Rent crisis: is it time to get rid of landlords?

Landlords say the worst housing crisis in decades is not their fault. And they’re sick of being cast as the “slumlord,” “parasite,” “bad boys”.

Years of government tax changes and tougher regulation, paired with soaring mortgage rates and new rental reform, has many traditional landlords saying it's not worth doing it anymore and warning of a "mass exodus" from the market.

And experts insist that would be bad news for renters.

But while those who've been in the business for years threaten to leave, a whole new generation of landlords are coming onto the market - and they're doing it on TikTok.

Rebranding themselves as ‘property investors’, these #propertytok landlords are teaching their social media followers how to buy and rent out property to tenants - and get rich in the process. So will these influencer landlords save renters?

Produced, presented and edited: Milena Dambelli
Produced, filmed and edited: Frances Rankin
Executive Producer: Kieron Bryan

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[Nigelfarij]

£180 / course, 1700 sign ups. That's £300, 000. He makes his money from selling courses, not property development.

[beautanner]

To the question "People want to own a home, but you're buying up all the houses", the guy responds "I'm not buying up all the houses, I'm just doing what I do and taking care of my family" - yes you are, by buying up an outsized share of scarce housing lol.

[seanrm]

What happens when millions of renters reach retirement age and their state pension won't even cover their rent?

[hatientacetlen]

"Landlords aren't the problem, the problem is there aren't any new homes being built."
There can be several problems. If your house was on fire and someone was outside shooting at you with a machine gun you wouldn't say "The guy shooting at us isn't the problem, the house being on fire is the problem."
We need more houses and less landlords.

[philiphawkins]

Council houses use to be where people rented if they couldn't afford a home, most of these were sold in the late 80s and 90s.

[terrygrady]

My landlord bought 3 houses in my area 20 years ago. they cost less than £20, 000 each. He never repairs the houses and they are falling apart. He told me he had to raise the rent by £200 a month just to cover the 5 recent interest rates. I worked out the amount he says he has to cover. This means he has mortgages of £80, 000. He has 5 holidays a year and my house has rotting window frames, no gutter on half the house. Houses are homes and greed is pushing up house and rent prices. It must stop. Councils must compulsory purchases rental homes and keep rents down. In my area the DWP set a housing benefit cap at £480 PCM. The rent for the homes in this area are £650. How on earth can people find a home in they have to claim benefits.

[AntonioBianh]

Back in the day, when I purchased my first home to live-in; that was Miami in the early 1990s, first mortgages with rates of 8 to 9% and 9% to 10% were typical. People will have to accept the possibility that we won't ever return to 3%. If sellers must sell, home prices will have to decline, and lower evaluations will follow. Pretty sure I'm not alone in my chain of thoughts.

[jazy]

Oh dear, oh dear, "we need landlords because without them there will be no houses to live in"! How about we build more social housing eh? How about providing a good quality accommodation as a social right, and then when the market is freed of those who have no choice, the landlords can improve their houses to the point that they're a good deal to be paid for?
We DO NOT NEED LANDLORDS! We need houses.

[lukebowler]

Imagine if people could buy all the water and electricity in the country and could rent it out for a profit...

[Michelle_Schu-blacka]

If you thought finding somewhere to live couldn't get more depressing, the social media kids are doing it now.

[alexanderevanska]

It's not time to get rid of landlords. It's time to get rid of greedy bastards that masquerade as landlords, that includes some corrupt councils.

[TheGreatLeslieBand]

The guy saying ‘were the bad guys now, landlords are the bad guys like bankers were the bad guys’. But BANKERS WERE THE BAD GUYS!! Stop treating property as investment! It’s a home, is a fucking right.

[SebAnders]

Can someone explain how using a £39k student loan to buy a house isn't fraud?

[randyvalantino]

Council houses have rent caps they are also long term rentals . The uk government sold all the council houses and have not replaced them . Now they are trying to turm provate rentals into council houses . Private landlords are temporary rentals not long term .

[danielkey]

We are already in a big crash, Inflation is a catastrophe. This CPI report is a colossal failure. To bring the housing market to a halt, the FED will have to pull all the stops. The unfortunate issue is that other markets are being decimated. If you want to stay green, you have to rely on a lot of diversification. Currently up 14% and being careful. Still a better deal than leaving it in a savings or checking account yielding 0-1 percent interest.

[OLDCHEMIST]

We rent and I accept and understand that the landlord is not a charity and is entitled to profit from it, but our property is in a poor state of repair and looks like something from the 1970s. Our rent was originally on the low side and so we didn't trouble them. The property was sold and the present landlord has put the rent up substantially so that the the rent is now close to the high end. I wonder how such people can sleep at night knowing that the people they are dealing with have to make serious cutbacks in their everyday lives, making it much more unlikely they will be able to afford any "luxury". Even having a very modest holiday becomes a real struggle. The managing agents are totally unsympathetic as they just say we can move if we don't like it!

[LucasBenjamin-hvsk]

The issue is that either the renter or the owner as landlords must in some way pay insurance and property taxes if they want a "permanent roof" with utilities like electricity, gas and water. Because of this, many people—at least in California, where I currently reside—are living in tents. No taxes, rent, mortgages, or insurance. The number of people who tell me they live in their car that I meet amazes me. Its crazy out here!

[AP-disy]

I was growing up in a country with no landlords at all and somehow everything was fine. Nobody needs landlords. People need affordable housing. I am exhausted of living in a city where everybody is so poor because all their salaries go towards rent. Nobody is creative anymore. People give up respectable professions and become stupid influencers in order to buy themselves a house. I can see so many homeless on the streets of London, people with mental condition, giving up on work completely because there is no hope anymore. I personally gave up full time employment and went on housing benefit because my soul was crushed by having to work hard for years just to pay rent and no matter how much I worked I couldn't catch up with the house prices. We keep loosing such professionals as teachers, nurses even doctors because the only profession which will give you some kind of quality life is being a landlord, banker, scammer or politician. If I have to work just to pay rent I would rather stay on benefits and build something on the side.

[TheWebstaff]

"Not everyone can afford to own there home"
Except renting is more expensive?...

[kateskeys]

HI FROM NYC -
I HATE MY SCUMBAG LANDLORD