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John Adams

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Can't wait to see where he proposes to stick a Heat Pump on all those interwar and pre-war back 2 backs... Yet we still aren't mandating a minimum EPC of an A on new builds...we still aren't installing triple glazing and Solar by default on new builds, they still aren't mandating net zero heating in new buiilds....but we'll waste money trying to force through heating systems that will be unaffordable to operate and that are totally unsuitable for many old properties that make up huge swathes of the North.

From: John Adams 14 June 2022 13:22 PM

Drive out long-term landlords and this is what happens. Drive out Airbnb etc and they'll sell up but it won't solve the housing shortage and it won't decrease prices, it'll just carry on but with even less rental accommodation available, decreasing the supply of workers in the services sectors and forcing tourists to go elsewhere to stay. The solution is to convert more of those old office blocks into social housing as opposed to "affordable".

From: John Adams 14 June 2022 13:16 PM

It's not going to make him many friends, but is it any different to the rest of the Holiday sector? try booking a family holiday abroad in the school holidays. 4 beds x 2 people works out to around £400 per person per night, well you'll find a lot of places charge that elsewhere. The usual culprits are complaining, but when you keep having a pop at the ordinary landlords don't be surprised there is no long-term accommodation available, you now have the farcical situation of local Councils pleading for Landlords to come forward and provide housing, but failing to recall they've spent the last few years driving them out... Just because a landlord sells up it doesn't free up a property for a family, it simply swaps the current tenants for owners, it doesn't somehow become two new homes.

From: John Adams 14 June 2022 13:06 PM

Aside from the basic physics of heating and power consumption, if this stuff is all over the walls, what happens if someone decides to bang a nail in the wall to hang up a photo of Aunt Gladys?

From: John Adams 01 June 2022 12:12 PM

Ah The NRLA or Shelter as they are now known....

From: John Adams 25 May 2022 10:57 AM

The problem is there is a mentality taking root that housing is not only a right, but it should be free. The concept of repairs, and where the money is going to come from seems to be beyond these people, "The rich" is their answer and the trouble is the likes of Shelter and Generation Rent are encouraging these beliefs. The upshot will be huge numbers of homelessness, they forget that there is an enormous shortage of housing and developers won't do it for free. They also ignore the large numbers of people who want to rent because of work or other commitments and can't do that if there is no prs sector.

From: John Adams 07 May 2022 15:44 PM

Can yousee the likes of The Duke of Westminster and The Duchy of Cornwall playing along ?

From: John Adams 03 May 2022 13:49 PM

Utter nonsense. Far worse, are the boarded up windows, covered in graffiti, old mouldy posters and blocked weedy gutters. An occupied shop be it by a charity, retailer, or community group ensures that the fabric of the building is better maintained, and the overall area less threatening in feel to passers-by

From: John Adams 19 April 2022 10:24 AM

It's about time, some commercial and retail has sat empty for decades, and not just off some forlorn village back alley either, so what if it means that they are turned into charity shops?, it's better than boarded up windows covered in graffiti and peeling posters. It might get some of these big commercial owners to start to think about charging an affordable rent, there are small-sized shops in my local town which has a low population, where the rent is more than £750,000 pa and they sit empty because of it, despite many small start-ups that could flourish if the rent was anywhere near reality.

From: John Adams 19 April 2022 10:05 AM

Be interesting to see what the likes of John Lewis and the other big players will make of any such regulations? Already tenants are facing rent increases because of selective licensing and the changes to EPC losing even more available properties is only going to force rents up, while any rent controls will reduce supply to rarer than a hen's teeth, cripplingly local employment as people are unable to find homes.

From: John Adams 24 March 2022 09:48 AM

If these policies reduced Energy usage and provided proper heating without major upheaval then maybe, but heat pumps are going to be of no use in the back2backs of Barnsley and Sheffield. The cost of heating is going crucify tenants. Then we have the ridiculous situation where we are still building new houses that are not Carbon Neutral, no heat pumps, no triple glazing, no rain water harvesting, why? These should be enshrined in law for new builds before we worry about combi boilers.

From: John Adams 24 March 2022 08:59 AM

Very misguided if you believe people will rent on the basis of the EPC. A property using an All electric system will be eyewateringly expensive compared to one still using Gas but with a poorer EPC. Until the regulations are actually finalised any work could be a complete waste of money. A bad policy is simply going to make rents far higher and choice restricted as Landlords leave

From: John Adams 24 March 2022 08:52 AM

No one put a gun to any tenants head to buy their property and people were offered significant discounts at a time when most Council properties were at a very low value. So how you conflate this into anti Thatcher rhetoric makes no sense whatsoever.

