A reader says private landlords don’t care about tenants’ wellbeing, safety or making sure these buildings are habitable (Credits: Getty Images)
Uninhabitable buildings, filthy surroundings, and greed.
In today’s MetroTalk a reader prays that the government takes notice of the substandard housing private landlords are renting out to the most vulnerable.
Meanwhile, shock and annoyance at the government’s newest tax change, readers discuss whether Rishi Sunak can really be blamed for all the UK’s ills, and express their thoughts on George Galloway, the new (and democratically elected) MP for Rochdale.
Share what you think about these topics in the comments.
Landlords are getting away with murder
Further to your report on sub-standard temporary housing being blamed by MPs for the deaths of 55 children (Metro, Tue).
When are the government and councils going to tackle private landlords?
Landlords are getting away with murder and renting filthy places to individuals who they think won’t complain or can’t because of their position, some being vulnerable.
The UK needs to wake up and smell the coffee as to what’s really going on – it’s all about money-making and not about tenants’ wellbeing, safety or making sure these buildings are habitable.
May God help the government and all the leaders as they are lost and confused, and have no idea as to what’s happening.
Things will get worse before they get any better. Angela Strachan, Essex
Double council tax?
(Credits: Getty Images)
Yet again the government is sneakily bringing in another tax change.
I put my property up for sale in February 2023, after renting it out for six years.
It has never been a second home. In fact, I lived there for 41 years. As I am getting older, I decided to get things in order.
Despite trying three different ways to sell it and reducing the price by £40,000, it still hasn’t sold. It is structurally sound, it just needs a bit of TLC.
I was informed on Friday by Doncaster council that as of April 1, I will have to pay double council tax.
This is because the government changed the law on empty properties from being allowed two years’ grace to just one before being charged double. Carol, Doncaster
Sunak isn’t responsible for everything, is he?
Some things are out of the prime minister’s control (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
David’s rant (MetroTalk, Tue) about the government being responsible for every ill in this country right now is a bit of a stretch. With a typically misleading sweeping opening statement that ‘nothing works’, he proceeds to blame everything on prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Well, my buses are frequent and run on time as do the trains.
The rubbish is collected, the shops are still open and our kids continue with their education.
Sunak wasn’t responsible for installing the bad concrete that has seen some secondary school buildings close, nor the war in Ukraine (which affects worldwide food prices), nor the Covid pandemic (affecting worldwide economies) and the resulting worldwide cost-of-living crisis, which has caused strikes across many countries as workers demand wage increases to keep pace with inflation etc. Paul, London
David is another one of those who thinks a change of government is going to return us to a golden age of unlimited public spending and low taxation.
Sure, Liz Truss did the economy no favours but had Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour been in charge far more would have been spent on Covid lockdowns, each cancelling the other out.
The fact is that with massively increasing demands on the NHS and social care caused by an ageing population, difficult decisions are going to have to be made – no matter which party forms the next government.
Essentially you will have real austerity or massive tax rises; it’s one or the other. John Daniels, Redhill
‘Rotten Rochdale’ or a ‘benevolent constituency’
George Galloway, was democratically elected as MP for Rochdale on Friday (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
It is very disingenuous of Martin Lawrence (MetroTalk, Mon) to refer to Rochdale as a ‘rotten borough’ just because George Galloway was elected as its MP, overturning a Labour majority in what he described as a victory ‘for Gaza’.
Like or dislike Mr Galloway, he was elected democratically, which is how we run our elections in this country. Mike Morfey, Streatham Vale
I found it derogatory and abhorrent labelling the whole constituency of Rochdale as ‘rotten’.
Most probably, the constituents there are very humane people who are appalled by the genocide being carried out in Gaza. I would rather label Rochdale a ‘benevolent constituency’. Lukman Kahir, Redbridge
Train fare increases and the environment
These latest train fare increases (MetroTalk, Tue) are disastrous for our environment.
We should be making rail cheaper, as well as improving service reliability.
We need to take the rest of the private franchises back into public ownership, to stop the railways being used as a money machine for rich investors.
Even worse, we have had 13 years of no fuel tax increases, which has served to subsidise motorists – last year, fuel duty was even reduced.
Young people are not as into buying cars, so what an opportunity to attract them on to rail with cheapish fares.
Instead, the government still has large new road schemes it wants to press on with to reward the construction industry, which donates so much to the Conservative Party. Peter Thompson, Altrincham
We cheered and clapped for the NHS, we should now hold a weekly national ‘boo’ for our national rail service. Patrick O’Shea, Via Email
Working on personal laptops would be civil disobedience
Do you use your personal computer for work? Or should the two never mix? (Credits: Getty Images)
Responding to civil servants having their laptops stolen or lost – possibly containing sensitive information – Anna (MetroTalk, Mon) says they shouldn’t carry laptops around but ‘use their home computers’ if working at home.
There is nothing less likely to enhance security than using one’s own personal device for work. Me, I spend an hour on the train each day so get some work done then.
Not ideal, perhaps, but as my overlords seem happy to run at a 40 per cent chronic staffing deficit, those extra hours are the only way to maintain some kind of customer service standard. Liz (Another Civil Servant), London
Anna says civil servants should ‘forward’ work to their home PC or device if they need to work outside the office. They are not allowed to send work data to their personal devices.
Many civil servants were issued with laptops during the pandemic so they could work from home.
This is the only work computer they have as many offices had their desktop computers stripped out.
They have to take them out of the office to use them at home and they often have to work from home because office space was reduced during the pandemic and there isn’t enough room for everyone to work in offices every day. Deborah, Brighton
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