UK Landlord Forum / Life

Way back in the 1970's I owned a rental house.  It had a sitting tenant and the rent was very low.  Something like 7 pounds per week.  I was not allowed to raise the rent as long as the tenant lived in the home, and the children had the right to take over the tenancy if the parents died, with no rent increase. 
It became clear I could not make a profit owning rental property with these rules, so I moved to the states and have been very successful with rental property.  I am just retiring and have just sold all my properties for a very comfortable retirement income.

From trips back to then uk, it appears those rental rules no longer exist and it is now profitable to be a landlord. 

Can someone explain how and when this change happened.

Assured Shorthold Tenancies came in about 20 years ago. In broad terms, after a minimum term of six months, a landlord can end the tenancy with two months' notice, and the tenant can leave with one month's notice. That, coupled with the increased availability of mortgage products for the small-scale landlord (i.e. "buy-to-let") led to a big expansion in the sector.

There are moves afoot to bring in legislation giving tenants greater security of tenure - something in the region of three years - but the Government's been somewhat preoccupied of late so not much has happened yet.