please empty your brain below
You'll probably cost the NHS the price of a flat all over again as you get older, it might be an idea to put your flat in Bedford into a trust or something so the government don't make you sell it to pay for your care.

Assuming there still is an NHS in the future of course.

Still anon | 11.10.16 - 7:19 a.m. | #

Wow - buzzkill.

Anyway, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Congratulations DG, we'll all come around 7-7.30, I'll bring some Becks.

Kevin | 11.10.16 - 7:41 a.m. | #

Roon's already sitting on the bench...

Ken | 11.10.16 - 7:45 a.m. | #

Because you seem a civilised sort of bloke who earns to live, rather than lives to earn, do I guess correctly that the rent you charge on your Bedford flat has not increased at the same rate as the rent on your flat in Bow?

RayL | 11.10.16 - 7:47 a.m. | #

Ha, brilliant. DG is really a landlord. So much for all his leftwing posts.

Anne | 11.10.16 - 8:37 a.m. | #

Nice One dg 👍🏻

Rob Healy | 11.10.16 - 8:39 a.m. | #

Meanwhile on another blog:

"Instead I rent myself in Bedford, which is a whole different level of insanity. Every month I hand over more to my landlord than he'll be paying to his mortgage lender, and every year the amount I pay goes up, not down. I've forked out a fortune over the last 15 years, enough to buy the flat I'm living in outright, but have absolutely nothing to show for it... other than the opportunity to live in Bedford, that is."

Tony | 11.10.16 - 8:40 a.m. | #

There are good landlords and there are bad landlords. I think DG would be in the former category.

GA Annie | 11.10.16 - 8:46 a.m. | #

One day it might dawn on the Anne who comments above, and others like her, that humanity is not really divided into two neat heaps of "leftwingers" and "normal people" (who admire Trump, Farage and Cameron). Instead there's a rich diversity of views, including civilised and thoughtful ones like DG's.

Good article, by the way, with plenty of food for thought. It just adds to my belief that the world financial system is in a nasty mess. But if there is any "answer", I don't know what it is. Perhaps the first step - recognising that the system is broken - is an important one.

Malcolm | 11.10.16 - 9:21 a.m. | #

"Ha, brilliant. DG is really a landlord. So much for all his leftwing posts."

It seems anyone who doesn't believe in the pure and absolute supremacy of the free market has to live in a ditch and grow all their own food otherwise some simpleton will call them a hypocrite.

Steve | 11.10.16 - 9:26 a.m. | #

Obviously the "trust or something" is worth considering. It does seem unfair that lifetime savings can sometimes be used up paying for care, though not if you don't have any lifetime savings.

But another view would be that this only offsets the other unfairnesses which make it possible for some people to build up lifetime savings, whereas others (often for reasons beyond their control) cannot do this. Which was (I think) part of DG's message.

Malcolm | 11.10.16 - 9:27 a.m. | #

You are indeed a civilised sort of bloke, DG - and deserve any good fortune that this bizarre system throws at you.

Bob L-S | 11.10.16 - 9:36 a.m. | #

Snap! I too was persuaded to take out an endowment mortgage to buy a flat in north London in 1992.
Fortunately, changing circumstances mean that I no longer require it to pay off a mortgage on maturity next June. Good job too, as current projections indicate it will only pay out around 50-60% of the original mortgage sum!!

Frank F | 11.10.16 - 9:47 a.m. | #

Having followed the blog most days for the last 9 years I am disappointed to find out that in the blogs I read about landlords and renting that DG didn't mention renting out his own flat at all.

Messiah | 11.10.16 - 10:03 a.m. | #

"Ha, brilliant. DG is really a landlord. So much for all his leftwing posts."

It's Anne's opinion which like all of us she is entitled to, why has it caused some to bristle?

Agent Z | 11.10.16 - 10:13 a.m. | #

Leftwingers seem to have a remarkable ability to locate money for their own needs - like sending their children to private schools or paying cash for a flat in Edgware - but if you show your face at the right protests and spout the right slogans, no one asks too many questions.

Wasn't it Arthur Scargill who took his own union to court in 2012 because they wanted to stop paying £34,000 pounds a year for his flat in Barbican.

Still anon | 11.10.16 - 10:18 a.m. | #

It's true that the umbrella term "leftwingers" includes some pretty nasty characters. No need to give examples, the press do it only too enthusiastically. But there is no need to hint that the nastiness somehow applies to everyone who ever supports a so-called left-wing policy. That is just plain wrong.

