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Renting with greedy landlords and letting agents

Wealthy people who buy up houses to let and their treacherous minions the letting agents that bleed their tenants dry make me sick.  Such a despicable example of pure greed and what is the government doing about it?  As usual, absolutely nothing! "There you go, of course you can buy as many houses as you like, and don’t forget to rent them out for as much as you can get so your tenants can cover you’re mortgage."

I really hate way the housing market works these days.  It's very polarised, designed to make the rich richer and the poor poorer!  There is a real shortage of 'affordable housing' in this country now that the property market has gone nuts and house prices have gone through the roof.  The only real option for some of us is to rent, and unless you’re a single teenage mother or an asylum seeker, renting a council house is pretty much out of the question.  So what else do you do?  You rent a house privately of course and that leaves you at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords and their letting agents.

It really grates on me that there is no such thing as fair and reasonable rent.  Landlords are always hiking up the price to get as much money as they can, squeezing tenants for every last penny.  It’s just ridiculous, particularly here in the South East where we live together like sardines.  Some private landlords that rent the house themselves are okay.  I have had good experiences as well as bad.  So many of them however, are just out to get you to pay their mortgages on their second home.  If these people hadn’t bought up all the houses there might be a few left that the rest of us could afford!

House Rent, Letting Agent

When it comes to renting a house, another thing I hate is inspection day.  The letting agency that I rent through at the moment, insist on inspecting the property every six months even though I’ve been there for nearly two and a half years and have always looked after the property!  I have nothing to hide and I am clean and tidy etc., but I just don’t like the thought of these people wandering in when I’m at work (they don’t do inspections at weekend) and nosing around.  It feels almost… degrading.

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Landlords and tenants are exactly the same - they are both human. This means that they are essentially greedy and self-interested. The landlords who protest that the tenants are getting a good deal would say that. The tenants who claim they are being ripped off would say that. If their positions were reversed, they would immediately argue the opposite case. Fairness and good will has nothing to do with real life. People may smile, people may make all the right noises socially, but in reality they don't care if other people live or die. The Good Samaritan is the exception. Most people walk by on the other side. It is in their interests to do so. Would the average tenant give to the beggar on the street? Of course not. They would rather have as much money as possible and giving it away would be the grossest stupidity. The tenant stands in relation to the beggar as the landlord stands to the tenant. The former in each case is the fortunate one keen to hang on to his wealth and keen to disparage the one who has less and would take it from him if he were able. It is the way of things. The economically powerful must needs crush the economically weak or, given half a chance, the weak will rise up and take what they want by force.

Think about that silly quote from the bible:

"Exalt the humble and meek".

In my experience if you exalt the humble and meek, they don't remain humble and meek for very long.

Or, as my rich Indian friend says:

"Never give a peasant too much lift".

It is the same sentiment and how very true it is..

-1

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Tony Iveson - 21-Dec-11 13:22 

Another blog put up by real estate bloodsuckers - you proliferate like ants !

+2

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Bob - 24-Aug-11 22:02 

I've had countless problems with agents and fed up with uneducated complacent agents who think they are the only option.

So I decided to do something about it...

www.IHateLettingAgents.com

Enjoy!

-4

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anon. - 16-Aug-11 22:46 

Yeah, they only reserve respectul treatment for the filthy rich. At one time I thought this country had gotten past that kind of childish pretention, but looks like not.

-2

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David - 25-Jun-11 10:58 

MikeP, I see that your attempt to bring balance to the discussion has resulted in your first response to me having disappeared from the board.

What was your point again?

+4

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iPost - 24-Jun-11 21:10 

MikeP writes: As we are seeing this from diametrically opposed sides, me as a landlord, you as a tenant, we will never agree.

I'll have to disagree with that. You're just argumentative. And no I'm not who you think.

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iPost - 24-Jun-11 21:05 

"I`ve been renting properties for many years and have found that most of the landlords have increased their rents. They have no reason to do this other than fill their greedy pockets."

Clearly you've never heard of inflation then. It seems that some of the realities of life have passed you by.

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MikeP - 20-Jun-11 07:30 

I`ve been renting properties for many years and have found that most of the landlords have increased their rents. They have no reason to do this other than fill their greedy pockets.

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Athair Siochian - 20-Jun-11 01:58 

"but you are only seeing it from your corner." MikeP 09-Jun-2011 17:49

Oh MikeP that did make me laugh the words pot, kettle and black spring to mind!

