Which Loser Should Landlords Vote For In The 2020 Election?

A good humoured post as usual.

Interestingly enough many people do not want to own a house.

They prefer to rent life from cars to mobile phones to sky and netflix subscriptions.

Note that not one bank has stood up and say 'save a bit' .Nationwide is trying . Oh sorry thats actually a building society.

Note that selling rental cars etc don't have any controls . Hmmm.

If anyone else driving one of these brand new shiny 4x4 cars and showing off the latest mobile phone @ £100 a month tells me that they cannot afford a house I think that I will hit them.

Says he with an 8 year old car and a phone old enough to have a key in the back to wind it up.

I can’t vote for the main parties as they all wont to bash the Landlord its only a one way street the Tenant

You may not like the PM but the office of PM should be respected, in this regard it would be good to see your language toned down a little.

This election is really only about Brexit and surely the biggest threat to both democracy and to landlords is from the left!

I've been a landlord for nearly 20 years and have a decent sized portfolio. I'm now selling up some years before I intended.

Osborne's S24 is fully in-force from next April and means that some landlords face more tax than they earn. A completely ridiculous state of affairs. The Tories are now promising the end of S21 which is a safety net to deal with any problem tenants. It's already pretty ineffective but the alternative S8 is diabolical. They promise reforms but like you've said in your article, promises mean little.

Then I look at Labour which would be so much worse. As you point out they're also clueless about housing.

Homelessness is set to ramp up whomever wins the election because landlords are quitting. If people could afford to buy a house they already would have, or will anyway.

There is no sense in politics and I won't be voting for any of them.

Hmmmm ‘politics isn’t for everyone’ - you’re being ironic, eh?! Well, actually, politics, of some hues, is ‘for’ everyone, but looks out for the few....so yeah - nicely spotted ;)
We are asked to identify ourselves here as ‘tenant’, or ‘landlord’, ‘agent’, ‘legal’ or ‘enthusiast’ etc. which makes sense on a site like this, obviously. But of course my interest are plural, I’m a landlord, but my son, struggling away in London, is a tenant. My elderly mother rents her sheltered flat. My neighbours are a mix of home owners and renters. It matters to me that my tenants feel they have a good home on a fair deal, and that we get a return on investment that we rely on for income. I wish my son had as fair a deal; he doesn’t.
So, it is of course a much bigger issue -as you say- than what the various politicians offer landlords, because, we’re citizens too - with kids needing schools, elderly parents needing social care, and all of us needing health services -cradle to grave, a world that doesn’t implode from the reckless ways we treat it, and the security of a suitable home. To me it’s plain which manifesto carries a hopeful future for the many, not just the few....and that includes the many landlords making modest returns, ....and the few making a packet? Well, they’re doing ok and they’ll continue to do so whatever. Thanks for your mentioning the unmentionable and reminding us to look beyond the rent book when placing an ‘x’ in the box :)

Not sure I entirely agree Linda. Which party gave us Clause 24 (unable to claim mortgage interest as an expense), scrapped Wear & Tear Allowance, Tenant Fees Ban, Right To Rent, Extra 3% Stamp Duty, Universal Credit fiasco with rent paid direct to tenant, etc. And now pledges to scrap Section 21. Yes it’s the Conservatives who are really Liberals, so having given it more thought, you’re correct Linda, the threat is from the Left.

Wishing all Landlords And Tenants and peaceful and happy Christmas and a harmonious New Year.

I do not respect any office if the office holder is an idiot, whatever it is. I've seen some of them close up
Idiots reply on respect for the office covering them and making them look less of an idiot: even respectable.
If people don't respect an office, then the idiots will be less likely to try to hold it as it will magnify their stupidity.
Then the better people could try to attain it, knowing they can improve credibility and respect for an office.

Many people didn't like the previous prime minister, but had some respect (even sympathy) with her. The current one is a disgrace in every aspect I can currently think of(women like letter boxes, glistening otters, girlie swat, how many illegitimate children?, die in a ditch, traitors...).

A bit suprising The Landlord entered the election debate issue; but no criticism for doing so.

The election was a cop out, from MPS who should have been locked up in the Commons until they got to an agreement (they nearly got to one workable solution when May was in charge, but was undermined by some on her own side for trying, those who lied to us). If the election results in no majority, we'll be back there again.

