Landlords and rental properties.
If you have clicked onto this page you may be a landlord considering hiring Marts Handyman Services to carry out works at the property you rent out. Due to experiences I have had with landlords, the condition of rental properties I have worked in, and my views (I also suspect many others) on the UK housing market, I felt that I had to write this page after thinking long and hard about doing so. Annoyingly, it is the longest page on my website while having nothing to do with the actual services I provide to my customers. If you are a landlord please read through the page prior to making an enquiry...
I have been working in this industry for many years and during that time I have worked in thousands of properties, many of which were rented. Throughout that time I can honestly say that the amount of rental properties I have worked in where I have genuinely thought ‘this is nice’ but more importantly 'worth the rent' can be counted on one hand. The amount of rental properties I have worked in where I have thought ‘Oh good Lord’ are far to many to mention. I do not believe a rental property has to be akin to a five start retreat, fitted out with ten thousand pound kitchens, real wooden floors throughout and so on, however everybody... absolutely everybody, that is paying their money to live in a rental property supplied by you, are entitled by law, but more importantly by the fact that they are human beings paying rent, deserve to have a functioning, safe, and... 'yes,' a generally nice or at least decent....place to call home, and it is THEIR home if they are paying you rent, its not ‘your home,'.. you are simply the freeholder.
Many Landlords claim they are ‘running a business,’ my reply to that would be ‘if you are running a business then why are you not attending to your business in a professional manner..? If you owned a take away business and the environmental health found the hygiene was not up to standard, would you not address the problem straight away and with diligence..? Of course you would. Why then do landlords see fit to leave tenants with neglected, and sometimes dangerous properties to live in..? I think that really we all know the answer to that question.. money. In the example of the take away, the business would be temporarily closed down.. closed down equates to 'no money'... and as everybody knows landlords are generally 'obsessed' with money, hence becoming landlords in the first place. With rental properties, the money (read 'gravy train') just keeps rolling in regardless of defects, tenant complaints and so on. Being a Landlord takes no business skill or acumen whatsoever, it is not a profession, landlords are not business people nor do they 'genuinely' provide a service... providing a service entails making an effort, taking 'pride' in what you are offering customers, offering what is hopefully a quality product, and endeavouring to offer value for money. I have NEVER met a Landlord that genuinely took pride in the product they were offering, pretty much all landlords certainly DO NOT offer a quality product, and the notion that the amount of rent that landlords ask represents value for money is both laughable and quite frankly insulting. I wish landlords 'did' actually run their properties like a bona fide business, just as I, and every other sole trader or small business up and down the land endeavours to do.
As an analogy, lets suggest I was to set up a car hire business, I would commit both time and effort to source a fleet of say ten vehicles to hire out to customers. These vehicles would upon purchase be in reasonable condition, and when in my ownership they would be well maintained, comfortable, legal, and safe.
What I wouldn’t do, is find ten clapped out twenty year old wrecks, throw a bucket of dirty old soapy water over them, literally 'scrape' them through the MOT by the skin of their teeth, and then have the audacity to hire (rent) them out to people for extortionate rates. What would that make me if I were to do this..? It would make me a rogue trader, carrying out business on the fine line between legality and illegality. Why then do many landlords deem it perfectly acceptable to operate this way in ‘running their business’ when it comes to property..? It's because the UK Government have encouraged it, the banks have aided it, and nonsense TV shows like 'Homes under the hammer' have brainwashed many into believing 1) anybody can be a landlord, 2) that it's easy, all you have to do is 'do the place up as cheaply as possible then sit back and watch the money roll in,' and 3) that owning a property as an investment is similar to a paying job, ie: you get a monthly return like a salary, rather than the reality of it being a 'Long Term Investment' which like all investments will naturally have times when you make money, and times when you lose money.
The aim of an investment is to own that investment in years to come, and not nessasarilly to make a financial gain each and every month and take every opportunity possible to ensure that monthly return by hiking up the rent because you had to carry out some maintenance. Basically, the UK is awash with individuals operating as landlords that in reality are simply not fit or equipped to be landlords, have wrongly misinformed views and expectations, and were never in a position whether financially, emotionally, or both, to be landlords in the first place.
