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		ACKNOWLEDGEMENT   This section  last  Updated Friday 3 February 2012 23.01 GMT   guardian Why I've quit buy-to-let Landlord Patrick Osborne profited from rising rents, generous tax breaks and easy capital gains – so why did he get out? By Laura Marcus Patrick Osborne has quit as a buy-to-let landlord for moral reasons. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian When Patrick Osborne became a landlord in 2001 he was taken aback by how many friends and acquaintances condemned him. "I'm not going to pretend I fell into it by accident. I made an active decision to do it for income and pension planning. But I was surprised by some of the reactions I got and the level of vitriol towards landlords. I'd only ever had good experiences as a tenant, so this shocked me." Osborne – data manager at a retail bank's HQ – moved to the UK from Australia in 1995 and thinks this may, in part, account for his surprise. "There isn't the same issue about it in Australia. It's a polarising issue in Britain, and I'm really glad I'm not part of it any more." At first, Osborne, who is 40, single and lives alone, was happy to be a landlord. "I took the responsibility seriously. If you don't have gas and electricity safety certificates and there's an explosion you're going straight to jail. And rightly so. But there could still be a fire and someone could die, even if it's not your fault. I was always aware of that." He became a landlord when he moved from his first house in New Cross, south-east London, which he bought for £95,000 in 1999. Rather than selling, he decided to rent to students. "I liked the idea of offering it to young people who wouldn't normally want to buy at that stage of life. I didn't charge the most the market would bear, just enough to make me a steady income, as well as capital appreciation. It was mainly for my pension. I had other pensions but, as I'd changed jobs two or three times, there were lots of bitty ones; this was something solid." Like hundreds of thousands of other landlords who jumped on the buy-to-let bandwagon, Osborne could happily have held on to his property, or bought more, using the equity he has built up. But he had a major change of heart, prompted by the continuing rise in house prices, in London at least, and the lack of supply of homes for younger families. "I wouldn't describe myself as left wing but, increasingly, I feel housing provision in Britain is deeply unfair. The only reason I could buy when I did, and become a landlord, was down to luck and timing. I couldn't afford the house I'm living in if I had to start now. "I didn't really need the rental income as I already earn a good salary. And, basically, my views changed. "I think housing provision should be more regulated and not a free-for-all. It's not nice to profit from someone else's need to sleep somewhere. I think it's wrong some landlords have strings of properties. It restricts supply, and tenants have very few rights, or aren't aware of rights they do have. "You hear all kinds of horror stories, such as three months' rent in advance, or houses let out that aren't safe but if tenants say anything they're evicted. A landlord can always replace them. It's wrong. I don't want to be part of that, even in my small way, and I like to think I was a good landlord. "We all make compromises with our principles but I was getting more and more uncomfortable defending mine." Osborne says he was also appalled at tax breaks he received. "I was quite surprised by how much I could set against tax and that was without hiring a flashy accountant, so I probably could've claimed more. The tax rules were, believe me, very generous." When Osborne decided to get out, he gave his tenants six months' notice – the law only requires two – and sold his house for £230,000. It was a handsome profit even after capital gains tax, which he used to pay off most of his current mortgage. Osborne bought his first house when he was 28 and became a landlord at 30. It's a very different picture for today's under 35s. A survey last week showed what most of us know anecdotally – far fewer young people can afford to buy now. The 2012 HSBC Moving Home Survey revealed a growing number of young people don't want to own a home, which is a reverse in home ownership aspirations of this age group. Meanwhile, 61% of people aged 55 and over aren't planning to move. The generational divide in the UK property market is likely to cause housing stagnation in 2012, with young people unable to buy, and older homeowners unwilling to sell, the report concluded. This is further backed by HM Revenue and Customs, which this week reported house sales fell last year to one of the lowest ever recorded at 869,000. Further falls are expected this year as the economy remains weak. This week saw the launch of the government's NewBuy Guarantee scheme designed to help buyers over the obstacle of high deposits. Mainstream lenders are also making more 95% deals available, and offering better prices on longer-term fixed rate mortgages. This week Chelsea building society launched the lowest-ever interest rate for a five-year fixed rate mortgage, pegged at just 3.19%. But there is no sign Osborne is sparking a trend towards quitting among buy-to-let landlords. In 2001, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, 