Great post and really positive to see people identifying with ‘I’m not just a landlord’. Some of the rhetoric (true) from Labour concerns me (as a landlord) some of the rhetoric (false) about Labour is downright misleading. I will look back on the last 9years of failed government, recognise that no future government is going to be great for landlords but vote Labour because our public services are on their knees and are in desperate need of funding. I am more than just a landlord.

As a landlord I am happy to pay more and earn less because people and the planet we live on are much more important to me than more profit. Obviously this is a momentous once-in-a-generation election that will have an extreme impact, not only on our society, but worldwide. Without going into a long political statement here (you can see that stuff on my fb page if feel so inclined!), I can state that I will be voting Labour as my conscience would kill me if I put money before people and the planet. Thanks for the question, I'm glad to have had the opportunity to answer it.

I think the language should be ramped up rather than toned down. These people in government have chosen to represent the whole country in return for salaries and benefits. Along with that they have to take some responsibility and be held to account. It would be entirely backwards to tone down the language.

Couldn’t agree more with all that! Ill vote with my conscience as always. And it’ll be for a safe prosperous Britain not sold off to the lowest non dom non taxpayer bidder or Dictatorship. As a landlord I’m as ethically as I can be & have no fear of tougher legislation but at the same time won’t allow rouge/destructive tenants to be given the upper hand or ‘benefit of the doubt’. Especially when there isn’t any! Have a non-media influenced & family free season!

The only way to vote in this election is tactically.
The conservative govt are lying about everything. Can't trust them. Won't vote for them.
The LibDems have good policies but won't get a majority.

Tactical voting is the only way to ensure they have a voice in a hung parliament. Checks and balances on all the parties this way.
https://tacticalvote.getvoting.org/ tells you where to place your cross on the 12th.
That's my recommendation.

I’ve said for many years, those on housing benefits should not be falling into the hands of private landlords. The system has been failing for decades, and everything from selling council properties off (too cheaply), to local authority budget cuts, to low pay and irregular contract working, has brought us to where we are today. These issues will not be solved by beating landlords with an even bigger stick. At the other end of the scale, how do Government propose people actually get a chance to buy? House prices are getting so far out of reach, folk are on 30/35 year mortgages just to keep the payments within a monthly budget. Help to buy scams ( oops I meant schemes) are exactly that, and hopefully potential buyers see through it and stay well clear. Also, from what I see, younger generations are not interested in being tied to mortgages, they like the freedom of no maintenance or repair expenses, they don’t have the same practical skills as older generations, because they are encouraged into white collar jobs from school. They also tend to move quite often, different towns and cities, chasing another job title as they climb the ladder. Whatever happens, treating privately owned property like a council house is not going to work.

I have been Labour all my life,but very disillusioned (piss-poor efforts to fight Brexit,anti-semitism,plans to penalise landlords) Hate nearly everything the Tories stand for too,and Boris-Dear God!I will be voting Lib.Dem this time,as the best of a bad lot.I was tempted not to vote at all,but I think it is a right denied to many,and we should use it.

As a landlord i do not fear more scrutiny of checks on standards of my houses as they are all palaces until certain tenants move in but thats the luck of the draw. I do not fear rents being capped at inflation in fact I would welcome it as my rents would increase quicker as I have never increased rent to any of my tenants whilst they remain in situ . The extra stamp duty just reduces the price a landlord will pay for a house so its the seller who loses out.

I am extremely worried about the possibility of being forced to sell any of my properties at a discounted rate to a tenant. Who sets the prices and the discounts or length of time they have to be a tenant. I do worry about having to pay tax on any homes other than my own as suggested by Corruptbyn 'Will this be retrospective ?I worry about being told I have to accept DSS tenants. This wouldn't be an issue if rent was paid direct but it isn't so it is. Also do politicians realise how difficult it is to insure your property if you take on a DSS tenant. If they were to legislate against the insurance companies to stop their anti DSS policies it could well sort out the problem.

