My son’s bedroom ceiling collapsed on Friday night. Luckily he had left the house ten minutes earlier, otherwise things might have been a lot worse. It came down right above where he sits at his desk – huge clumps of plaster and nails. My daughter was in the next room and thought the whole house was falling down.
In a way, it’s a kind of metaphor for my life over the past few weeks and months. Like thousands of other renters in England and Wales, I’ve been served a Section 21 notice because of new measures introduced by the Government’s Renters’ Rights Act, which came into effect on Friday.
My metaphorical ceiling has come crashing down, and I have until the end of June to find alternative accommodation for me, my two kids, two dogs and two cats.
To be fair, my landlord is not the only one to have decided that the game is just not worth the candle. To say the Act has prompted a mass sell-off of rental properties is an understatement: new figures show that close to 700 rental homes have been put up for sale every day since March last year.
That’s over a quarter of a million rentals off the market. In London it’s especially bad, with former rentals accounting for 30 per cent of all new sales instructions.
But can you really blame landlords? What started in 2015 when the then Chancellor George Osborne abolished tax relief on buy-to-let mortgages has culminated in a situation where owners are now hamstrung by endless regulations.
The policy was, of course, first drafted under the last Conservative government by – as it happens – my ex-husband, Michael Gove. This has prompted some to suggest that my current predicament is no less than I deserve. Maybe, but all I can say is that while I had no say in his proposals, I think he would argue that his reforms would have been mild by comparison with what Labour has ended up with. It is unlikely his measures would have precipitated quite such a mass exodus.
It’s not as if the Government, despite all its fine words, is replacing those homes, either. Since it came to power, Labour has added just over 10,000 properties to local authority stock. Not that I’d be eligible for any of that, of course, since as a humble taxpayer my sole purpose is to pay for everyone else’s welfare, not mine. Even so, it’s hardly going to suffice.
Like thousands of other renters, I’ve been served a Section 21 notice because of new measures introduced by the Government’s Renters’ Rights Act, writes Sarah Vine
The obvious thing is to try to buy now, not just because money in rent is money lost, but also because I long for somewhere to call my own, says Vine
Combine all that with a crisis in the mortgage market and you have a perfect storm. Owning a rental portfolio is no longer a viable investment – it’s just an almighty headache. And the irony is that it’s the small landlords who will disappear, not the big corporate guns who are more likely to be able to absorb the extra costs.
The net result of all this is that vast numbers of tenants like me will be spending the bank holiday on Rightmove, scouring for new accommodation in a dwindling pool. Far from going down, rents will go up – unless, of course, the Government decides to introduce a freeze, which was mooted last week by Rachel Reeves.
So, I’m left contemplating my next move. After my divorce, I decided to rent for a while, just until I got my head straight. The obvious thing is to try to buy now, not just because money in rent is money lost, but also because I long for somewhere to call my own.
For a while I half-thought I might move out of London and pursue an idyllic countryside existence: visions of a rose-covered cottage somewhere, with a thatched roof and cosy log fire. But I realise now that is a silly pipe dream.
What would I do all on my own in the middle of nowhere? My children are avowedly urban: they wouldn’t come with me. And what friends I have are in town. Since I’m clearly destined to be single for the rest of my life, I need to be near both for the sake of my sanity.
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But buying, especially alone, isn’t easy. To get even a half-decent rate you need a large deposit, and with the average house price in London over £500,000, that’s a lot of cash. Plus, there’s all the due diligence and questions about spending, earnings, tax returns and layer upon layer of documentation. Oh, and of course the stamp duty is onerous. There’s something else, too. We have an incompetent, incoherent and corrupt government that hates strivers, despises ambition and punishes success. Snapping at its heels is a Green Party run by a man who wants uncontrolled immigration, legalisation of class A drugs and – as we saw last week – has allowed anti-Semitism to openly flourish within his party.
Between the lot of them they are turning Britain into an economic and social basket case. Do I really want to sink everything into this country, given the state of things? Or should I keep my bags packed and ready to go, just in case?
Bricks and mortar were always the best possible investment. But is that still the case? Or are we on a fast track to becoming a land where all property is considered theft, and anything that you work for will be taken from you in tax?
Thursday’s local elections will be a good indication of that. In the meantime, does anyone know a decent plasterer?
Lay off the commoner act, William
The Prince and Princess of Wales with their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in a new photo released for William and Catherine’s wedding anniversary
If the King and Queen’s visit to America has shown us anything, it’s that far from there being no appetite for royal pomp and circumstance, people love it. Which is interesting, because that seems to be the opposite of what the Prince and Princess of Wales are projecting. The picture released last week in celebration of their 15th wedding anniversary was artfully informal, despite being very obviously staged. Why pretend? He’s first in line to the throne: just own it.
- There are some words and phrases that should be banned. ‘Plated meal’ always makes me bristle. As does ‘commence’, as in ‘we will commence boarding in five minutes’. I also can’t stand people pronouncing bruschetta ‘brushetta’. But there is a new abomination: ‘picky bits’. You see it everywhere, on bar menus, in restaurants. It’s worse than ‘sharing plate’. At least that makes sense; ‘picky bits’ sounds like a nasty skin condition.
Dare I say it: Red Ed’s right
I never thought I would type these words, but in defence of Ed Miliband, I don’t see why everyone is in such a spin about his plan to phase out old condenser tumble dryers in favour of heat pump ones. I recently bought one of the latter and have found it excellent in every respect. It’s quiet, just as fast, and it plays a jaunty tune at the end of a cycle. Best of all it doesn’t fry my clothes like the old one did, meaning they last longer and look better. Most of what Ed says is very silly, but not this.
- There is a difference between a peaceful protest and a hate march. What we have seen time and again from the rabid pro-Palestine mob is not reasonable, civilised protest, it’s pure loathing. It’s scary, it’s intimidating, and there is no question that it is fuelling attacks on Jews. The Prime Minister is right to call for ‘tougher action’. I hope this time he sticks to his guns.
Hot kilt’s killing it in the US
Lieutenant Colonel Jonny Thompson joined the King and the Queen at the White House for the US state visit
It’s taken a minute, but America has woken up to the existence of ‘hot equerry’ Jonny Thompson. Martha Stewart posted a picture of him to her three million followers on Instagram, resulting in over 30,000 likes. They will no doubt be disappointed to discover that he married his second wife, Olivia, last year.
Still, not since David Beckham’s sarong-wearing days has a man in a skirt caused such a stir on both sides of the Atlantic.