72,200 buy-to-let mortgages were granted, rising to 346,000 in 2007. The figure dropped to 94,600 in 2010 – the last full year figures are available. But the trend is firmly back up, says Sue Anderson, CML spokesperson. "Demand for private rented housing is high and set to remain so. The rising demand for renting makes it likely the buy-to-let market will continue to grow." This section  last  Updated Friday 1 February 2012 06.35 GMT Telegraph UK house prices slide as job fears scare off buyers UK house prices fell 0.2pc in January and the market is likely to remain subdued as economic uncertainty persists, Nationwide said. By Angela Monaghan The average price of a home in Britain fell to £162,228 last month, from £163,822 in December, when prices also fell 0.2pc. It dragged the annual rate of house price inflation down to 0.6pc from 1pc. "Given the challenging conditions prevailing in late 2011, with the UK economy contracting in the final three months of the year, it's not surprising that house price growth softened at the start of 2012," said Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist. The building society said first-time buyers are typically required to provide a 20pc deposit, compared with the 10pc deposit they were required to find in 2008. "The weakness in buyer demand is partly a reaction to the uncertain outlook for the economy, especially the labour market. But affordability is also part of the explanation – in particular, finding a sufficient deposit," Mr Gardner said. Nevertheless affordability has improved on some measures according to Nationwide, with low interest rates providing some relief. Since 2007, initial mortgage payments as a percentage of take home pay have fallen from 46pc to 31pc for a first- time buyer borrowing with a 20pc deposit, it said.   This section  last  Updated  31 January 2012 at 14:09   BBC Business News 200,000 homes 'at flooding risk' Thousands of homes were damaged by the 2007 floods in the UK.  Up to 200,000 homes will face insurance problems when a government agreement ends next year, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said. It mapped neighbourhoods with the highest risk of flooding in England and Wales - and where residents may struggle to insure their homes. Boston and Skegness, and the Vale of Clwyd face the greatest risks, it said. The government said it was working with the industry to try to make sure the arrangement continues after June 2013. The pact obliges insurers to provide cover for high-risk properties while the government continues to improve flood defences. The ABI wants the government to share the risk for the most vulnerable properties. "We are frustrated with the progress of our talks with the government on this issue and want it to look urgently at a model that would allow flood cover to remain widely available and competitively priced," said ABI director general Otto Thoresen. Areas facing significant flood risk Boston and Skegness: 7,550 homes Vale of Clwyd: 7,339 Folkestone and Hythe: 7,196 Windsor: 7,125 Runnymede and Weybridge: 6,541 Clwyd West: 6,160 Aberconwy: 5,500 Nottingham South: 5,043 Great Yarmouth: 4,965 Sittingbourne and Sheppey: 4,295 Leeds central: 4,209 Canterbury: 4,199 Source: ABI Environment Agency flood maps "No country in the world has an entirely free market providing universal affordable flood insurance, and action is needed now to avoid 200,000 high-risk homes struggling to afford cover." Environment Minister Richard Benyon told BBC: "We live in difficult times, it is wrong to impose impossible burdens on the taxpayer, but we do want to make sure that insurance continues to be available for the vast majority of households." "We will assist particularly households on low incomes," he said. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would consider targeted support over the next few months and said further announcements would be made in the spring. Agreement The ABI has analysed official data to highlight the areas with the most homes at significant flood risk - defined as a greater than one in 75 chance of flood in any given year. Boston and Skegness headed the list, with 7,550 homes facing significant risk. This was followed by the Vale of Clwyd, with 7,339 homes at risk, then Folkestone and Hythe (7,196), Windsor (7,125), and Runnymede and Weybridge (6,541).                        Nick Starling, from the Association of British Insurers, says 200,000 homes                   will find it hard to get insurance The ABI said that these homes faced problems in getting insurance after June 2013, when the agreement ends. It claimed that, at present, people in lower risk flood areas paid more in premiums than would otherwise be the case to subsidise those at higher risk, and customers in high-risk areas were tied to their existing insurer. 