From: John Adams 11 March 2022 09:03 AM

The long term solution is of course to build more social housing but as I have already said how much of it is mismanaged and turns into sink estates. Local authorities are useless at it, where as true Housing Associations such as Peabody run excellent housing dealing quickly with anti social behaviour and repairs, this is the best way forward.

From: John Adams 10 March 2022 07:45 AM

Well Selective Licensing is only going to muddy the waters further, and increase rents and decrease supply.

From: John Adams 10 March 2022 07:39 AM

And how long will it be before these self same Councils are begging for Landlords to buy and let them properties? See the article on Devon council..... The increase costs inevitably reduce supply and force up rents and do nothing to improve housing standards as these self same councils then carry out next to no inspections while at the same time their own social housing remains in poor repair...

From: John Adams 10 March 2022 07:36 AM

The experts have a short memory, many of these estates became no go areas because of poor management and lack of repairs by local councils and the tenants were desperate to leave at the first opportunity and for the lucky ones buying them and selling was the only way out. Even today you'll find plenty of social housing in terrible conditions with the Decent Homes standard being a joke when compared to the enforcement on private landlords the vast majority of whom are running it as a business and therefore maintain their assets unlike local authorities who are at the largesse of the tax payer spend their money on bicycle lanes no one wants and changing offensive street names.

From: John Adams 10 March 2022 07:22 AM

Realistically I can't see that the majority of Rentals would be attractive enough as Air bnbs, so instead what will happen is Landlords will simply sell up, reducing the supply even further in the face of Rent Controls, the deluded out there jump for joy at the end of evil landlords, but fail to realise that A) Demand will outstrip supply B) The supply will be snapped up by the big multinationals such as Banks, Insurance Companies and others such as John Lewis and these companies will have a lot more sway over the government about increasing any rent cap and evictions than the average private landlord. As usual it is a case of being careful what you wish for, you might not like it when you get it.

From: John Adams 21 February 2022 10:30 AM

Need to shift some old properties quick, then get a report published claiming they are in the newest hot spot. Plenty of better places than Bayswater.

From: John Adams 28 January 2022 12:04 PM

I have never found pb to be particularly competent and you pay for what you get. However I find these claims where no loss has actually occurred quite ridiculous, sure fine them heavily for breach of the law, but surely the whole point of law in general is to rectify and compensate for actual loss, not what could have been. If that's how we are going to interpret laws going forward, then let's start suing for Pot Holes we might drive over even if we've never been there..

From: John Adams 13 December 2021 11:06 AM

£15-£20, really what is the problem? The paperwork and voids are much more hassle with a dead tenant..

From: John Adams 24 November 2021 20:48 PM

The irony is that all these politicians have access to some of the best economists in the world but yet they seem to think they know better. Look at when Brown sold off Gold at the lowest market price in decades, Economists across the spectrum were screaming at him that it was madness... Rent Caps, Tax Increases and Green Regulations achieve nothing for the tenants, instead, I have a bigger tax bill to find, and less money to actually carry out improvements like adding modern thermostats and solar electricity, which is what I was going to do, as contrary to the fools at Generation Rent and Shelter, the majority of good landlords do - they repeatedly overlook the fact that LHA and HA's are responsible for some of the most appalling failures in housing quality, black mold, broken fire escapes, poor repair times are all far more common to LHA and HA homes.

From: John Adams 18 October 2021 12:07 PM

Scarcity of Rental Homes. and rental increases....I know how to fix the problem, Rent Caps, and more Green regulations that should do it. After all making things more expensive for the supplier always works out so well, just look at the wonders it has worked on the energy supply market when their costs increased... What can possibly go wrong??

