) on private lets would be a good start.

Yes, increased regulation will cause some landlords to sell properties - but those properties will only be bought up by other (portfolio) landlords, who are professional enough to be happy to comply with regulation. I used to work in private lettings and property management (a sector in dire need of professionalisation), and I feel very comfortable saying that a significant proportion of landlords should just not be landlords. Many of them have absolutely no idea about their legal obligations as a landlord, and as an agent I got quite frankly sick of having to point out that not only did the Landlord and Tenant Act, or the Protection from Eviction Act, exist, but that some breaches are actually criminal offences. 

Let's use this crisis as an opportunity to re-evaluate our rental sector.