Land lording is the only example that I can think of where the individual (the potential landlord) putting up the initial deposit for the purchase of the asset, expects somebody else to fully pay the price of the asset off for them. In the example of the car hire business, yes, I would have to have the initial deposit for the purchase of the vehicles, and yes, when the vehicles were hired out then that income would IN PART cover the cost of whatever finance I may have taken to purchase the vehicles.... BUT... it would not cover the entire cost, I simply would not be able to hire out the vehicles for such extortionate rates for me to be able to do that, nor would anybody in their right mind be willing to pay such ridiculous hire costs. In short I would still be paying a large part of the cost of financing 'my business' out of my own pocket, and quite rightly so. Landlords however have a different view, landlords believe that if they have taken out a BTL mortgage (which should be banned) then the entirety of the loan, plus insurance, plus contingency funds, and a little on top so they 'feel' as though they are running a viable business and ‘turning a profit’ should be completely covered by the tenant, which is both ludicrous and grossly unfair. Even if the monthly cost to the landlord was for example six hundred pounds, and the landlord charged just four hundred and fifty pounds per month, the typical landlord would see that as making a loss and think 'why bother'..? well actually, no, your not making a loss, you are still having the majority of the cost of the investment paid for by somebody else, the tenant, and at the end they will have nothing, and you as the landlord will own a grotesquely overpriced house that you have paid maybe ten per cent of the price for..? There is only one word that befits it... greed (I could also add the term 'extortion' here to). The other ‘age old adage’ is to claim that the rental property is ‘acting as a pension’.... which in a way I agree with.. BUT, surely you would personally contribute into both a private or company pension from your own personal finances/salary wouldn't you..? you wouldn’t expect your employer or pension provider to pay ALL of the contributions would you, similar to how you expect the tenant to cover 'all' of your costs related to the rental property..? Can you see the hypocrisy and double standard when using this argument..?
Rent should never be more than a mortgage... and years ago it wasn't, people used to rent for all sorts of reasons, but usually whilst they saved up for a deposit to purchase a property, unfortunately people today can't do that down to the fact that most landlords are mortgaged up to the hilt with BTL properties that they should never have been allowed to take on, therfore charging extortionate rents.
I am constantly perplexed by the shocking disparity between expectations of acceptable standards in the UK private rental market, compared to both product and service standards that are rightly expected in pretty much every other industry. If I, along with any other business in the UK ran our business' in the same blasé, taken for granted, and lazy way that many landlords run their faux business,’ then I, along with every other business in the UK would fold within six months, maybe less. How and why landlords are allowed, and able to get away with it is absolutely disgraceful, and landlords that operate this way together with the UK Government that allow it, really should hang their heads in shame. I am not anti-capitalism, how can I be when I run a business myself..? and I am not anti - landlord (believe it or not), we need properties to rent. What I am 'anti' is bad, lazy, and deluded landlords, I am 'anti' exploiting people, I am 'anti' pathological greed, I am 'anti' taking away the feeling of 'home' by denying tenants the right to paint, or to put shelves, mirrors, pictures etc on the walls, and also by not allowing pets (singular), I am 'anti' the hypocrisy and deceit of touting a rental property under the guise of a 'home' and then putting in so many draconian rules that it is as far removed from a 'home' as you could possibly get.
Of course it's not all one way traffic, tenants should pay the rent unless there is a genuine reason to hold it back (even though the rent is probably ridiculously expensive), they should look after the property and not trash it, (this does not mean being terrified of inflicting normal wear and tear for fear of losing their deposit) they should also act civilly and responsibly, not causing a nuisance to neighbours. Thankfully most tenants do act in this way, most tenants are good, hard working, and responsible people, unfortunately all tenants even the good ones, seem to be treated with total contempt simply for being tenants and not property owners... this is a snobby and detrimental mindset that seems to blight the UK.
We live in a country divided by class, I'm not talking about the traditional 'class system' in the UK (which is appaling) I mean the 'property owner class' v's the 'renter' class, a country where having money makes it easier to aquire more wealth, and for very little effort, money staying in families passing down to individuals that wouldn't know a 'real' days graft if it kicked them in the behind... whilst those who are desperately trying to survive but dont have the privilage of having, or coming from a financially secure family or background, are being held down and slowly squeezed out by those who have it all..... yet sadly, still want more.