Malcolm | 11.10.16 - 10:44 a.m. | #

The real question is - is the flat a leasehold which means you can still be taken for a ride by an actual greedy landlord?

Anyway what do you expect DG to do, sell his flat (bought at the end of a Tory government which encouraged owner-occupation) and pay rent until it's time to move into an NHS hospital?

John | 11.10.16 - 11:26 a.m. | #

I think there's a subtle but important distinction here: DG is not a multiple property owner. He rents the London place and owns the Bedford one. This is not the same as owning both and thereby stockpiling property, which is the problem with the housing market today.

A lot of people were caught by the endowment mortgage fiasco and were unable to sell because of negative equity. Some of them - not me I hasten to add - found themselves as landlords almost by default as they couldn't sell but still needed larger properties to start a family etc. The housing market has been out of whack for a long time.

Ned | 11.10.16 - 12:03 p.m. | #

congratulations on your "windfall" DG (though I'm not sure it's a windfall, you've worked hard for it) ... and I'd love to join you for a beer, just let me know where and when

Caz | 11.10.16 - 12:18 p.m. | #


"It's Anne's opinion which like all of us she is entitled to, why has it caused some to bristle?"

Because bristling is likewise something we are all entitled to do.

Placeshifting by letting a property in one place just to pay the rent on one somewhere else is a million miles away from being a professional landlord - it's morally no different from just owning the place you live in. And it doesn't read as if DG's making a profit on the deal.

| 11.10.16 - 12:37 p.m. | #

DG,

What a great post - I am 24 so it's very timely. To purchase a two bedroom flat in Bedford would cost around eight times my (terrifyingly, above the average) salary. Scary times indeed.

Matthew | 11.10.16 - 1:17 p.m. | #

The day you are mortgage free must be one of the best days. Even if the mortgage itself is tinged with let-downs and mis-selling - at least most people had a long time to save up the 'thousands' or few tens of thousands they were going to be short! Today they would be hundreds of thousands short if such a system was allowed :(

Sadly I have twenty years to go myself, although in theory I could sell up now and use the profits (because of a broken housing system that means the house in Zone 4 I bought in 2012 is now worth £150k more, although Brexit will certainly 'correct' that in the next few years) to move elsewhere (a lot further north) in the country and say goodbye to London. I'm not quite ready for that!

And indeed participating in a system out of necessity despite the system being against your beliefs is not unusual or wrong.

Sykobee | 11.10.16 - 1:19 p.m. | #

I doubt that dg is making a huge profit on the Bedford flat - well, until now that is - and I suspect that his net living costs still remained very much in the negative every month.

I suspect they will now be slightly less in the negative each month, but I don't think we can sit about calling him landlord scum, or some crazy buy-to-let overlord, just someone who has managed to do OK for themselves and managed to strike at the right time.

Kirk | 11.10.16 - 1:55 p.m. | #

Err, nobody did call him that, to be fair. There was a suggestion that as a recipient of rental income, he was somehow disqualified from putting forward any so-called left-wing views. But that bit of nonsense was quite soon demolished by other comments, I'm glad to see.

Malcolm | 11.10.16 - 4:15 p.m. | #

Anne is no doubt delighted with the diversionary kerfuffle her comment has caused.

Spence | 11.10.16 - 4:19 p.m. | #

I remember the day 12 years ago I paid off my mortgage. It is indeed a nice feeling.

I had a repayment mortgage as I had misgivings about endowment mortgages - not so much that they wouldn't perform but that you were tied in for the duration of the policy (at 25 I still harboured thoughts about working abroad at some time in my career).

But such considerations didn't stop the financiers - I know someone who was persuaded to sign up for an endowment mortgage despite not only having no dependants, but working for the Foreign Office and therefore quite likely to be spending part of her career abroad.

As it turned out, I did stay in London, but had the funds to pay the mortgage off a few years early - worth doing when interest rates were at 5% and rising.

If DG had stayed in Bedford - well, we would have been spared Bus Stop M but, given their recent performance, he would have had plenty of material for daily rants about Thameslink-Southern instead.

timbo | 11.10.16 - 4:28 p.m. | #

Can't say I would have tuned in to a blog about Bedford....