Also why do they all want to get rid of section 21. This is the only safety net that landlords have left. Landlords do not want to get rid of good tenants why would they good tenants make money for the landlords, Just because in London they buy them to flip a few months later as they go up in value. We dont all live and buy in London. Up in the north west the value of property is more likely to go down are any of these clowns going to repay drops in prices. In my experience all politicians treat private landlords lower than whale shit. In a few years when there are none of us left they might wake up to the fact they have no housing stock of their own and landlords are no longer paying tax to treasury.

The constant demonisation of landlords along with ever increasing regulation, extended rights to tenants, squeezes on our incomes plus plus plus just means I’m now looking to exit the market. A 4% net return assuming I get 12mths rent and no expensive repair or legal bills is a complete waste of my time & resources. I’ll let the state & charitable sector pick up that slack and if they can do it better then why the fxxk should I bother? A curse on all your political houses and good luck with trying to manipulate a phenomenally complicated market. Just don’t forget that law of unintended consequences which will for sure bite your virtue signalling arses. So, for those reasons, I’m out. Happy Christmas to all... ☺️

I can't believe that any landlord could consider voting for Labour, as they would relish ruining every one of us. My wife and I, like many people, have invested our life savings in property and nobody has the right to take that from us. I just wish that we had invested in property in another country where jealousy and envy plays a lesser part in politics.
I should add that we are model landlords in Scotland who do everything by the book and recognise that curbs have to be made on rogue landlords who treat their tenants and property poorly. In Scotland that already applies, other than the fact that some safety laws apply to the PRS but not the SRS, which is mad as some of the worst slums in Scotland are council owned estates where nobody wants to live and many of the homes lie derelict. In these areas improvement means demolition, just as it did in Central London in places like the huge Aylesbury and Heygate Estates in Sothwark, only a short walk from Westminster.

People/country will thrive on Win-win deals in free market economy with minimal government meddling/regulation

The job of socialism (left) or cultural Marxism is to force win-lose deals through regulations, price controls, taxation towards wealth creation and big government for endless welfare programs.

These eventually kill off competition, destroy capitals needed for a healthy economy. The end results are runaway inflation and much poorer people and the county as a whole.

Once among the greatest nations, like Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba etc., are unrecognized today, due to reckless socialist regime. People should pay attention to what is going on in these countries closely.

On contrary, disguised as socialism, China is more of a market economy with much less welfare programs than most western developed countries. It is on course to surpass America in not distant future.

Our universities and schools are now full of professors teachers preaching socialist ideology and Keynesian economy theory, which puts western civilisation in a path of a downward spiral.

Market is a place where the right level of price is discovered but not through government rent cap, heavy tax etc.

Venezuela put a cap on the price of a tub of tooth paste, which caused people queueing for a day to get government subsidized toothpaste. Manufacturers didn't make money and went bankrupt. Now the price of essentials have raised millions of percent. Shops shelves are empty and people are starving, protesting and leaving the county in droves. Results of socialism political elites' promises that they really can't keep in a system that designed to destroy wealth and talents.

Examples of taxing the rich heavily to pay for the poor, the rich leaves the country… Taxing the big companies at uncompetitive levels, they do business somewhere else, you get 0 of whatever level you want…

It is proven in the history, socialism doesn't work and Carl Marx theorized so well about the productivity, price, time, etc. except his ignore of price is determined by market, or who wants to pay what, because he spent his whole life with pen pushing (proletariats exploitation theory) not a single day at a paid job. You kidding me on?????

Markets are how people get wealthy. Politics is how their wealth is redistributed and squandered. (A quote from Bill Bonner).

Politicians are elites. When politicians ignore people's mandate of leaving the EU, do you ever trust them to act in your best interest?

It's not a question of what you voted for in 2016, but what principle you stand on.

An alliance of political parties in this country know what they want, not yours!

I hate all politicians, they all disappoint, most are self serving cnuts.

I do not support any party but in the interest of fair play I think you need to include a video of the two other parties looking stupid, there are loads of videos on YouTube to choose from.

Based on the article above it seems that Lib Dems do the least damage to Landlords, however, it is never what a Party says but what they don't say. Labour's plans look scary and the Conservatives offer more of the same.

How hard would it have been for Tories to offer to allow existing Landlord's to convert property to a company with same ownership of Landlord giving a means to avoid stamp duty, so the landlord could then claim the tax offsets taken by Osbourne?

