Your recent article on landlords presents them as shadowy figures wielding quiet power, but the reality is often more ordinary – and more complicated, writes Nick Vernoum. I am an 'accidental landlord.' In my 40s, after working long hours to buy a modest home, I became seriously ill with chronic fatigue and had to move back in with my parents. Letting my house was not about exploitation; it was about survival – covering a mortgage I could no longer sustain through work.
Over time, I reinvested carefully, and I now own a small number of properties. The income is not lavish; it has supported my parents and given me a chance to rebuild my life. I know my tenants well. They can contact me any time, and I sort problems quickly.
I would far rather they were able to buy homes of their own. They are hard-working people in the NHS and the care sector, but the barriers to getting a mortgage remain high.
What is missing from the debate is that landlords are also being squeezed. Mortgage rates rose sharply after the turmoil under Liz Truss's government, while maintenance, regulation and tax costs continue to climb. Many small landlords are exiting because the numbers no longer work.
The uncomfortable truth is that when landlords sell, tenants lose homes. This is not a story of villains and victims, but a housing system under strain, failing tenants and the small landlords who house them.
Nick Vernoum, Yeovil, Somerset
My wife and I rent out two flats that we refurbished and maintain to a standard that we would be content to live with. In fact we sometimes live in our flats between tenancies, just to make sure we are happy with them. We believe we are providing comfortable, safe, secure homes for tenants. Our rents remain static during tenancies, or else increase only minimally.
There are many landlords like us. But if you read coverage of the topic by the Guardian, you would think we all had horns and tails, and ate small children for breakfast. You are demonising us and many honest, decent people like us. Please stop. By all means expose the bad ones – their behaviour disgusts us, too – but let us have some balance in your reporting.
John Farquhar, St Boswells, Scottish Borders
