Rising Rents and our Muppety Mayor
Monday 24th April 2023
When I moved to Brixton in 1991 it had a ropey reputation. Property was very cheap - with good reason!
It is barely recognisable now. Most dealers have been shuffled East to Peckham these days.
Generally cycling to work, I do use the tube about once a week but try to avoid rush hour.
I remembered why, when on Thursday morning, I had to be in for an early 9am meeting. On turning onto the main drag to the station I was swept along in a tide of youth making their way to work. No seat for me on the Victoria line - despite the fact I was twice the age of the rest of the passengers, happily seated - eyes firmly fixed on their phones and air-pods in ears.
I don’t mind standing - the seats are filthy anyway - it is just funny.
There are so many young people back in London now, rightly keen to work alongside colleagues and to advance their careers. Better surely to be in town, near the bars, clubs and restaurants, than spend hours commuting on our rickety railway system to some slumbering dormitory suburb.
JP Morgan has just announced it wants their senior people in the office 5 days a week, to lead by example and to mentor, plus make quick decisions. Woe betide any junior who doesn’t show their face in that firm.
This tide of humanity confirmed to me why it is that every time we put a small flat to rent on the property portals, we are obliged to take it down again within 12 hours. The number of calls we get becomes disruptive and it only takes one good tenant to make a happy landlord.
Talking of good tenants, there have been press stories about agents and landlords asking potential tenants for personal statements, copy bank details and passport photos before even considering them. This does seem somewhat intrusive and in our view at STANLEY PROPERTY LONDON rather unnecessary.
We simply Google search potential tenants, before a viewing and certainly before submitting any offer to our landlords. Nearly all have a public online presence - almost odd if they don’t these days. We don’t keep this online data, but it does allow us to know who we are talking to at a viewing and to ask the right questions to help get a deeper understanding so we can smooth the process for the tenant and landlord alike. It also helps us spot the criminal sub-letting gang enquiries which are a real problem for the unwary landlord in London.
Rents have shot up and are eye-wateringly high. The naive left-wing lobby groups like Shelter and Generation Rent plus the undeservedly aforementioned Muppety Mayor -Sadiq Khan’t- wang-on about rent caps and punishing landlords further. They fail to recognise that it is private landlords leaving the market which lessens supply and in turn increases rents.
The issue is serious and needs to be taken so. We need landlords back in the market not forced out.
The lobby groups should be joining the industry in pushing The Treasury to re-instate allowing landlords to offset interest against income before tax, thereby keeping up availability of rental stock and easing rent pressure.
Sorry. Got to go. I’ve just seen a seen a pair of Iberian pigs fly by and land in our oak tree. Where is my crossbow?
Until next time.
PB
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