I imagine some will like the revolving deposit, might save a lot of deposit protection claims, despite the simplicity of the deposit protection schemes it seems a lot of Landlords forget, often a signal of bad landlord.

I am wary of 100% licencing of Landlords as some Council simply use their existing licencing as a income generating mechanism.

If it were down to me I would give a serious pruning to MP's, based on US ratios we only need about 105 to cover our population.

So I would sack the lot of them!

What is your take on this? I would love to hear from anyone on the subject as it is a major concern

https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/01/labour-tax-plan-could-stop-parents-passing-on-homes-to-kids-10095642/

Labour gets my vote. I look at Corbyn's record and he's consistently voted the right way. Against crazy wars which have caused untold suffering, death and millions of refugees. All these words like "Marxists" "commies" "socialist" etc are all just meaningless labels repeated by billionaire media proprietors pulling peoples strings. We've already got socialism, socialism for the rich who get bailed out by government. And yes, climate change needs to be taken seriously. Not keen on a right wing Brexit, I think it'll just put us more subservient to US business. May look at Labour's deal. Not saying their proposals are beyond scrutiny but willing to give them a try. So yes I agree with people who say it's much, much more than just being a Landlord.

If you want tenants to be able to pay the rent think carefully how you vote! Just look at Venezuela.

A merry Christmas to the Landlord and his readers
One law has held true since taxes and kings/politicians began:
If you want less of something tax it more.
So the British government wants less rental property regardless of what party is elected.
You would all do better to vote for Nigel Farage and vote the rubbish out :)

I wonder how many tenants will have been presueded to spend their rent money or taken out loans / credit to buy things that they do not really need on this consumer binge called BLACK FRIDAY?

Banks are reducing savings interests rates to virtually zero and at the same time upping interest rates to borrowers.

You get the crazy situation where people who have been savy with their money being penalised and those who wave their plastic cards to buy the latest bit of 'must have' being helped out by various debt schemes.

@andrewa As a Sikh (lapsed) Farage definitely does not get my b@****d vote. A one trick pony peddling a lie.

P.s feel as if I can swear on here as it seems the general tone set by the blogger lol.

Thanks for the post, babe. It's a useful summary of the proposed policies. I am worried about the loss of s21, but I'm getting rather used to the pattern of every single party putting the boot into private landlords whenever they need a popularity boost. I'm tired of the constant struggle. I don't even tell people I'm a landlord any more, because I know I will go down in their estimation if I do. How pathetic is that?! My profession is so denigrated and universally hated that I can't tell people what I do?! FFS. Might as well just say I work for Huntingdon Life Sciences or something. I have no idea who I will vote for, but it won't be Corbyn. Because I happen to be of Jewish descent, and I'm damned if I'll be dumb enough to be a turkey voting for Christmas. Other than that, it's anybody's game right now. We'll see. Anyway, I hope you all have a quiet, plumbing-crisis-free winter, everyone, however you place your cross on the 12th.

I loathe and detest the Tories.
But I loathe Labour and the LibDems even more.
No way can the UK risk a Labour or LibDem Govt.
Reluctantly I will have to vote Tory.
They are the least worst and BrExit must be achieved.
However such is the risk of the rent controlling and property expropriating Marxist Labour Party attaining power in 5 years time that I consider a Tory victory buys time for me to get out of the AST lettings market.
Labour may not win the GE in 5 years time.
However I am not prepared to gamble with my capital and hoped for equity on that not happening.
Selling up remains the only valid LL strategy or by whatever means stopping letting on one AST to one household.
Can't see how RTB could be achieved if you have 4 strangers on one AST!
Corbyn is a terrorist sympathiser and under no circumstances would I want this man anywhere near the UK levers of power.
He is a danger to National Security!

I mostly agree to Paul Barrett 👍👍(thumbs up).

UK is now about 80% socialism. Politician parties are becoming more left leaning including conservative.

Labour is proved suicidal for UK through disastrous nationalisation repeatedly in history to kill off competition which benefits consumers, through reckless government spending to widen deficit, through bad foreign policy meddling in the war.

Most notoriously, under G Brown, Labour sold a large proportion of the country's gold reserve in 2000/2001 at rock bottom price around $200/oz. He even announced his intention for selling beforehand! If that doesn't send anyone's blood boiling, I don't know what will?

