Letters: A landlord exodus? Sounds fabulous

A discussion broke out among Big Issue readers on Facebook over the prospect of a landlord sell-up, prompted by our article.

Landlord lowdown

A landlord exodus sounds fabulous. Lots of houses will come onto the market, the supply/demand ratio will shift, prices will drop and more people will be able to afford a place.

Sue Lovell, Facebook

I can see both sides, as a renter that would like to become a landlord. Tenants need security, but landlords need backing up when things go wrong. These properties are some people’s sole income. They’re only just making enough profit to live. If you get someone that won’t pay even though they can, the law shouldn’t protect them. 

Councils shouldn’t be saying stay put and don’t pay rent till it goes to bailiff eviction or we won’t house you. Landlords are not charities.

Jozef Nakielski, Facebook

Landlords who charge rent far higher than the mortgage are more commonplace. So the house is paid off in 10 years, during that time SOME landlords don’t update things like the boiler and keep repairs to bare minimum. Yes, I’ve been in a house like that. They ordered new windows that didn’t fit and we had ALL bedroom windows boarded up for four weeks. Fire risk but landlord got away with it. It’s those landlords that need dealing with.

Michelle Barker, Facebook

Perhaps landlords should get a job that pays income outside of rent bringing in money. And they should lower rent as more of the mortgage is paid off instead of increasing it, and allow long-term tenants to decorate, garden or keep pets if they improve the house – not just ask for more and more money.

Emily Vernalls, Facebook

• Labour’s rent reforms will cost landlords just £22 a year – but some say that’s still too much
• Surge in renters losing their homes due to no-fault evictions ahead of ban: ‘This is frightening’
• So-called ‘landlord exodus’ divides opinion amid Renters’ Rights Bill debate in the Lords

Systemic failure

I’m autistic and I have plenty of experience of being turned down for jobs I could have done blindfolded, even after very positive interviews, because employers were nervous about their ability to support me.

I’m currently working for Citizens Advice, a genuinely equal opportunities employer, and every day I deal with clients who are unable to meet their obligations and desperate to be in work and off benefits but can’t find employment.

The system isn’t a system now, if it ever was, and penalising the desperate is vindictive. We’re all missing out when people are written off on the grounds of a label.

Abiy Orr, Facebook

Drug problem

The reason for most users not using the safe consumption rooms is because they aren’t going to travel there when they are needing to take their drugs. They will most likely be near withdrawal, so what drug user is going to travel or walk there when they’ve got gear on them? They need it straight away so it’ll be in a stair, under a bridge or behind a bush. If it was me I’d be giving the SCR a miss and carry on as before. And yes, they need to sort out the smoking issue. 

Peter Laidlaw

Essential contribution

I find the constant attack by our various governments on sick, disabled and pensioners to be insulting. Every party seems to believe we are a subspecies, a drain on the planet. However I feel I should point out the importance of the contribution made by these groups of people. 

Many elderly people are used as unpaid childcare. Local councils would be in a far worse state if it were not for unpaid carers who have been left to care for a disabled family member. Elderly people with a partner who is sick and disabled are left with little or no support, often when suffering with their own disabilities. In order to access financial support these groups have to go cap in hand to claim a benefit, in order to survive, not live. 

My mother used to say to me when I was a child, “There but for the grace of god go I.” No one can be sure that they will not one day be sick and disabled, but we are all getting older. Having grown up in the 1950s, I would have expected more understanding and compassion for vulnerable people in the 21st century. But it truly feels as if I am back living in the 1950s.

Elizabeth Francis

Bat signal

A good article on Rachel Reeves and her ignorant comments about bats and newts blocking development and ‘growth’. However, it was not well illustrated, being accompanied by the picture of a huge fruit bat – a tropical species we do not have in this country (except in the odd zoo) and much, much larger than any bat we DO have here. 

British bat species, mostly endangered, are mostly tiny, weighing only a few grammes, and are vital to the ecosystem, important in consuming insects and even pollinating plants. They are not dangerous to humans, and are a fascinating, beautiful part of our beleaguered natural environment, which we seem hell bent on destroying, with our government now taking the lead!

Jane Mallen, London

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