Rental nightmare in coastal Cornwall (and coastal Devon, IoW)

[gibbon]

1 hour ago, eek said:

@Wight Flight pointed out above that a lot of these people are not on benefits - although some clearly are.

The issue is that local wages are low and the demands are coming from newcomers with remote jobs that pay well beyond the local average salary and airbnb / holiday rentals that are vastly more profitable when you can change for a week more than you make in a month (or multiple months) rent.

It's the reason I'm watching that market so closely as something is going to have to give and the end results are going to be fascinating to watch (from a distance). Were I local and renting I would be scared completely because there is no easy fix here. 

Saw housing benefit mentioned loads on that FB thread and from the profiles lots of single mums. This has happened everywhere where demand has soared those getting HB in the private sector get pushed out. I bet the IoW is quite nice place to live for a couple earning £30k-£40k each working remotely. 

End result is same as Cornwall. The young and those without council tenancies get pushed out, move, push out those locals and so on. Happening near me, you either have a load of plumy accented incomer trustafarians from the home counties pushing up rents and house prices or pond life in secure council tenancies. Normal local people have disappeared.  

[Wight Flight]

I have gone proactive.

Given that come August 1st next year I will be homeless, I have booked up a holiday let.

https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en-gb.html?src=index&rows=20&error_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Findex.en-gb.html%3Flabel%3Dgen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaFCIAQKYAQm4AQnIARHYAQHoAQH4AQuIAgGoAgO4Au_D1IkGwAIB0gIkN2IzNTA0MDEtZTQ2YS00M2M2LWJlOWItNWZiYjJhNGY4NzA22AIG4AIB%3Bsid%3D929a987b2c7e1bc4c3ac05e02734feb0%3Bsb_price_type%3Dtotal%26%3B&label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaFCIAQKYAQm4AQnIARHYAQHoAQH4AQuIAgGoAgO4Au_D1IkGwAIB0gIkN2IzNTA0MDEtZTQ2YS00M2M2LWJlOWItNWZiYjJhNGY4NzA22AIG4AIB&sid=929a987b2c7e1bc4c3ac05e02734feb0&sb=1&sb_lp=1&search_form_id=17e28cb7af190090&dest_type=city&dest_id=-2610683&ssne=Ventnor&ssne_untouched=Ventnor&ss=Ventnor&checkin_monthday=1&checkin_year_month=2022-8&checkout_monthday=31&checkout_year_month=2022-8&checkin=2022-08-01&checkout=2022-08-31&group_adults=2&group_children=0&no_rooms=1&group_adults_overlay=2&group_children_overlay=0&no_rooms_overlay=1&lpsr=1&search_pageview_id=17e28cb7af190090

I know it is just over £4k per month for just a room, but the price does drop from October to March. At least it is free cancellation.

Heck. I have a dozen email addresses. I might even book a few more, so that I can decide last minute which one I fancy.

 

[spygirl]

On 03/09/2021 at 13:34, gibbon said:

Saw housing benefit mentioned loads on that FB thread and from the profiles lots of single mums. This has happened everywhere where demand has soared those getting HB in the private sector get pushed out. I bet the IoW is quite nice place to live for a couple earning £30k-£40k each working remotely. 

End result is same as Cornwall. The young and those without council tenancies get pushed out, move, push out those locals and so on. Happening near me, you either have a load of plumy accented incomer trustafarians from the home counties pushing up rents and house prices or pond life in secure council tenancies. Normal local people have disappeared.  

Normal, local, working people...

Over 30 odd years, my local area has had various single mums and doley scum pour into all the social housing.

And then had kids and whatnot, whove took up even more.

Social housing needs weighting, giving the highest weight to someone who has help down a local job for 5+ years.

 

[sarahbell]

On 18/08/2021 at 09:35, Wight Flight said:

Anecdotally I am hearing a lot of people being served a section 21 notice of eviction as the landlord says they are selling - only to see the LL convert it to a holiday let /AirBnB

Ending no fault evictions cannot come soon enough to help stop this.

I also think a lot of them will get burnt. Nobody that spent £5k on  a wet week here this year will ever come back, or recommend it to anyone, if there are overseas alternatives available.

