As a property owner, thank God we can evict tenants

Iam very lucky to own my flat. The process that enabled me to do so was complicated and, like many of my peers, I had help. So it’s not that I take for granted my relatively secure situation, or that I don’t feel for those who want to buy but, because of high property prices, must rent indefinitely.

But the debate about the predicament of renters and, by implication, of unscrupulous property-owning landlords, has become ridiculous. The Left has always felt uneasy about private property (except theirs), and recent figures suggesting that one in three millennials will never own their own home have given them the perfect chance to let loose.

“Renting… wouldn’t be so bad if tenants’ rights were better protected,” wrote one Lefty columnist last week. “As it stands, any landlord can evict a tenant with just two months’ notice after a fixed-term period under a section 21 agreement without providing any reason at all.”

Yes… and? Speaking as a property owner, the ability to have control over your home is absolutely essential. In Germany, where I lived for a time (while renting out my flat), renters’ rights are king, and tenants routinely sue landlords for raising rent, even by a fraction, never mind giving them notice to leave. What a nightmare.

Thank God it’s not like that here. The flexibility of the market here was frustrating when I was a renter, yes, but it’s a godsend when you own a place and want to let it out. After four years of living elsewhere, my plans changed suddenly and I needed to move back – waiting any more than two months would have been disastrous. More than that, my tenants turned out to be a long way off model renters, so I was immensely grateful that I was able to to kiss them goodbye sooner rather than later.