This week’s letter comes from Steve Hodge, from Daytona, and his response to the article: Calls to scrap deposits for renters – Marketwatch.
He said: “Why on earth would landlords want to take a chance on tenants if they aren’t allowed to have the deposit as a hedge against rent loss or damage?
“These taxes and stupid plans like this will simply mean landlords put the increased costs into the rent, I know many landlords that added 25-30% to rents last year for the new tax changes, and makes the housing issues worse.
“When they lost tenants that couldn’t afford the hike, guess what, there were plenty of applicants to replace them at the new level, so all this lot has done is pay for itself, and create another group of people that can’t rent or buy a home.
“Building more houses is the only way to move forward, trying to not demonising the private sector which is providing those homes the government cannot.”