I walked past a conversation on Saturday where someone was saying "I've told them to stay until they're evicted, there's nothing to rent out there"

There are HMO rooms with 4 hours heating a day from Oct to March. Lovely. Or houses for an arm and a leg. There is nothing sensible.

[Frank Hovis]

1 hour ago, spygirl said:

Normal, local, working people...

Over 30 odd years, my local area has had various single mums and doley scum pour into all the social housing.

And then had kids and whatnot, whove took up even more.

Social housing needs weighting, giving the highest weight to someone who has help down a local job for 5+ years.

 

Yes.

Social housing, especially houses,  really needs to be for local key workers; the people that you need in any community so you want them to live there because they will be of benefit to it.

Care workers, tradesmen, accountants, nurses.

Those not working, and not genuinely disabled, should be in low rent HMOs with their route out of there being to get a job.

[eek]

1 minute ago, Frank Hovis said:

Yes.

Social housing, especially houses,  really needs to be for local key workers; the people that you need in any community so you want them to live there because they will be of benefit to it.

Care workers, tradesmen, accountants, nurses.

Those not working, and not genuinely disabled, should be in low rent HMOs with their route out of there being to get a job.

Think of the children.

 

 

 

who need their own rooms, xbox and mobiles even though their parents don't work for them...

[Frank Hovis]

2 minutes ago, eek said:

Think of the children.

 

 

 

who need their own rooms, xbox and mobiles even though their parents don't work for them...

 

Yes, that seems to be the "get out of jail free" for all the useless dossers both home grown and imported: "It's not for me, it's for the children."

If you can't afford to support your children then they should be taken away; they shouldn't be a baby-shaped key to a free flat and free money for the irresponsible parent.

[Frank Hovis]

It was covered on the radio this morning how prices had shot up in Cornwall this past year.

Though in a couple of promising signs an EA said interest had definitely cooled and the Cornwall Council leader on housing said that simply building more houses isn't the answer; legislative change is required.

The presenter related that a friend had sold their house in Cornwall in two days for £25k above the asking price leaving them delighted.

They were however less delighted when they found that they couldn't then buy anything in Cornwall with that money.

[Wight Flight]

A four bed semi has just come on the market. Nothing special.

£2,000 per month (does come with free broadband!)

You need a provable salary of £60k to apply.

I assume there are a few councillors that earn that much here, but not many others.

 

[Frank Hovis]

Check in time again; last was 19th July.

Total rentals in all of Cornwall: 125 -> 112 -> 88 -> 75 -> 74 -> 63 -> 73 -> 55 -> 77 -> 124

Of which three bed or more: 63 -> 53 -> 36 -> 27 -> 30 -> 21 -> 17 -> 16 -> 29 -> 48

Of which £1,000 per month or less (ignoring fully booked for viewings): 19 -> 13 -> 6 -> 5 -> 5 -> 2 -> 7 -> 4 -> 14 -> 16

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^61294&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeLetAgreed=false&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

 

Updated again. A bit of relief after the summer though still below the starting position for all three.

[Wight Flight]

51 minutes ago, Frank Hovis said:

Check in time again; last was 19th July.

Total rentals in all of Cornwall: 125 -> 112 -> 88 -> 75 -> 74 -> 63 -> 73 -> 55 -> 77 -> 124

Of which three bed or more: 63 -> 53 -> 36 -> 27 -> 30 -> 21 -> 17 -> 16 -> 29 -> 48

Of which £1,000 per month or less (ignoring fully booked for viewings): 19 -> 13 -> 6 -> 5 -> 5 -> 2 -> 7 -> 4 -> 14 -> 16

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^61294&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeLetAgreed=false&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

 

Updated again. A bit of relief after the summer though still below the starting position for all three.

Have you filtered for long term and unfurnished?

That takes ours from 31 to 20 in total - only 2 of which are 3 bed.

There is a lot of housing that is the 2nd home owners trying to let the place for the winter.

[Frank Hovis]

9 minutes ago, Wight Flight said:

Have you filtered for long term and unfurnished?