I walked into an estate agent in south London in the late 70s, handed over 250 quid and walked out owning a flat (with mortgage). I was 23.

The mortgage was cheaper than the rent I was paying at the time.

My son is now that age. He still lives at home. The nearest 'affordable' flat he can buy is about 500 yards away. It costs 249,999 quid.

He can't afford it.

Chris | 11.10.16 - 5:19 p.m. | #

Just used the search function on this blog to see if there'd been any previous posts mentioning Peter Rachman. Disappointingly, it returned 'no results'.
Still, I look forward to DG one day reporting his visit to 1 Bryanston Mews West.

Richard M | 11.10.16 - 5:49 p.m. | #

>>Ha, brilliant. DG is really a landlord. So much for all his leftwing posts.

I fail to see how one can't be leftwing and be a landlord. Honestly, I do wonder at the intelligence level of some people...

red cardinal | 11.10.16 - 6:16 p.m. | #

This post led to a rollercoaster of emotion. Paid off the mortgage - but maybe the endowment wasn't enough. The financial ombudsman made the endowment repay investors - payment was 10% lower than value.
There was rental income to make up the short fall - that rental income was in Bedford.
Mortgage was paid off - rents in London for an accumulated amount which could have bought a flat.

I don't know whether to celebrate or commiserate. I'll chose celebration. Congrats DG on being a full homeowner!

louise | 11.10.16 - 6:43 p.m. | #

invite all the dg readers out for afternoon tea at the ritz! :)

nameless | 11.10.16 - 7:03 p.m. | #

Congratulations DG
You're a dark horse for sure!

Cornish Cockney | 11.10.16 - 11:22 p.m. | #

@loiuse

"Congrats DG on being a full homeowner! "

Well, a houseowner. He doesn't own his own home.

timbo | 12.10.16 - 7:23 a.m. | #

I bought my first flat about the same time. The mortgage people were so "used car salesman" pushy about an endowment mortgage that I sensed they were on huge commission on that deal, so dug my heels in and insisted on a repayment mortgage. Probably my wisest (accidentally wisest) financial decision ever....

IslandDweller | 12.10.16 - 8:25 a.m. | #

Surely this insane housing bubble could be deflated (if not totally removed) by letting councils build flats at genuinely affordable rent. I cannot understand why all the major parties are so set against this. The "Affordable rent" properties being built now are anything but affordable.

IslandDweller | 12.10.16 - 8:28 a.m. | #

Slightly surprised to read that DG is a property owner alongside renting in London. I suspect I might have ditched paying ever increasing rents in London if I was in the same position. I don't understand how people who are forced to rent actually manage these days. The financial pressures must be ridiculous.

I've not quite paid off my mortgage but I insisted on taking out a repayment one and refused to contemplate any other product. Thank goodness I did or I'd be stuffed.

PC | 12.10.16 - 8:57 a.m. | #

I left a rent controlled flat just off Westbourne grove in 94. It was a one bedroom, first floor place overlooking a lovely little square and i weep when i think about it. What a wally. It makes me realise i'll probably never in my life again be able to afford to live in London and as i love it as much as you do i can't bear the idea. So i'll have to content myself with your blog.

milo bell | 12.10.16 - 10:21 a.m. | #

No, there is no such thing as a 'good' landlord. Being a landlord does indeed make you a hypocrite, and does indeed mean that you are responsible for causing an entire generation to have no future. Words cannot begin to describe the evil of what you are doing, which considering the ever increasing cost of rent, is effectively profiting from starvation.

We seem to have a problem these days that so many people who are supposedly on the 'left' in fact benefit from capitalism; whether they be property investors or work in universities (which are responsible for selling an entire generation into peonage).

I enjoyed this blog but I was wrong to, and I will no longer be reading. I feel ashamed to have ever enjoyed it.

Please do not bother replying to this post, as I will not visit this blog again to see comments.

Oliver | 13.10.16 - 12:06 a.m. | #

Hi Oliver yes you will.

P.S.

You are a muppet

Graeme | 13.10.16 - 12:30 a.m. | #

Anyway, when has DG ever put forward any left wing views to speak of?

DG is clearly a decent man with concern for the lives of his fellow citizens. He is not Chairman Mao.

Chris P | 15.10.16 - 6:54 p.m. | #

(do not feed the troll)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 15.10.16 - 6:56 p.m. | #











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