Having said all of the above, I have my own set of standards regarding working in rental properties, where in my own way I feel I am helping or at least trying to stand up for the millions of people struggling with extortionate rents and/or indifferent landlords. Below are a few of them, I could have stated more but this page is already too long as it is...
1) If you own more than one rental property, and particularly if you smugly use the word ‘portfolio' then in my opinion you are a career landlord, and I dont agree with it. If you own more than one rental property please find alternative sources to complete the works you require as I dont want or need your business and I certainly don't want any part in helping you ‘build your empire.'
2) If I have agreed to work for you at the rental property and I feel that it is ‘not great’ but 'not poor'.. okay...I'm not totally unreasonable, and am realistic. If however the property is in a terrible condition I will have no hesitation in contacting the appropriate authorities to report you and the property in question.
3) If I have agreed to work for you at the rental property, then please do not give me the contact details of the tenants and expect myself and/or the tenant/s to do ALL the calling and arranging regarding carrying out the work. If you as a landlord are running a business then treat it as such and have both the interest and enthusiasm to deal with your business in a professional manner, by liaising with myself and the tenants accordingly. This is after all part of the service the tenants are paying you rent for.
4) If I have agreed to work for you at the rental property, then please do not ask me to do ‘the cheapest job possible.' There is a difference between ‘working to an acceptable budget' and being an 'Ebenezer Scrooge like miser’ It is this attitude that has made landlords (you) into one of the most vilified people in the country. This attitude is disgraceful, and needless to say I will not work for you should this be your approach. Would you do the 'cheapest job possible' in your own house..?
5) If you can ‘honestly' say that the property you are renting out, in the exact condition it is in right now is ‘good enough’ for you, your wife/husband, your children/grandchildren or your own parents to live in, then great.. please do contact me. If however you were being absolutely honest, and really, deep down you know that the property that you are accepting rent for would not truthfully be up to your or your families standards should you be living there, then I won't work for you, also, please sit down and contemplate your reasons as to why the property you are renting out is 'good enough' for the tenant's, but you and your family 'apparently' deserve better..?
Thank you for taking the time to read this page.
I have been working in this industry for many years and during that time I have worked in thousands of properties, many of which were rented. Throughout that time I can honestly say that the amount of rental properties I have worked in where I have genuinely thought ‘this is nice’ but more importantly 'worth the rent' can be counted on one hand. The amount of rental properties I have worked in where I have thought ‘Oh good Lord’ are far to many to mention. I do not believe a rental property has to be akin to a five start retreat, fitted out with ten thousand pound kitchens, real wooden floors throughout and so on, however everybody... absolutely everybody, that is paying their money to live in a rental property supplied by you, are entitled by law, but more importantly by the fact that they are human beings paying rent, deserve to have a functioning, safe, and... 'yes,' a generally nice or at least decent....place to call home, and it is THEIR home if they are paying you rent, its not ‘your home,'.. you are simply the freeholder.
Many Landlords claim they are ‘running a business,’ my reply to that would be ‘if you are running a business then why are you not attending to your business in a professional manner..? If you owned a take away business and the environmental health found the hygiene was not up to standard, would you not address the problem straight away and with diligence..? Of course you would. Why then do landlords see fit to leave tenants with neglected, and sometimes dangerous properties to live in..? I think that really we all know the answer to that question.. money. In the example of the take away, the business would be temporarily closed down.. closed down equates to 'no money'... and as everybody knows landlords are generally 'obsessed' with money, hence becoming landlords in the first place. With rental properties, the money (read 'gravy train') just keeps rolling in regardless of defects, tenant complaints and so on. Being a Landlord takes no business skill or acumen whatsoever, it is not a profession, landlords are not business people nor do they 'genuinely' provide a service... providing a service entails making an effort, taking 'pride' in what you are offering customers, offering what is hopefully a quality product, and endeavouring to offer value for money. I have NEVER met a Landlord that genuinely took pride in the product they were offering, pretty much all landlords certainly DO NOT offer a quality product, and the notion that the amount of rent that landlords ask represents value for money is both laughable and quite frankly insulting. I wish landlords 'did' actually run their properties like a bona fide business, just as I, and every other sole trader or small business up and down the land endeavours to do.