That takes ours from 31 to 20 in total - only 2 of which are 3 bed.

There is a lot of housing that is the 2nd home owners trying to let the place for the winter.

 

Ah no, I'd forgotten winter lets.  I'll do unfurnished as well as my furnished rentals were flats rather than family homes.

This gives for Cornwall:

Total rentals: 75

Three bed or more: 33

Three bed sub £1,000: 11 (plus two fully booked for viewings).

 

Which isn't a lot of choice.

[Bilbo]

Today's Telegraph.

 

Where the ‘staycation’ boom has destroyed Britain’s rental markets

The supply of rental properties in many popular locations has collapsed

 

By

Melissa Lawford

11 September 2021 • 5:00am

In Blackpool, competition for rental properties this summer was up 517pc compared to the same period in 2019

Investors rushing to profit from the British staycation boom have helped to destroy rental markets in holiday home hotspots, leaving tenants with nowhere to live.

 

The supply of rental properties in many popular locations has collapsed because buy-to-let investors have moved long-term lets on to the short-term market en masse.

 

Exclusive data from property website Rightmove showed that the supply of long-term rental properties on the Isle of Wight in June and July had plunged by 82pc compared with the same period in 2019.

 

This means that less than a fifth of the properties that were available to rent before the pandemic are now on the market.

 

All of the 10 locations that recorded the largest falls in rental supply were holiday resorts. All but West Devon, where supply dropped 76pc, were coastal. In North Devon, rental supply collapsed 80pc, while in Northumberland and South Tyneside in the North East, they were down 74pc and 73pc respectively.

 

Rental supply in the Isle of Wight fell 82pc this summer compared to 2019 levels

Rental supply in the Isle of Wight fell 82pc this summer compared to 2019 levels CREDIT: Moment RF/Getty

The shortage of property for rent has increased competition among tenants. Across the top 10 areas, tenant demand for every available property (the number of tenants inquiring compared to the number of available listings) has more than quadrupled since 2019. In Blackpool, where supply has dropped by 74pc, competition has jumped 517pc.

 

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On the Isle of Wight, competition soared by 376pc. Ben Hollis, of Lancasters estate agents, said: “Normally, across the whole of the Isle of Wight, there will be 200 properties available. Today, there are 18. There was a point a few weeks ago when there were four.

 

“Now we leave a rental property online for an hour, and that will generate 30 inquiries.”

 

Limited supply has created a vicious cycle as desperate tenants try to secure places to live. Some tenants have offered to pay a year’s rent in advance in an attempt to secure a home, said Mr Hollis. The supply shortage means that tenants are in a “Mexican standoff”.

 

The fishing village of Seahouses in Northumberland, where rental supply was down 74pc

The fishing village of Seahouses in Northumberland, where rental supply was down 74pc CREDIT: Alamy

Nobody is prepared to move first, for fear they will not find anywhere to live. Craig Webster, of Tiger Sales & Lettings in Blackpool, said: “We’re seeing more tenants staying put, which means a lack of movement in the market and new rental homes becoming available.”

 

Renters are also asking to sign longer-term tenancy agreements, which in turn has put further pressure on supply, added Lawrence Williams, of agent Webbers Property Services in Devon and Cornwall.

 

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Sarah Coles, of stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “You need to be armed with the best possible references and have a spotless payment record, or you will lose out.

 

 

“It means that anyone who had to ask for help from their landlord during the crisis could find themselves struggling to find a new place to live.”

 

Travel restrictions, the cost of the Covid tests necessary to get flights, and changing quarantine restrictions have brought a boom in British holiday bookings that has extended beyond the traditional peak season and looks set to continue into 2022. Rising prices mean landlords can achieve higher yields on holiday lets than before the pandemic and, crucially, over longer periods of time. They also have better tax arrangements than buy-to-lets.

 

Data from property management site Guesty showed prices of September short-term let bookings were up by 54pc on the same period in 2019. Those booking Christmas stays were already spending 44pc more.

[Wight Flight]

3 hours ago, Bilbo said:

On the Isle of Wight, competition soared by 376pc. Ben Hollis, of Lancasters estate agents, said: “Normally, across the whole of the Isle of Wight, there will be 200 properties available. Today, there are 18. There was a point a few weeks ago when there were four.