'Priority' Meanwhile a committee of MPs has raised concerns about what funds are available to maintain flood defences. It was unclear "where the buck stops" for managing the risk of flooding, a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said. The PAC said that there was a great deal of uncertainty about whether there was enough money to improve flood defences and protection in the long-term, and who paid for it. The current bill is at least £1.1bn a year, according to the committee of MPs, and this is set to rise owing to climate change. A recent assessment for the government claimed that this could go up to between £1.5bn and £3.5bn a year by the 2020s. "Flood protection is a national priority. Yet it is unclear where the buck stops and who is ultimately responsible for managing the risk of flooding," said Margaret Hodge, who chairs the PAC. "It is not acceptable that local people should be left in doubt about where responsibility and accountability lie." Environment Minister Richard Benyon said his department was spending £2.17bn on flood prevention over the next four years. Its budget was cut by 6% in the Spending Review, he said, but he maintained that this was much smaller than the cuts made to some other departments. "We protected flood spending out of all proportion... showing that it is of real importance to the government," Mr Benyon told BBC News. 'Not optimistic' The PAC report said that with people being asked to pay more towards flood protection in their area and take on more of the risk, the Environment Agency needed to involve communities better in decisions on flood protection. One of those areas highlighted by the ABI as facing significant flood risks was Runnymede in Surrey, which has the Thames and Bourne rivers running through it. Conservative councillor Derek Cotty, who is chair of the local flood forum, said it was "devastated" that nothing had been done after the last serious floods in 2003. "We are now very concerned that the flood defences that were promised us have not been put in place because the money has not been found," he told the Today programme. He said it was fair in theory that local authorities or local businesses should be asked to share some of the financial responsibility of providing flood protection, but the financial reality was very different. "When you look at the sums of money - in our region over £100m - it simply isn't possible," he said. This section  last  Updated at 12:19 AM on 28th January 2012  Mail Plunging mortgage charges and house prices mean owning a home is cheaper than renting... by £1,400 a year By Tom Kelly If you own your home you are now almost £1,400 a year better off than someone renting, a study revealed yesterday. Recent mortgage deals mean you can typically pay £600 a month for a three-bedroom house – £116 cheaper than the average rent of £716. By contrast, homeowners in 2008 paid an average of £928 a month, 29 per cent more than the then typical rent.  The gap between renting and buying properties is expected to widen as more would-be-buyers struggle to afford mortgages Charges for maintenance and insurance were included in the comparisons. The gap increased significantly last year and is expected to widen further as growing numbers of would-be buyers struggle to raise the cash for mortgage deposits and become trapped in the rental sector. Halifax, which carried out the research, said the reduction in home-buying costs was driven by plunging mortgage charges and house prices. Mortgage rates dropped from an average of 5.75 per cent in 2008 to 3.63 per cent last year, amid a flurry of cheap deals prompted by the Bank of England’s historically low 0.5 per cent base rate. Average house prices have also fallen  by 11 per cent over the same period,  further reducing mortgage payments for new buyers.                                                                           Martin Ellis, housing economist for Halifax,                                                                    said affordability for buyers has increased                                                                      more than that for renters At the same time, rents have risen in many areas of the country because of the high demand for accommodation. Wales is the only area of the UK where it is cheaper to remain a tenant, with owning a home costing £5 a month more than renting. The study is further bad news for those struggling to get on the property ladder. With the economy on the brink of a double-dip recession, there are fears that mortgages for first-time buyers could hit a record low this year. Difficulties in obtaining a mortgage have forced many would-be homeowners in their thirties and even forties to seek a loan from their parents or grandparents to buy their first property. Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: ‘The affordability gains for buyers relative to renters in the last three years have been significant. ‘The average mortgage payment has fallen dramatically over recent years as a result of falling house prices and mortgage rates. ‘At the same time, rents have risen  due to strong demand for rented accommodation. ‘Nonetheless, despite the improvement in the relative affordability of buying a home, the number of purchasers has continued to fall due to the ongoing challenges in raising a deposit and the considerable uncertainty over the prospects for the UK economy, which have severely constrained housing demand.’ This section  last  Updated  27 January at 11:58   BBC Business News Mortgage rates to be volatile, say brokers   A number of lenders have made changes to their mortgage rates in recent days.  