As an analogy, lets suggest I was to set up a car hire business, I would commit both time and effort to source a fleet of say ten vehicles to hire out to customers. These vehicles would upon purchase be in reasonable condition, and when in my ownership they would be well maintained, comfortable, legal, and safe.
What I wouldn’t do, is find ten clapped out twenty year old wrecks, throw a bucket of dirty old soapy water over them, literally 'scrape' them through the MOT by the skin of their teeth, and then have the audacity to hire (rent) them out to people for extortionate rates. What would that make me if I were to do this..? It would make me a rogue trader, carrying out business on the fine line between legality and illegality. Why then do many landlords deem it perfectly acceptable to operate this way in ‘running their business’ when it comes to property..? It's because the UK Government have encouraged it, the banks have aided it, and nonsense TV shows like 'Homes under the hammer' have brainwashed many into believing 1) anybody can be a landlord, 2) that it's easy, all you have to do is 'do the place up as cheaply as possible then sit back and watch the money roll in,' and 3) that owning a property as an investment is similar to a paying job, ie: you get a monthly return like a salary, rather than the reality of it being a 'Long Term Investment' which like all investments will naturally have times when you make money, and times when you lose money.
The aim of an investment is to own that investment in years to come, and not nessasarilly to make a financial gain each and every month and take every opportunity possible to ensure that monthly return by hiking up the rent because you had to carry out some maintenance. Basically, the UK is awash with individuals operating as landlords that in reality are simply not fit or equipped to be landlords, have wrongly misinformed views and expectations, and were never in a position whether financially, emotionally, or both, to be landlords in the first place.
Land lording is the only example that I can think of where the individual (the potential landlord) putting up the initial deposit for the purchase of the asset, expects somebody else to fully pay the price of the asset off for them. In the example of the car hire business, yes, I would have to have the initial deposit for the purchase of the vehicles, and yes, when the vehicles were hired out then that income would IN PART cover the cost of whatever finance I may have taken to purchase the vehicles.... BUT... it would not cover the entire cost, I simply would not be able to hire out the vehicles for such extortionate rates for me to be able to do that, nor would anybody in their right mind be willing to pay such ridiculous hire costs. In short I would still be paying a large part of the cost of financing 'my business' out of my own pocket, and quite rightly so. Landlords however have a different view, landlords believe that if they have taken out a BTL mortgage (which should be banned) then the entirety of the loan, plus insurance, plus contingency funds, and a little on top so they 'feel' as though they are running a viable business and ‘turning a profit’ should be completely covered by the tenant, which is both ludicrous and grossly unfair. Even if the monthly cost to the landlord was for example six hundred pounds, and the landlord charged just four hundred and fifty pounds per month, the typical landlord would see that as making a loss and think 'why bother'..? well actually, no, your not making a loss, you are still having the majority of the cost of the investment paid for by somebody else, the tenant, and at the end they will have nothing, and you as the landlord will own a grotesquely overpriced house that you have paid maybe ten per cent of the price for..? There is only one word that befits it... greed (I could also add the term 'extortion' here to). The other ‘age old adage’ is to claim that the rental property is ‘acting as a pension’.... which in a way I agree with.. BUT, surely you would personally contribute into both a private or company pension from your own personal finances/salary wouldn't you..? you wouldn’t expect your employer or pension provider to pay ALL of the contributions would you, similar to how you expect the tenant to cover 'all' of your costs related to the rental property..? Can you see the hypocrisy and double standard when using this argument..?
Rent should never be more than a mortgage... and years ago it wasn't, people used to rent for all sorts of reasons, but usually whilst they saved up for a deposit to purchase a property, unfortunately people today can't do that down to the fact that most landlords are mortgaged up to the hilt with BTL properties that they should never have been allowed to take on, therfore charging extortionate rents.