Price for gold now? $1450/oz after some correction (2 months ago was £41000/kg).

In 1960s, Cuba was much wealthier than Singapore, which was still full of mud huts. After capitalist Lee kuan Yow set the path in 1970s, Singapore has now been transformed to one of the best nations in the world today.

Although we don't have much property rights, property should still be a part of your investment portfolio because it is tangible asset like gold to diverse your risk, especially in an environment when you can't get a decent interest for your money in the bank while inflation risk is higher due to money printing. Diversification is key to your investment success, a topic for another day.

In a word, conservative will at least delay our slide-down to a sink hole, while Labour and other parties will get us there much faster!

A good place to check price for gold, silver and platinum is bullionvault, where there is a chart showing different time frames, in different currencies etc.

Great post as ever landlord.....pretty well balanced, amusing too, slightly irreverent.....great!! Wish you hadn’t written it though as the comments are getting more and more political.....

love your “rising tide” statement couldn’t agree more.

Paul Ramsden. (comment 29.11.19) You have it in a nutshell.I have always struggled to find a better way to invest my hard earned cash, which I had already paid tax on from a "normal" job. I have given the necessary respect and attention to a good tenant. I find it offensive that I can be dictated to as to whether, and how I can cash in my investments to provide for my retirement. We have to pay even more tax on it anyway. I do not call myself a capitalist, I call it self sufficiency and in the process I have given people good homes.

@Juan
Why are people who make a success of their lives in the UK treated as BAD people ?
My daughter took a degree and then went on to take a second one. She took student loans an part time jobs to support herself.

We did a rough calculation. If she had left school at 16 (the leaving age at that time) and taken a basic job then she would have had money to party and spend as opposed to investing herself as my daughter did.

The money in the pocket for the whole period did not equalise until my daughter reached 30 when of course her salary showed benefits.

In the 1960s my father who ws a qualified chartered engineer bought his own house. he mortgage rate went up dramatically under labour and I watched him walk the streets worrying until he took a second job. Labour put a cap on who could have pay rises. The cap was £8500 . He had to live with the ludicrous situation where his less qualified assistant with less responsibility got a pay rise and earned the same as he did.

Labour stands for equalising everyone regardless of whether the get qualifications at a cost too themselves or sit and watch sky ,netflix or play computer games all day at a cost to the rest of the working population.

@ Nige. In a nut shell, we are living in an upside down world, much more so than in 1960s. For example, some other countries (Germany, Greece etc.) government bonds have negative yields, meaning you pay the lender to borrow your money. Soon you might be charged for your money in the bank like in Japan. Unheard of?

We are controlled by a left-wing propaganda machine including media, education, political agenda etc.

The rising socialism (collectivism) has caused lots of damages:

*students long lost competitiveness to their counterparts in other countries such as China and Singapore

*Rather than going to work to support themselves and contribute to the society, some are proud to live like parasites (because they can), worse, to use drugs etc. to put extra burden on NHS

*these people demand equality, point fingers to the rich for their problems, accuse capitalism for wealth gap. Politicians cater for them to get their votes. That is how wealth is squandered

*Lots of other BS political correctness, biased equalities such as
Feminism (used as a tool purposely like #metoo, rather than a balanced approach, I am a woman anyway). Morals are corrupted and morale is worsening.
……
Western civilisation is rapidly deteriorating. Our world generally is going in a downward spiral. History will be repeated and lessons are never learned.

Hope you are prepared for the financial and social risks that lie ahead.

Forgot to say:

Socialism is to bite the hand that feed.

Just look a country of south Africa (i think it was Rhodesia), where the land were mostly owned by white farmers who were experienced and productive.

The socialist agenda of poor locals rebelled. The white left for good or got killed. But locals can't manage the farms and produce food. Government lost tax revenues from the land…

@Juan
are you sure that you have not bugged my house or telephone ? !!!
Others on here should read your post and read it again.

It is to late for me to worry as I worked solidly until I was 70 mainly because the inadequates have more fin rights than I do.

Take last years fiasco for me. My daughter has a house and took the legal route to evict the tenant If I can put this in perspective.Most of the work , paper and repairs was carried out by me at 70 yrs old.

