| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Another High Road Casualty | |
| Posted by: | George Knox | |
| Date/Time: | 18/01/12 00:01:00 |
I don’t think big business and move in the city world. But if I bought a shop or office to let it out I would know that there would be slumps. So I would know that I would have to negotiate a rent review with my tenant taking into account a recession whenever one came up. So would a bank. So if banks are prevented from lending on house mortgages without a significant input of equity why, naively ask I, should not the banks be prevented from lending without significant equity being input by the commercial landlord? And if banks lend at the outset at low fixed rates knowing that on the review they will get a higher return on interest, then should they be allowed to lend at such low rates which leads to a fool’s paradise? Why should rent reviews be as frequent as 5 years? Why can’t rent reviews be determined by CPI/RPI rises or local rents, whichever is the lowest? Why can service charges not be regulated as well? Free marketers will hate legal controls but the principle is that commerce is part of society and so has its responsibilities to society. If we have large property companies going out of business then our pensions/investments suffer. If the banks and other financial institutions write of bust property company loans then our pensions/investments suffer. If banks write off so much how can they afford to keep buying government bonds on the same scale as in the past? Without controls everyone suffers. Like any other slump but especially this one, you only have to drive through bits of Chiswick and through Ealing and along the Great West Road to see the number of commercial property companies lying vacant. What a horrific waste. Sorry but greed needs to controlled. |