 

“Now we leave a rental property online for an hour, and that will generate 30 inquiries.”

 

Limited supply has created a vicious cycle as desperate tenants try to secure places to live. Some tenants have offered to pay a year’s rent in advance in an attempt to secure a home, said Mr Hollis. The supply shortage means that tenants are in a “Mexican standoff”.

Nice to see what I have been banging on about acknowledged in print.

No idea what the answer is though.

Edited September 11, 2021 by Wight Flight

[Green Devil]

2 hours ago, Wight Flight said:

Nice to see what I have been banging on about acknowledged in print.

No idea what the answer is though.

Less people or more houses. Gotta be one of those two as free printed money will always mean that money flows into property as investments so will remove some of the supply. Take your pic. 

[Wight Flight]

16 minutes ago, Green Devil said:

Less people or more houses. Gotta be one of those two as free printed money will always mean that money flows into property as investments so will remove some of the supply. Take your pic. 

Happy with either.

The problem is that the people that have houses want more people and no more houses.

And they are the ones that are listened to.

[eek]

1 hour ago, Wight Flight said:

Happy with either.

The problem is that the people that have houses want more people and no more houses.

And they are the ones that are listened to.

Um, not quite true. Remember the 279 homes that were approved on that farm against the desires of your MP and a lot of the locals

[Wight Flight]

2 minutes ago, eek said:

Um, not quite true. Remember the 279 homes that were approved on that farm against the desires of your MP and a lot of the locals

Let's see if that actually happens.

And sadly that is second home owner central, so it really doesn't matter either way. What it might do is allow the council to say they have fulfilled the yearly commitment, and not approve anything else.

[spygirl]

https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/article/highland-council-agrees-short-term-lets-limitations

[Wight Flight]

https://www.islandecho.co.uk/82-decrease-in-number-of-homes-available-to-rent-on-the-isle-of-wight/

One of the comments is absolute gold.

[Frank Hovis]

Headline story is the forced eviction of a single father in Penryn so the moratorium on evictions has ended.

The landlord, inevitably, is selling.

It's noted that he hasn't been able to find anywhere else local, unsurprisingly given the low number of available rentals within all of Cornwall let alone Penryn, and missed out on one property as one renter offered £18k / 12 months rent in advance.

That's also a huge rent at £1,500 a month so I'm surprised that he was going for it.

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/penryn-dad-faces-homelessness-after-5928264

 

[Wight Flight]

This is the way to do it ...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113623817#/?channel=RES_LET

Quote

The development is subject to a planning restriction that states the properties must be offered as Affordable Housing For Rent to rural workers

 

[Frank Hovis]

1 hour ago, Wight Flight said:

This is the way to do it ...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113623817#/?channel=RES_LET

 

That's an absolutely standard clause when HAs build on council land which they are given cheaply.

The caveat though is statutory rights override that such as RTB.

As it stands there is no compulsory RTB on HA properties unless the tenant was a council tenant pre transfer then they have preserved RTB.

That doesn't look like a HA; more a farmer trying to make a few quid but happy to accept less money for a bit of social benefit.

That or it was the only way to get planning permission in which case good on the council.

[Wight Flight]

8 minutes ago, Frank Hovis said:

That's an absolutely standard clause when HAs build on council land which they are given cheaply.

The caveat though is statutory rights override that such as RTB.

As it stands there is no compulsory RTB on HA properties unless the tenant was a council tenant pre transfer then they have preserved RTB.

That doesn't look like a HA; more a farmer trying to make a few quid but happy to accept less money for a bit of social benefit.

That or it was the only way to get planning permission in which case good on the council.

I read it as the latter.

 

[sarahbell]

On 06/09/2021 at 10:52, Frank Hovis said:

 

Yes, that seems to be the "get out of jail free" for all the useless dossers both home grown and imported: "It's not for me, it's for the children."

If you can't afford to support your children then they should be taken away; they shouldn't be a baby-shaped key to a free flat and free money for the irresponsible parent.

~What a fab turn of phrase.