(My daughter works very closely with me).

Miss Fatty with the big TV and 2 cats costing £1000 each took exception to being evicted and stopped the statutory payment of housing benefit to ourselves. The poor thing didn't have enough money for the deposit (only for cats) and had a council bond for the deposit.

During the notice period she let the cleaning routine go to pot ,damaged doors, the cats stained the carpets. She damaged plumbing etc etc.

Fortunately for us and unfortunately for her next landlord she moved out leaving a house that had to be redone from top to bottom. It took one year ..yes one year for the inadequately trained council people to argue how much we could claim.

Anyway its a long story But never again will DHSS tenants get a house from her and the Romanians in there now keep the house so you could eat off the floor with rent paid on the dot.

I had English builders in my own house who were more interested in reading the Sun newspaper and drinking tea and rushing to the pub by 1.30.
On the other hand I have a Romanian cleaner who works for every minute she is here and never stops.

What is the difference ? Her socialist upbringing means that she speaks English better than the builders but she realises that back in her own country there are very few handouts and you work to survive. WORK is a 4 letter word to most I see in the UK.

You mention the money problems of negative interest.
What is interesting is that the move towards flashing your card instead of paying with available cash is putting the working population into debt. They are on a treadmill to earn ,earn,earn just to pay their debts. One interesting worldwide trend is that people are using cash deposit boxes more and buying more safes.

Preparing for the future ? Yep spending every penny I can because if I don't the B******* will sure as hell make sure that they tax what I leave to my estate.

Socialism ? I have a friend who is in dire need of help financially due to health problems and as a result she is getting treatment on the NHS.(she has worked all her life and will go back to work as soon as she is able)
She wrote to the Labour MP and was ignored.
She wrote to her Conservative MP on the adjoining area and he helped her.
That says everything.

@armadip
“ Marxists" "commies" "socialist" etc are all just meaningless labels repeated by billionaire media proprietors pulling peoples strings.”

Of course the readers of this fine blog are mostly “billionaire media proprietors”

2 quotes that sum up labour and their socialist ilk are

Socialism - ideas so good that the are compulsory

Socialism always starts out let be equal and law the trains run on time and ALWAYS end up with people having to eat their own pets

What shocked me about the results of the election is not that Con won but I am utterly shocked that there were still enough people in the country who voted for the 3 least trustworthy, stupid, dangerous ( JC, DA and JM) imaginable
200 odd seats. Wtf!

Ps Ex landlord now. All sold for many of the reasons stated above.

@Grumpy
Well done you.
I am envious.
Hope to be all sold up too.
Gonna take the next 4 years but hope to be out of AST letting by then.
I should have sold up in 2016.
Prices were better than than now.
The Tories are now threatening even higher CGT for LL just like the Labour Party was.
There is no doubt being an AST LL is now a busted flush.
I'm planning on being a lodger LL.
So no S24 taxes or CGT or even tax on lodger rent.
Am looking for a 3/4 bed house.
No more than 3 lodgers as including the live-in LL that keeps below the Mandatory HMO Licensing threshold.
Very few houses could comply with the new HMO requirements.
Obviously make sure NOT to buy in Addtional or Selective Licensing areas.

@paul
Good luck.....It’s a moving target

The final kick in the balls was even though manchester council own website stated you needed a licence for HMO where 5 or more people lived in the flat. Apparently this was “incorrect” and their local regulations meant they had decided this was 3 people now.
So the 1100ft apartment with huge bedrooms but only one bathroom was not good enough and we would be carve up one of the bedrooms and some how shoe horn in another toilet. There is no minimum size for the toilet so you could ruin a nice flat With a 2ft2 bog.

The entire council public sector work force is like a train with 10 carriages in. The rear 5 is simply full of useless public sector pencil pushers slowing the train down adding nothing but dead weight.

Good luck

@grumpy
Yep I believe your sentinents are shared by many many LL.
But what can you do!?
Can't believe what your Council required.
It seems they make up the rules as they go along.
I'm not even sure it is legal.
How can a LL be expected to plan an investment when these regulations seem so arbitrary.

