So angry over TV prog. on fire safety

Absolutely agree* Witzend* I don't know why politicians are so feeble when it comes to landlords. Many of them are landlords themselves, you would think that they would want landlords to have a good reputation, not be seen as money grabbers.
I know the Government voted down a bill to force landlords to make all their properties fit for human habitation. Why?
If landlords can't afford to bring their properties up to scratch then they can't afford to be landlords.
I don't know why the last Labour Gov didn't get rid of right to buy.
The shortage of decent housing in this country has been coming upon us for years, you are right, politicians seem only to think in the short term.
George Osborne did not want to build council houses because he thought it would increase the number of Labour voters, which was ridiculous as well as callous.
If the Conservatives had increased council housing would it not have made people more likely to vote for them, not less.
The assumption has always been that landlords will vote Tory, so they see it as in their interests to increase housing benefit.

"I don't know why the last Labour Gov didn't get rid of right to buy."

Because New Labour went along with Thatcherism. The last Labour government was before there was any right to buy.
The next Labour Govt will get rid of it

It wasn't on the Fire safety programme - but there was a piece on BBC London News last night about families in Council Temporary Housing. It seems that Councils are also slumlords these days.

They featured families being housed in a disused pub along with drug addicts. Many of the families were working but had been evicted by private landlords wanting to sell or because of illness.

The thing that shocked me most was that a family featured was forced to squeeze a family of 4 into a single room in the disused pub without their own cooking/bathroom - and the council was charging them £900 per month for the privilege!!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-41519353/housing-crisis-bbc-finds-families-in-disused-pub

Dear god, what have we come to? This is beyond awful. ilovecheese, don't you think the reason the Tories voted against landlords having to make their properties fit for human habitation was actually because so many of them are landlords and they don't want to spend money? And how on earth have we got to a situation where this even needs to be debated?

The properties I am letting agent for have fire inspection certificates .

I agree that LLs are likely to vote Tory, but even if the Tories brought in more LL-unfriendly policies (they've already done something with the tax changes and many LLs are up in arms about them) it's not as if many of them are suddenly going to start voting Labour! Especially not with Corbyn at the helm.

BTW, quite a few Labour MPs have rental properties, too, but I agree that it's appalling that that bill was voted down. The excuse is invariably that 'it will increase costs for LLs who will then be forced to raise rents, so will harm tenants in the end.'

I agree 100% that LLs who can't afford to maintain their properties to a decent standard, should sell them to someone who can. And should be forced to, if they won't do it voluntarily.

Re right to buy, in all fairness property was relatively a lot cheaper when it was introduced, and I don't suppose anyone ever envisaged that it would become so unaffordable in so many areas. Might add that I know a couple of lifelong Labour voters who were more than happy to exercise their right to buy the houses they'd lived in for many years.

I know that labour politicians are also landlords, that's why I didn't specify a particular party.
It was George Osborne who thought council houses would create Labour voters, maybe he thought landlord unfriendly policies would do the same thing.

You are right. when right to buy was introduced, property was cheaper, but that should mean that there was even less reason to sell off council houses at a discount.

This housing issue should not be party political, and maybe it will not be now that the situation is becoming more critical.

I know a man here in Southend who owns over 400 properties ( my friend is one of his maintenance men)
He was recently fined £20,000 because of the state of his properties. I bet that hurt, not!!

No right to buy in Scotland now!

My DD lets out 3 properties and there are stringent rules about safety, which change over time and they have to update to whatever the latest is. They have just spent a huge amount on one, where the regs had changed since they bought it. They would not be allowed to let it unless they did.

How come some landlords are not held to account and forced to make the necessary changes, whereas my DD is? - she is happy to do it of course as she wants her tenants to be safe - but she could not get away with not doing it.

Luckygirl A good landlord, like your daughter, will do what is required by the regs. without having to be forced. A bad landlord will take no notice, and unless anyone tells the authorities, which a tenant might be to scared to do, then how does anyone find out?
Councils are struggling with cash so maybe not enough people to carry out inspections.

This link shows how little the government cares about trying to solve the problem

www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2017/sep/19/sajid-javid-councils-tackle-rogue-landlords-newham

When my daughter was renting as a student, I found out far more than I ever wanted to know about the lucrative market in fake fire and gas safety certificates.