[Ben Reeve Lewis is back again for his weekly extravaganza … ]
A little bird told me …
I’ve started Twittering.
It sounds daft I know but it is a real eye opener. I didn’t know so many people involved in housing were out there. Everyone from housing campaigners and journalists to estate agents and loan sharks.
I put it off for ages, presuming that the vast majority of tweets were anodyne, pointless ramblings. They are haha. But there is also a strain of people connecting and sharing information which I find quite inspiring.
This has obviously made researching this column a lot easier as the links point me in a variety of different directions. What has surprised me though is the wealth of contradictory information doing the rounds each week.
Duh?
In the past few days I have read articles about how house prices are going up and articles about how house prices are going down.
I’ve read articles about the increase in products that allow first time buyers to get ‘on the rung’ and articles about how a generation is doomed to never own their own property because of the lack of mortgage products and restrictive eligibility conditions.
And I’ve read articles about how the current boom in the rental market will last for another 3 years and articles that claim the bubble will burst in the autumn.
More informed? Hmmmmmm….more confused really.
Renting abroad
On BBC breakfast news on Tuesday they made a connection between home ownership and recession, arguing that the countries with the highest level of home-ownership, the UK, Portugal, Eire and Greece were struggling the most financially as a nation, whereas Germany, which has more people traditionally renting, is faring the best.
I know you can’t use that one indicator as an economic predictor but if true it is an interesting point to consider, don’t you think?.
It set me pondering on the different ways that other countries treat renting. I know the ins and outs of landlord/tenant law in the UK well enough but I am currently looking into different ways that other nations do things. Could we learn from them?
Could WE do this?
For instance, I learnt that in Texas they have a rule whereby if a tenant is in rent arrears the landlord isn’t obliged to do the repairs. In the UK the landlord is always under a statutory duty, even if the tenant owes them £5,000.
I regularly get involved in arguments with incredulous and aggrieved landlords where environmental health have been out and served a works notice for a knackered boiler, when their tenant’s behaviour is right up there with Ratko Mladic.
Although my job largely involves me defending tenant’s rights there is a bit of me that quite likes that idea.
In Alabama tenants are taken on a bit like mortgagors here, where they are expected to be earning 3 times what they are being expected to pay in rent.
If they applied that rule here, in the current rent boom, we would all be living in cardboard boxes in many areas. My rent, for a 1 bedroom flat (admittedly with shared use of a small garden) accounts for 60% of my take home pay, and I am paid reasonably well.
One tip I saw on an American landlord advice website said “Do not ask questions, such as a person’s age, or marital status. Rejected tenants may become angry, and later use discrimination as the basis of your rejection”. Ah the age of litigation eh?
Interesting that the average reference fee in the USA is only $35. In the UK it is mainly done through Experian who charge around £19.95 for a full search, where most agents charge, what?…..£150? hmmmm!
Only if your working
Back to us. I heard today on the BBC (can I trust their version of events?) that Wandsworth council in South London are re-prioritising their eligibility for council housing to people who are working. To me this seems to fly in the face of what social housing was for in the first place, people who couldn’t afford other alternatives.
This also leans back towards the old workhouse days where people could only stay in the poor house if they were self supporting. If you were unemployed the view being, it was because you were lazy.
Spike in Peckham
I started my career in the old Camberwell Spike Reception Centre in Peckham. A 1,200 bed direct access night shelter. It was built in 1820 as a workhouse, people had to pay a farthing to stay the night. If you couldn’t afford that, you were on the street.
By the 1930’s it was a doss house, to use the parlance of the time, frequented by George Orwell who wrote about it in “Down and out in Paris and London”. (If you watch the opening scene of the 60s classic ‘Blow Up’ David Hemmings can be seen booking in there).
When Orwell was there the residents had to pay a penny to stay there. Many couldn’t afford it.
Now the ‘Spike’ is still there but those old flea bitten dormitories I once worked in, that used to house 40 men have been converted into luxury open-plan flats that sell for half a million quid……so people still cant afford to stay there. Seems to be the theme of the place.
Legal aid issues
Today sees the latest in a string of protest marches and gatherings about proposed cuts to legal aid. The gathering in Sheffield attended by David Blunkett, continues to raise awareness of the issues.
Legal aid is one of those things that most don’t think about if they have never been affected by it but if you are a tenant who has been harassed or unlawfully evicted, you can largely forget about legal representation. If you are a landlord about to lose your home because the tenant hasn’t paid the rent…..you are on your own when it comes to mortgage repossession time.
More details here [You can also find out more on the Sound off for Justice site – Ed]
So at least give the Sheffield people a tweet of encouragement, one day it might be you who needs the help
Follow Ben Reeve Lewis on Twitter for more demented ramblings
United States map from 50states.com