From: John Adams 18 October 2021 11:57 AM

I can't say I share this unbridled optimism, setting aside the tax changes on Mortage Payments, there are several dark clouds on the horizon. Firstly the absurd pressures on EPCs which would not be so bad if there was a clear and obvious logic to the process, so you could easily work out what each piece of work would achieve Then we have the whole saga of Heating changes, there are huge numbers of Pre-War homes in the country, heat pumps and electric heating are simply unaffordable both in terms of running costs and the installation, even with a grant you are still looking at over £5,000 per home for a system that will in older properties mean a colder home that will cost the tenant a small fortune in electricity. Whilst we need to go green, modern gas combi-boilers are extremely efficient and if you are going to need to use more electricity to achieve the same level of comfort then how is that an efficient use of resources? Then there is the National Grid, which has lacked serious investment for decades, and coupled with all these Electric vehicles & home heating systems, what's the chance that's going to fail every time we have a spot of bad weather and a big match on the TV? I can only see two things happening, rents will saw as costs are passed on to tenants, and the availability of rental accommodation will plummet. Whilst a flood of older properties on the market might be seen as a good thing for the young, many will struggle to bring them up to a reasonable standard, and probably end up stuck unable to sell them on very easily. Government should be encouraging PRS landlords to invest, not divest. We already have a housing shortage of many decades, and if people can't find a rental home what happens then?

From: John Adams 16 October 2021 13:54 PM

If your are an NRLA member, this is included in the membership.

From: John Adams 15 October 2021 08:39 AM

And no one wants as neighbours... Local Authorities and Social Services are notorious for failing to deal with the havoc and misery these failed families cause in the local community.

From: John Adams 01 October 2021 10:00 AM

The costs and any benefits from this market tampering is probably impossible to calculate. It would have made for more sense to use the money to build social housing, creating jobs and lowering the demand on the private sector, instead of distortion of the market.

From: John Adams 01 October 2021 09:52 AM

It's no surprise, that rents are going up, Local Licensing schemes, EPC changes, Section 21 changes, Tax changes, all these things have to be paid for and the reason many landlords are in property was because of the fact Pension changes made years ago, mean that for many this is the only way to secure some kind of income. LL's operate in the Private sector and supply and demand are the arbiters of prices, and Government failures over the last century to build social housing together with increasing population levels particularly amongst those that require social welfare is the route of the crisis we now facing. Hastings LA looking for Rent Controls, well that's simply going to reduce supply, as Mortgages have to be paid, perhaps they should focus on spending their money buying and building properties, instead of I don't Know, wasting money on Councillors expenses...

From: John Adams 10 September 2021 09:10 AM

With increasing complaints about rents etc, one wonders how any of them will cope when they have to pay for a home of their own, you know when the big nasty bank demands they pay the mortgage or face bankruptcy and eviction, why Mr. Plumber doesn't work for free? and is it cheaper to buy a new sofa in a DFS Sale?

From: John Adams 01 September 2021 18:30 PM

Ironically a fair heft of them are from families, where mummy & daddy or is that Donor & recipient these days? own a second home...

From: John Adams 31 August 2021 13:26 PM

The problem is no one in Government seems to have any ability to understand the consequences, of these increasingly nutty demands. Cornwall could ban AirBnB etc, which would only decrease the number of visitors for an area that is dependent on tourism, forcing up prices as these more affluent tourists won't be shopping in some quaint village store but in a Waitrose, etc. As for Second homes etc again most of these properties would not be affordable to a workforce that is largely on minimum wage... What is needed is more social housing and local authorities and Central government aren't interested, they rather play who can be the most woke at the local level, and where can we build something no one wants at the National level.. Just think HS2 is going to knock about 20 minutes off the journey from London to Birmingham at a cost of £56 Billion.... just how many 3 bed council houses could you build from a properly overseen tender?

From: John Adams 31 August 2021 13:21 PM

So with a huge gap in Social Housing, the Scottish Nutty Party think that by pressuring Landlords to sell up will solve that crisis? Assuming they don't close the glaringly obvious loop hole of an Income Test for renters, the poor really are going to be up the creek. These folk that support these policies, obviously have no understanding of economics or history. As most peoples parent or grandparents can tell you Council Housing was often Damp, poorly maintained and miserable, what makes them think that Councils can do any better when they are swamped with ex-private renters?

From: John Adams 25 August 2021 14:58 PM

Banksy best going into hiding, the Council's going to get you.

From: John Adams 25 August 2021 14:43 PM

The results of all this madness are reduced supply, a massive increase in rents, and 0.01% decrease in our CO2 emissions as a Country. But hey in the meantime it's perfectly fine to build whole new estates that don't have Solar, Rain Harvesting, or Triple Glazing, go figure that out as a joined-up policy.

