The Castle is toppling

We are told that by 2021 about one quarter of UK households will be in the rented sector. That is not too surprising given that just one generation back it was only a fortunate few who could afford to buy their own house, that is if there were any freeholds to be had.

Perhaps you may find this further statistic a bit more of a shock: that home ownership is reported to be at a 30 year low. Given that us Brits have always aspired to own our own place (the Castle Complex as I like to call it) this decline is not so much a blip or slump but more of a trend, a fundamental lifestyle change. 

Bearing in mind what appears to be pretty overwhelming evidence that the high percentage of housing in the form of rented accommodation is here to stay I find that, upon quizzing private landlords about their experiences, there is an alarmingly high level of distress and upset amongst them.

In fact, many feel that they are being demonised as a major contributing factor to the current housing crisis and perceived as being behind just about every social malaise going.

Fortunately the days of Rachman, the infamous slum landlord are long gone and prosecutions of maverick and illegally operating landlords are thankfully low in number. A few horror stories of substandard houses and amenities are regarded by the popular media to be in the public interest and fill a lot of column space.

My rough straw poll survey shows that around 40% of private landlords have had a bad time with tenants ranging from rent arrears to damage to property or have been the focus of any anti social situations arising between tenants and  neighbours. A tenant may come with the best of references and manners but as with all of us personal situations and circumstances can arise to cause aberations from normal decent behaviour.

There are also demands on individuals and families in terms of work and relationships which tend to get in the way of, as it used to be called, putting down roots in an area. We have to a certain extent be flexible about where we live and the rented sector is ideally suited to meet such demands.

Not all of those I have come across became a landlord willingly. 

Those inheriting a second home or starting up again in a new relationship and with a surplus property took this route often out of an initial short term necessity.

A few individuals I spoke with felt that they had been missing out on not having a residential investment. Their friends and acquaintances had already dipped their toes in the water and so not to lose face it was a case of  having to join that particular club.

We are all familiar with the largely downward projections for our pension and rainy day funds and so putting hard earned monies into bricks and mortar has seemed sensible and low risk. 

Even so the financial crisis a decade ago served to seriously disrupt the retirement plans of quite a few who felt they had made the right decision to go into property. This included seasoned professional investors with a large portfolio and the single purchase amateurs alike.

So, to the present and the private landlord has assumed an unwelcome persona in society and is being relentlessly penalised for having the courage and gumption to invest in property. It is as though it is sharp or crooked business practice to charge a tenant a rent and then use that income to meet obligations and responsibilities to a lender and gradually pay off the original mortgage amount. It is of course the normal course of investing and not black magic or a confidence trick.

There are attacks on private landlords from Central Government and the Opposition Parties and an increasingly vocal and apparently influential pressure group, mainly London-centric comprising those who feel it is their undeniable right to get on the housing ladder as an owner occupier before they reach the age of 30. 

Surely, the soon to be quarter of the UK population occupying as tenants are not stigmatised for it. 

Being a private landlord therefore appears to be a thankless role.

There is, I fully accept, a far from workable and sustainable housing strategy in this country but until there is a cohesive and affordable way to even start to tackle the crisis we should acknowledge and appreciate the private landlord in what they are doing to keep this nation with a roof over their heads.