Selling up seems an extreme stance to take but it seems to assume a logic all of it's own when a LL is faced with the issues you have experienced.
I believe there should be National standards.
All this Localism is causing chaos.
Councils should not be allowed to have different regulation from National ones.
These regulations are just making investment in other than single letting unviable and in many case single lettings are unviable.............which is why LL have chosen multiple occupancy which Councils are now doung their best to eradicate.
Either way it forces the LL to sell up!!
How does that help Cpuncils house the ever burgeoning tenant demand!?
Fortunately I have to date avoided all these silly regulations but I wouldn't bet on them not being introduced in my areas which is why I will be following your lead and selling up.

It used to be so simple vefore 2015!!
As mentioned I am endeavouring to become a lodger LL.
I'd love a council to tell me I had to change my home disposition to fit in a bog because I had 3 unrelated lodgers.
It is clearly bonkers that any property should have to ve changed UNLESS there are more than 4 occupiers which is when the National Mandatory HMO standard applies.
Bonkers though even these regulations are it is those that should apply to all all councils.

I believe many LL are flouting tgese stupid council regulations either knowingly or unknowingly.
Either way if discovered the LL could be hit with massive fines.
Simply not worth the risk resulting in LL adopting a pragmatic strategy of selling up.
Who can blame them.
It seems the PTB in all their various guises are obsessed with getting rid of LL and creating millions of homeless.
I simply don't understand the logic of what the PTB are doing.
Tenants need more LL and more rental properties to keep rental properties more affordable
Govt and Council actions are causing exactly the opposite.
I have to confess I haven't a clue what they are all playing at.
All I know I am not prepared to stick around playing their silly games at potentially vast financial detriment to myself
So I like many other LL wilm be flowing your lead.
I hope to be all sold up in 4 years time!!!

I think the PTB (had to look that up!) are only interested in killing off the Borrow To Let market. With the exception of the stamp duty disparity for second properties the rest of the measures seem to mostly disadvantage those LL with significant leverage in their portfolio.

Putting this side of the market under pressure may not be quite so daft as it seems, as a hike in interest rates would very likely have had the same effect, mind you with these measures in place a hike in rates is going to amplify that somewhat.

I think the unfairness is where a corporation will be able to offset interest against income going forward, an individual (or small group) cannot/will not have the same treatment.

This, to me, is very like the IR35 regulations - which still muddy the waters for consultants and subbies in the IT industry, but not for major corporates.

@Grumpy
Yep I can see how you reach your conclusions.
Perhaps the issues over alleged overleverage is not being compared fairly with BTL and residential mortgages
I would suggest that leverage homeowners are far more of a risk to the economy that LL.

I don't know of any LL that has ever achieved 95% LTV and yet there are millions of homeowners leveraged at such levels.
Unlike a homeowner a tenant out of a job IMMEDIATELY qualifies for HB which whilst probably not sufficient to pay the full contractual rent will be sufficient for the LL mortgage to be paid.
This is NOT the case for mortgaged homeowners.
It can be 9 months before a homeowner qualifies for any sort of welfare assistance.
So most LL leveraged at about 75% LTV are far less of a risk to the economy if IR i crease than highly leveraged homeowners.

LL simply don't sell up when IR increase.
The whole issue with the assault on leveraged LL is nothing to do with alleged risk to the economy and it is all do do with appealing to GR for votes.
Such votes might now be considered unnecessary in light of changed electoral demographics.
Essentially Govt doesn't need to bother chasing the votes of the whiney GR who would never vote Tory anyway even if Govt gave them a house.
Therefore it should follow that Govt doesn't need to attack the PRS which remains the only realistic housing solution for many in the short to mid-term.
There is simply no other form of tenure that is able to be supplied quickly which works immediately.
Clearly this solution won't be there to the extent it is required if Govt persists in its bonkers attacks on the leveraged LL especially those trading in their own names.
It would obviously greatly assist those who wish to buy if MMR is abandoned to facilitate homebuyers being able to have IO mortgages with no term end date.
Just like most LL except most LL will still be subject to PRA and LTV restrictions that homebuyers won't be subject to.

Govt could send a message to private LL that it wants them by abandoning the SDLT surcharge; abolishing S24, abandoning abolishment of the AST and S21.
Enhancing the eviction process where rent default occurs.
Such actions could even encourage experienced LL like you to return to the PRS!!!