From: John Adams 25 August 2021 14:41 PM

These policies are heavily influenced by folk who have never left London, anyone that lives in any Town outside of the South East, will tell you that the amount of pre-war housing and indeed 60s bodge builds mean that much of the proposals are both impractical and will result in more derelict housing that blights parts of Liverpool and other areas. Take your average 2up2down terrace, most of them have limited back yard space, which is now filled with at least 3 Wheelie bins, to this you are going to add Heat Pump compressors which are ineffective below 7c - and exactly how many Winter Nights in Newcastle are a balmy 10c ?? So these homes will see their energy bills sky rocket for an inferior heating system that will have to be topped up by electric. Which brings us to the next point, in the next 10 years most new Cars will be electric, Gas heating will be phasing out, and here we are on Saturday night in late November, the weather is forecast to be -10c across large chunks of Northern Britain, There's a Big Football Match on.... And bang the already decrepit National Grid comes crashing down, old folk are left for hours with out heating as they are now all electric, no gas cooker to sit next to in the Kitchen waiting for the grid to come back up.... These people are deliberately ignoring the screamingly obvious, the money needed and the poor National Grid make this a disaster in the making both financially and in lives.

From: John Adams 16 August 2021 09:49 AM

If Government and the Rent Activists want to solve the problem, guess they'll just have to build some or buy. After all what do you expect if you drive Landlords away, these properties still sell because of the lack of supply, and you end up with overcrowded B&Bs instead of Rentals. These people just function with no basic understanding of economics, and think the world should be Free, forgetting they tried that in the USSR and North Korea, and China isn't exactly paradise if you can't agree with the Party line.

From: John Adams 05 August 2021 11:30 AM

You've got trouble on your hands there.

From: John Adams 05 August 2021 11:25 AM

A novelty will be when tenants manage to enforce these Repayment orders against the numerous Councils and Housing Associations properties that are often in a very poor bad state of repair...

From: John Adams 05 August 2021 11:23 AM

As a buyer I'll knock them off my offers, but will insist on seeing proof of any other offers as set out in law. But where ever possible I simply won't deal with such Agents. If you do view such a property, take a good hour or two, drive the agents nuts. And if the property is not exactly as described demand money back if need be small claims for False Description, they won't want to keep having claims to deal with. Stupid money grabbers.

From: John Adams 28 July 2021 08:23 AM

And how many in The Lords?

From: John Adams 26 July 2021 10:31 AM

Part of the problem is that many LA have sold off the admin to the likes of Serco, and so one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. These schemes fail as a consequence and just used to make cash.

From: John Adams 21 July 2021 08:04 AM

I don't see why rent should be repaid to the tenants because he didn't have an HMO licence, a fine to the Council but they weren't evicted or suffered because of it. Yes he failed to fix the shower but £11k? Totally disproportionate.

From: John Adams 21 July 2021 07:44 AM

Not sure anyone be they from Swindon or Sudan, would be wanting to pay rent to live in a windowless railway arch at the back of a garage. The guy is an out and out sc**bag.

From: John Adams 20 July 2021 11:59 AM

632 Repossessions including Mortgage defaults in the first 3 months, hardly an avalanche and how many of these were for pure rent arrears, as opposed to driving the neighbours up the wall, drug dens, and various other scenarios? How many were local authorities having to evict? I suspect that if you had an actual breakdown of these numbers the truth is as a business a landlord doesn't want to lose a good tenant and will work with them to get the rent paid up. The reality is these folk live with mummy and daddy and learnt only the politics of envy at the University of Corbyn. The idea that they are owed something for nothing has become ingrained in society, and it will come home to roost if PRS becomes Corporate, I can't see the likes of John Lewis, taking on any of these folk who are protesting.

From: John Adams 20 July 2021 11:53 AM

6 Unrelated people would be an HMO...

From: John Adams 20 July 2021 11:41 AM

Unfortunately, these schemes are becoming widespread, but they don't serve the published purpose of removing bad landlords, they simply become money-making schemes for local councils who then don't actually carry out the inspections. If they were a reasonable fee subsidised by fines for those who are in serious breaches and have had past warnings, we might get somewhere, but rather like Parking Tickets the claimed purpose is superseded by the money-grabbing potential.

From: John Adams 20 July 2021 11:38 AM

Don't make excuses for people who know what the law is, and could have killed 10 people. The fact is he could provide accommodation that is safe and profitable to him, but he chose to make a fast buck. These people are the reason the PRS gets a bad name, and we need them locked up.