Brokers are telling new borrowers to expect mortgage rates to fluctuate in the coming months, owing to economic uncertainty. A number of major lenders have increased the cost of a mortgage for new borrowers in recent days. Brokers suggest that the increased activity is likely to be followed by an "ebb and flow" in the mortgage market in the first half of 2012. Lenders are concerned about the cost of funds to lend in the current climate. Uncertainty in the eurozone means that they do not want to overstretch themselves with lending, when there is a chance that accessing funds could become more expensive. 'Shop around' In recent days, some of the major lenders have increased their mortgage rates by up to 0.3 percentage points. Others have changed the loan-to-value bands, so borrowers might not always get a cheaper deal by offering a larger deposit. "It really does pay to shop around at the moment if you are looking for a mortgage as some lenders are much more expensive than others," said Aaron Strutt, of Trinity Financial. Lenders tend to move as a herd, as they do not wish to be inundated with mortgage applications if they suddenly become cheaper than their rivals. Andrew Montlake, of mortgage broker Coreco, said: "We are going to see a period in which the Bank rate remains stable, so lenders will manage the business they want by increasing or decreasing their rates." A few lenders have reduced mortgage rates for new borrowers in recent days. He predicted that this volatility would continue for the first half of the year at least, until there was a clearer picture in the eurozone crisis. Long-term costs for lenders have risen, he said, owing to uncertainty as a result of the crisis.   This section  last  Updated Monday 23 January 2012 More families set to lose their homes as squeeze bites deeper Repossessions forecast to rise by 22 per cent to 45,000 this year as inflation and unemployment take toll By James Moore Britain is braced for a sharp rise in home repossessions as the consumer squeeze forces thousands of struggling families to the wall. Low interest rates and lower-than-expected unemployment kept repossessions at relatively small numbers through the recession and they eased again as the country struggled into a tepid recovery. However, with incomes failing to rise to match inflation and unemployment set to increase sharply as government cutbacks bite and an embattled private sector fails to replaces jobs lost from the public sector, economists fear that will change. The Council of Mortgage Lenders is already forecasting a 22 per cent rise in repossession for 2012 to 45,000. But if the economy fails to meet up to expectations or if unemployment rises more sharply than expected those figures could easily be blown off course and look much worse at the end of the ear. People dealing with those in financial difficulties also say that while mainstream lenders have made efforts to help manage the problem by exercising forbearance with borrowers in arrears and even restructuring loans, they have been frustrated that sub-prime lenders – which deal with less financially stable individuals – have been less willing to help. Peter Sutton, credit and debt policy officer at Citizens Advice, said: "There is a big lump of cases of arrears that are moving into possession and there is also the problem of unemployment going up. We are also seeing the impact of rule changes over support for mortgage interest for people who have lost jobs. There is a two-year limit on that and, with unemployment not recovering, people are hitting that buffer." Mr Sutton said the squeeze on incomes was also having an effect: "The picture is very unclear at the moment. We really do need lenders to stay the course and help to manage people out of problems when they occur." The CML figures show that 27,500 homes were taken into possession in the first three quarters of the year. The 2011 total is expected to come in at 37,000 a slight increase on 2010 when 36,600 homes were taken over by lenders. But Sue Anderson, head of member and external relations at the CML, said: "Repossessions have been contained at fairly low levels through the downturn, helped both by low interest rates and low unemployment. "Although lenders will continue their strategy of forbearance, rising unemployment and living costs will place upward pressure on the number of repossessions this year." Philip Shaw, economist at Investec, also warned of a likely rise in repossessions. He said the key factor to avoid a 1990s style crisis would be management of the problem. Mr Shaw said: "It seems likely that repossessions will rise. It would be surprising in a recession if it didn't. The main thing is how the situation is managed. Banks have been encouraged to exercise a degree of forbearance and the evidence is that this is mitigating the problem." One thing that will keep the situation at manageable levels is the fact interest rates are expected to sit at of 0.5 per cent until 2016 and perhaps longer.   