Pensions aren't the ticking timebomb - rents are

What do they need to do Nick?

This will mainly affect those in the south so if they cannot afford it they will have to move further north where rents are cheaper. As they say, pensions are ok so can't see why anyone else needs to get involved.

But as the article says, people would need to buy before the landlords do and yet they cannot afford to do so. And, if they increase the tax, then wouldn't that just be passed on to the tenant?

There are four easy measures any Govt could take next week to re-balance the housing market.
Obviously it won't be the Conservatives: as the Party of the landlords, any remedy they propose would be a concession to keep them in power.
Labour need to put clear water between their position and the Tories:
1) Commute mortgage tax-relief for landlords.
2) Make owners liable for Council Tax.
3) Tax rental income at source like other unearned income.
4) Liberalise the Housing Benefit baseline by which properties are valued.

That is untrue, Ibrahima Sonko.
Nowhere else in Europe does the tax/regulation framework protect landlords as here.
The UK protects the interest of the landlord towards a two-state country:
Those with two houses, or more, and those with none.
It doesn't have to be this way.

Look at how the market is ordered elsewhere.
Here, everyone has a roof over their head tonight, the housing crisis is not due to a lack of stock.
If there was a free market, prices would plummet overnight, and the Tories would be out of power.

The tories are part the problem, but the uk is built on mortgages, be hard to change the last 40years of the uk economy.

Cant agree with spare rooms have to rented out play down the population issue when the owners maybe mortgage free etc.

The situation will always continue whilst the rich can get richer, i cant blame them

I used to think it was simply an issue of too few houses being built. Now I'm starting to believe that there are enough houses; it's just that too many are owned by buy to let landlords.

I would dread to see the numbers of the people who let houses, that will not ever be available.

We need more houses !!

A serious point i would like to make here, I work for an electricity company, a dno or an rno. Done that that for 30 years.

My standby duties revolve about people living in one house off a 60 amp fuse, when their 20 living that property, what do i do ?

Put the same fuse in or tell someone this is a mop ?

Just for the record, house prices are falling across the country.

I selected about 15 random locations on zoopla and all had registered decreases.

A typical profile was:

Last 12mths: -3%
Last 6mths:  -5%
Last 3mths:  -2%

Rents aren't a problem at all.
They simply adjust to the demands of the market.

Too high and lack of demand brings them down.
Too low and high demand pushes them up.

Simples.

Making legislation on the back of spite towards landlords,will simply push prices up further and lead to fewer new properties getting built.

The point is that people currently renting aren't going to be able to afford to pay their rent when they retire.  The state will have to assist them.

Even if that costs half of the £43bn estimate, that's going to hurt.

I often read about house prices falling, i see nothing of the south of england. And how do you value the price of the house, someone puts it up at a price but accepts lower meaning a fall ?

No doubt they rate it against inflation over period of time rather than wages.

IS - The data will be based on historic selling prices.  I suppose there will be an element of subjectivity in current valuations which will be based on the sales prices of similar properties +/- recent market conditions.

If you do a postcode search (any steet) you can see historic sales prices for any property.

Yes, it does happen now.

The concern is that because of the market conditions over the last 15-20 years, there are vast numbers of people in their 40s and 50s who never bought a house and never will.

It'll work out.

It all links into the same issue. There will be fewer people of working age to support those that aren't. As technology advances, the ability to keep people living longer improves however the need for manual work diminishes (internet, robotics, ai etc). In my opinion there's absolutely no guarantee that a middle aged person now will be in receipt of a non means tested pension (at any age). A person wiser than me, many years ago advised me that when I retire I'd better be really rich or really poor. Anyone in between with a modest self determined pension will be no better off, as the state will have pick up the tab anyway for what you're paying yourself. Essentially working people are supporting pensioners now, however it's unlikely to be reciprocated in thirty years.

Landlords have been subsisidised by the government for a couple of decades now. Gifted billions of pounds in tax relief and emergency interest rates since 2008. Other schemes like help to buy have also gone straight into their fat pockets.

The interest rate one is going to massively reduce pension payouts as well because the funds have to invest a proportion in cash.

Start with £100; find three 1.01 shots per day. Go all in.

This time next year you WILL be a meelyonaire. (If they all win, of course.)

the government needs to build more houses

supply and demand

increase the supply, and all the other costs will go down

Cider - I'm more optimistic. The stock market is rising, but only as fast as that of say Italy or the USA - the cheap £ isn't the driving factor. As the BoE Governor says: depreciations are essentially how a country makes itself poorer.

Get all your money out of the UK and under the aegis of a pension, then you can beat one of the certainties of life. But not the other.