I am constantly perplexed by the shocking disparity between expectations of acceptable standards in the UK private rental market, compared to both product and service standards that are rightly expected in pretty much every other industry. If I, along with any other business in the UK ran our business' in the same blasé, taken for granted, and lazy way that many landlords run their faux business,’ then I, along with every other business in the UK would fold within six months, maybe less. How and why landlords are allowed, and able to get away with it is absolutely disgraceful, and landlords that operate this way together with the UK Government that allow it, really should hang their heads in shame. I am not anti-capitalism, how can I be when I run a business myself..? and I am not anti - landlord (believe it or not), we need properties to rent. What I am 'anti' is bad, lazy, and deluded landlords, I am 'anti' exploiting people, I am 'anti' pathological greed, I am 'anti' taking away the feeling of 'home' by denying tenants the right to paint, or to put shelves, mirrors, pictures etc on the walls, and also by not allowing pets (singular), I am 'anti' the hypocrisy and deceit of touting a rental property under the guise of a 'home' and then putting in so many draconian rules that it is as far removed from a 'home' as you could possibly get.
Of course it's not all one way traffic, tenants should pay the rent unless there is a genuine reason to hold it back (even though the rent is probably ridiculously expensive), they should look after the property and not trash it, (this does not mean being terrified of inflicting normal wear and tear for fear of losing their deposit) they should also act civilly and responsibly, not causing a nuisance to neighbours. Thankfully most tenants do act in this way, most tenants are good, hard working, and responsible people, unfortunately all tenants even the good ones, seem to be treated with total contempt simply for being tenants and not property owners... this is a snobby and detrimental mindset that seems to blight the UK.
We live in a country divided by class, I'm not talking about the traditional 'class system' in the UK (which is appaling) I mean the 'property owner class' v's the 'renter' class, a country where having money makes it easier to aquire more wealth, and for very little effort, money staying in families passing down to individuals that wouldn't know a 'real' days graft if it kicked them in the behind... whilst those who are desperately trying to survive but dont have the privilage of having, or coming from a financially secure family or background, are being held down and slowly squeezed out by those who have it all..... yet sadly, still want more.
Having said all of the above, I have my own set of standards regarding working in rental properties, where in my own way I feel I am helping or at least trying to stand up for the millions of people struggling with extortionate rents and/or indifferent landlords. Below are a few of them, I could have stated more but this page is already too long as it is...
1) If you own more than one rental property, and particularly if you smugly use the word ‘portfolio' then in my opinion you are a career landlord, and I dont agree with it. If you own more than one rental property please find alternative sources to complete the works you require as I dont want or need your business and I certainly don't want any part in helping you ‘build your empire.'
2) If I have agreed to work for you at the rental property and I feel that it is ‘not great’ but 'not poor'.. okay...I'm not totally unreasonable, and am realistic. If however the property is in a terrible condition I will have no hesitation in contacting the appropriate authorities to report you and the property in question.
3) If I have agreed to work for you at the rental property, then please do not give me the contact details of the tenants and expect myself and/or the tenant/s to do ALL the calling and arranging regarding carrying out the work. If you as a landlord are running a business then treat it as such and have both the interest and enthusiasm to deal with your business in a professional manner, by liaising with myself and the tenants accordingly. This is after all part of the service the tenants are paying you rent for.
4) If I have agreed to work for you at the rental property, then please do not ask me to do ‘the cheapest job possible.' There is a difference between ‘working to an acceptable budget' and being an 'Ebenezer Scrooge like miser’ It is this attitude that has made landlords (you) into one of the most vilified people in the country. This attitude is disgraceful, and needless to say I will not work for you should this be your approach. Would you do the 'cheapest job possible' in your own house..?
5) If you can ‘honestly' say that the property you are renting out, in the exact condition it is in right now is ‘good enough’ for you, your wife/husband, your children/grandchildren or your own parents to live in, then great.. please do contact me. If however you were being absolutely honest, and really, deep down you know that the property that you are accepting rent for would not truthfully be up to your or your families standards should you be living there, then I won't work for you, also, please sit down and contemplate your reasons as to why the property you are renting out is 'good enough' for the tenant's, but you and your family 'apparently' deserve better..?
Thank you for taking the time to read this page.
