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I agree.... if you were lucky enough to have been "all in" with your investments 20 or more years ago.  Once again, this inconvenient caveat is always ignored by the "all landlords are money grabbing b*st*rds" school of rhetoric.However the scenario that you outline applies to only a small proportion of landlords.In the meantime, the bankers will have to be paid and it is the cash-flow required to satisfy this which dictates rent levels.Any business that does not "make any money" will soon fail.It is essential to make some money as costs tend to occur sporadically and are often unexpectedly large.  Rental businesses that do not plan for this will go bust - or, just as likely, not maintain the property - leading directly to the other major fault laid at the feet of landlords.I trust you will not fall into the trap of imagining that the maintenance costs that you personally incur in the upkeep of your own home are in anyway comparable to those visited upon rental properties by tenants are you?And then there is the cost of your labour whilst performing any necessary maintenance.  Another thing which is usually completely discounted by those who think they know how much it must cost to maintain rental properties.  Landlords will generally be contracting with local tradesmen to get this work done.  Imagine the cost if you employed tradesmen to do 100% of your personal house maintenance.Believe it or not, and many people have a blind spot about this as well, tenants are generally not inclined to look after the property as if it were their own and thus repair costs run to significantly more as a result.All in all it amounts to a pretty penny.

Tony Colliver ● 4127d

@NFWPerhaps you should go and work for a year with what you call the underclass, a pretty odious term which is only one step removed from the revolting words for such people I have heard talked about in Germany.Perhaps you don't know much about people in poverty. For instance, you said you had to go and think hard about my question.The people who ARE entitled to Benefits are signposted by Foodbank volunteers to the appropriate people to get them out of the worst of the briny. The intent is to give them some control again over their lives so they can manage starvation rations a little more healthily and economically. They are signposted to people who can help with the direst aspects of their finances and housing. Not all accept this assistance. However I have yet to, and hopefully never will, see a dead body in our fields or streets. Those that do accept help generally don't all keep coming back every week or three weeks or whatever. However there are plenty who do not use food banks but who are on Benefits. The majority it would seem have worked out how to survive - albeit with a struggle.Immigration has been out of control for a pretty long time and much of that has happened under Labour administrations. If Mr loudmouth Farage gained any power  Labour would deservedly be on a hiding to nothing. I think you are saying the people outside the system should be cared for. It would be almost inhuman to disagree. However the millions actually in the system get worse or no housing, less money to feed themselves and their dependants, and are pushed out of employment due to people illegally here who are OUTSIDE our system and nick our jobs.We look after our parents. We look after our children. We care for and some look after our locality. Alice Gross is a stunning example. We admire our soldiers and one and a quarter Ealing policemen who fight for our freedom. Are we to give the same care and practical rights to those outside the system when they give nothing or little back into our system?The increasing number of people outside our system are weakening and so preventing our treasuries from paying for a better life for our own. Unlike those outside the system, our own pay taxes. Thinly stretched treasuries mean there is less money to go round. Londoners at the ballot box don't care anymore.You so far have not drawn us a line. As some journalist asked recently, are you a Brit or are you Brit.....ish?

George Knox ● 4133d