+4

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pedders - 10-Jun-11 20:16 

ipost : I brought tenants into the equation to bring balance to the discussion, but clearly this is something beyond your comprehension. Are you sure you're not that fellow with an Irish name (Siochan Athair or something) using another user-name? Your arguments are as communistic, irrelevant, and fatuous as his.

Your implication is that landlords don't 'do what they are supposed to do'. That would apply to some - I can't speak for them as I'm not in that category.

As we are seeing this from diametrically opposed sides, me as a landlord, you as a tenant, we will never agree.

0

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MikeP - 9-Jun-11 20:23 

You misunderstand... nothing new there.

You are giving credit to a landlord who is doing what they are supposed to do. Hence, weak and lacks foundation.

As for bad tenants, the discussion is not about them, so why bring them into it?

+3

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iPost - 9-Jun-11 18:53 

Let's be honest here, letting agents are a pretty despicable bunch and landlords who add any fees on top of the rent are no better. The culture of greed in full swing.

Allow me to explain. Letting agents charge a fee to landlords who wish to use their service and in many cases the cost of this will be added to the rent rather than incorporated within it. So what we have is landlords benefiting from a service, letting agents being paid to provide it, while the cost is met by tenants in the form of higher rent who rarely see any benefit to this arrangement.

Then factor in that letting agents, including the one I currently have the misfortune to be currently part-financing, don't exactly rush to tend to repairs and other duties,

Yep, despicable is spot on.

+2

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iPost - 9-Jun-11 18:44 

ipost :
" A responsible landlord should be prioritising repairs and seeing that they are attended to as quickly as possible and not all tenants are bad tenants."

That is precisely what is done, or are you not able to understand that? A sticking letter box flap is less urgent than a leaking pipe or a non-functioning geyser, can you understand that?

Please show me where I said 'all tenants are bad tenants'.

I think you need to learn to read and assimilate what is in front of you.

0

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MikeP - 9-Jun-11 18:44 

A responsible landlord should be prioritising repairs and seeing that they are attended to as quickly as possible and not all tenants are bad tenants.

Your argument is weak and lacks foundation.

+5

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iPost - 9-Jun-11 18:40 

Blimey mikep so you are a landlord as well is there no end to your nefarious activities.

+4

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Boblet - 9-Jun-11 18:06 

Greedy landlords tend to work with greedy agents, and vice versa. The agents I use have a 24 hour call out service, which assigns a priority to the work depending on the nature of the problem and other criteria such as safety and security, and whether children or old people are involved.

Obviously the agents you rent from are bad ones. There are also bad tenants who trash houses, pay rent late or not at all, cause a nuisance, run illegal businesses from the property, and so on. but you are only seeing it from your corner.

-5

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MikeP - 9-Jun-11 17:49 

Let's be honest here, letting agents are a pretty despicable bunch and landlords who add any fees on top of the rent are no better. The culture of greed in full swing.

Allow me to explain. Letting agents charge a fee to landlords who wish to use their service and in many cases the cost of this will be added to the rent rather than incorporated within it. So what we have is landlords benefiting from a service, letting agents being paid to provide it, while the cost is met by tenants in the form of higher rent who rarely see any benefit to this arrangement.

Then factor in that letting agents, including the one I currently have the misfortune to be currently part-financing, don't exactly rush to tend to repairs and other duties,

Yep, despicable is spot on.

+2

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iPost - 9-Jun-11 17:32 

I have been studying the effects of greed through landlords and money lenders over the past decade and come up with some very interesting facts.

I have been a landlord for several years and a renter for several years also. So I know both sides of the story. Don't try and tell me I don't know the world and how it works.

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athair_siochain - 6-Jun-11 05:45 

But Athair. Some people need to rent properties and need the existence of landlords. I often work interstate and need to rent an apartment for 3 to 6 months at a time, as I am too far from home. I am lucky that landlords rent their homes out to me for the short times I need them. Without them I`d be stuffed.

They supply a very much needed service. I don`t believe they are evil because of this.

+1

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Graeme - 4-Jun-11 06:44 

Here here! I'm with you on this one. I've just been given 2 months notice to quit after 10 months of being in a house which I was told was a long term let. I either find somewhere else or pay another £50 per month plus another £150+VAT @ 20% for them to type another contract on a piece of paper. I have a child to raise, work full time and still can't afford another £50 per month. Of course, I could always get a mortgage but there is about £75,000 deposit missing from my bank account! Forgot to mention, my landlord wants another £30 per month from me whilst he is building an extension in the back garden, so the place will be like a bomb site. He can think again.

+1

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Hayley - 1-Jun-11 18:55 

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