From: John Adams 20 July 2021 11:32 AM

If you are going to put an end to these people doing this, you have to make the fines truly significant along with custodial sentencing. In this case a fine of £50,000 and 3 years in prison would have been a far better warning, than what is probably less than 4 months rent.

From: John Adams 20 July 2021 11:29 AM

Fly-tipping is unforgivable, however the current systems of Council Tips having restricted hours because of Covid (Who knew Covid was the only highly infectious disease one could catch at a rubbish tip?) and the increasingly complicated and ridiculous domestic recycling schemes that are turning gardens into Bin parks are not helping. Common sense needs to be applied to the refuse and recycling system, otherwise, the country is going to disappear under one big rat-infested fly-tip.

From: John Adams 21 June 2021 11:32 AM

Funny how comments get switched off, the reality is that Councils are quick to condemn PRS Landlords, but faced with the facts that they and successive governments have failed to build social housing they now come cap in hand. Perhaps the PRS landlords in Bristol should make those facts very clear to Bristol Council.

From: John Adams 21 June 2021 11:25 AM

I agree, and there are many property types and areas the banks are simply not going to want to take on. Certainly, be interesting to see what they do when they have defaults, and properties where the tenants are trashing the place, or anti-social but at a level that can't be easily tackled, but generates complaints from the residents. Lloyds will quickly realise that they are going to have to stick to serviced Riverside apartments, and not the run of the meal stuff that makes up 99% of the PRS.

From: John Adams 21 June 2021 11:18 AM

Majority of these schemes have not provided better housing conditions or driven out rogue landlords. Instead they are just propping up the Councillors tea and biscuit fund. If these schemes were low cost, involved actual inspections and dealt with both rogue landlords AND bad tenants, they might have legs, but I might as well live on Mars to believe a Local Authority could do that especially when the evidence is that many local authority and housing association property is neglected and tenants struggle to get issues resolved being trapped in the points system for moving out.

From: John Adams 14 June 2021 07:20 AM

Until the Government comes up with a coherent Energy Grant strategy for all housing nothing is going to be achieved in terms of improvements and energy use. It is farcical that new build Property is still not required to have Solar panels and instead they are pushing Heat Pumps when the UK has so many older properties that already lack space due to the plethora of recycling bins and will become extremely expensive to heat using these systems.

From: John Adams 04 June 2021 09:03 AM

You can see it now... Mediator "So why are you looking to evict your tenant?" LL "The industrial waste pile they are accumulating in the back garden, the all night parties, the rent not being paid for the last 6 months, the harassment of the neighbours by their "children", shall I go on?" Tenant "Well the LL didn't buy me any bin bags, and I work shifts so that's why I have late night parties..." Mediator "So the rent arrears?" Tenant "I ain't got any money, because they stopped my benefits..." Case Dismissed....

From: John Adams 09 April 2021 10:46 AM

I agree that the likes of China and India, will likely counter anything we do for many generations, but that's not a reason to make homes more energy efficient. What is needed is a fair and properly run grant scheme for these retrospective improvements. The issue at the moment is the rating system, a property with a "D" from 10 years ago, may now not reach a "D" due to the changes in assessment, which makes the whole thing a movable feast and unaffordable.

From: John Adams 09 April 2021 10:35 AM

What i find incredible is that the Government is still allowing developers to throw up houses that do not incorporate measures such as Solar PV, Triple Glazing, Rain Harvesting etc and other measures that are much easier at construction than retrospectively. In many areas of the country there are old pre-war terraces and back to backs that simply can't be fitted with Heat Pumps or Solar technologies and simply giving exemptions is not the answer, a proper grant scheme run by the local authorities to cover at least 75% of the upgrade costs or repurchase and rebuild is needed.

From: John Adams 09 April 2021 10:29 AM

Whilst regulation is needed to ensure standards and safety are maintained, the constant anti landlord campaigns by the likes of Shelter (Surely a conflict of charity and politics) make availability and rental increases worse, they simply fail to comprehend that many people do not want to either own a home with all the expenses incurred, or require flexibility due to their careers. Driving Private Landlords out of the market is going to result in even higher prices, and larger unaccountable organisations in their place. A quick scan of local news, will show many many tenants in damp mouldy and dangerous conditions - that are LA and LHA properties, where getting any kind of recompense or remedy can take months, Shelter seem to forget that...

From: John Adams 09 April 2021 10:10 AM

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