This section  last  Updated  25th January at 10:29   BBC Business News Winter spurt in mortgage lending, says BBA .Mortgage lending was at low levels throughout the year compared with the housing boom  Gross mortgage lending by the major UK banks reached its highest monthly level of the year in December, industry figures show. Lending of £9bn was 12% higher than in December 2010, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said. However, householders continued to take a cautious approach to other forms of borrowing. Repayments on unsecured lending matched the amount of new borrowing on loans, overdrafts and credit cards. "The household sector generally is focusing on debt repayment amid inflated household expenses and a continuing air of uncertainty, so we see a reluctance to let net borrowing rise, with people preferring to use their bank account cash for expenditure," said BBA statistics director David Dooks. There was a slight rise in the credit card sector of unsecured lending. The BBA said that this reflected the increase in year-on-year spending in the shops at Christmas. Even so, repayments still outstripped new borrowing on these cards. Home loans In the mortgage market, activity remained at the low levels of the last two years, despite the pick-up in gross mortgage lending in December. The number of mortgage approvals for house purchases by the High Street banks did increase to 36,171 in December compared with November, although remortgaging did drop back slightly in the same period. Over the year as a whole, the number of mortgages approved for house purchases was very similar to 2010, the BBA said. The number of approvals for remortgaging was up 3% in 2011 compared with 2010. The average house purchase value was similar to 2010, at £145,200, the BBA said. This section  last  Updated Friday 20 January 2012 12.36 GMT guardian First-time buyer mortgage deals set to rise, says Bank of England Trends in Lending report says lenders expect the availability of secured credit to households will increase in the first three months of 2012 By Mark King   A Bank of England report says the number of deals for first-time buyers is growing. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian First-time buyers could benefit from a rise in the number of available mortgages in the first three months of 2012, according to the Bank of England. Its latest Trends in Lending report says "lenders expect the availability of secured credit to households to increase slightly in 2012 Q1, with the rise concentrated on borrowers with high LTV [loan-to-value] ratios". This could provide a lifeline to would-be homeowners stuck in expensive rental property, along with the £3bn HSBC has pledged to lend to first-time buyers. Despite rents in England and Wales falling for the second month running in December 2011, with a 0.8% decrease taking the average rental price to £711 a month, prices remain 4% higher than they were a year ago, according to LSL Property Services' buy-to-let index. During December rents fell in seven of the 10 regions monitored by LSL, with the biggest declines in the south-east and north-east, where rents dropped by a respective 1.9% and 1.4%. London rent fell for the first time since December 2010, decreasing by 0.9% in December 2011, although they remain high at an average £1,023 a month. Persistently steep rents, along with the added Christmas expense, resulted in tenant finances deteriorating in December, with 10.7% of all rent late or unpaid by the end of the month compared to 9.3% in November. Tim Hyatt, president of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), said: "With household income decreasing and job uncertainty prevailing, it could be that increasing rental arrears is a sign that the wider economic malaise is having a tangible impact on personal finance – some consumers may have reached the limit of their access to finance, while others may be cutting back as many commentators have predicted." Hyatt said an easing in demand for rental property, along with a rise in the numbers of tenants struggling to meet their monthly rent payments, pointed to a softening in the rental market. A separate survey by FindaProperty.com indicated that rental asking prices fell 3.3% in the last three months of 2011 due to an increase in supply. It said the stock of rental properties was currently at its highest point since 2009, which led to a December fall in asking prices of 1.1%, bringing the monthly average asking price to £861. FindaProperty said the increase in available rental stock, along with falling rental prices, "will provide much-needed respite for renters in 2012 after a challenging year where asking prices hit record highs of £890 in September." However, David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, suggested the respite could be temporary. "With the mortgage market facing challenges from the eurozone crisis and the sluggish wider economy, credit conditions are unlikely to ease significantly in the coming year," he said. "As a result, the number of first-time buyers able to secure finance isn't about to rocket up, and demand for the limited supply of rental accommodation will continue to rise. It won't be long before rents will resume their upward march." In its Trends in Lending report, the Bank of England said lenders were expecting a "slight fall in demand for secured lending for house purchases and buy-to-let properties in the next three months". But some lenders believe the buy-to-let industry, blamed by some for causing the property crash, will take off in 2012. The Co-operative Bank is to offer £600m of buy-to-let loans this year through its intermediary arm Platform, with business development director Lee Gladwell claiming: "Uncertainty around the economy, employment and house prices is continuing to fuel demand for the rental market and creating opportunities for landlords and brokers."