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Rip off Britain

An interesting piece. I wonder if there isn't a building groundswell of opinion (is that a tautology?) that renationalisation would be a good thing in many cases.

I can also see a mood supporting the forfeiture of property bought as an investment and then left empty, such as the c1500 valuable properties in Kensington. Especially if there is a suspicion that the property might sometimes have been bought to launder some dodgy funds. It would not entirely surprise me to see a move towards requiring purchasers of such property to prove, forensically, the legitimate source of the funds used, or have the property siezed under proceeds of crime or anti-money laundering legislation, for example.

It'd certainly be a bit of a windfall for HMG.
 
I agree with the article, but interesting that references a time when the Mail and Express dealt with rip-offs as a scandal, rather than their current fixations. :rolleyes:
 
AFAIK purchasers of property in the UK already have to prove source of funds. The idea of seizing (stealing) property not used 100% of the year is ridiculous. What about people who have weekend cars: shall we take those off them too ?
 
wacko said:
AFAIK purchasers of property in the UK already have to prove source of funds. The idea of seizing (stealing) property not used 100% of the year is ridiculous. What about people who have weekend cars: shall we take those off them too ?
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The piece in the Guardian earlier this week referred to properties which had been purchased purely as investments (eg by non-doms, or overseas investors), which were not occupied at all, let alone a percentage of the time, and the owners refused to let them out to tenants. I can't condone that, and doubt you do either.
 
We are the country of neverending house price increases- with the cheap pound, of course foreign investors are going to snap up property and twiddle their thumbs while the profits come rolling in. If you're very lucky, you might get a job cleaning the windows.
 
We love rip offs in the UK. Currently chasing a builder to complete work and rectify snags have been for several weeks. The response times for quoting for the business were somewhat more timely IIRC.

Of course the costs of seeking redress would be, err, a rip off.

The rip off culture is a symptom of loose regulation, ineffficent policing and more people chasing the same money in a stagnant economy. Can't see it getting much better.
 
SteveS1 said:
The rip off culture is a symptom of loose regulation, ineffficent policing and more people chasing the same money in a stagnant economy. Can't see it getting much better.
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I'm not sure about that - doing a shoddy job and ripping people off seems to be a mindset for a part of the UK workforce in a way that I haven't encountered living in the US - and you could hardly accuse the US of being over-regulated.

Part of the UK workforce just has a really bad attitude to work and customers and I don't think you'll fix it through regulation and enforcement - frankly I'm not sure how you fix it. There is a small, but noticeable percentage of the UK born male population who are their own worst enemies and seek to make life miserable for everyone else.

Interestingly in our year living back in the UK the eastern European immigrants didn't seem to suffer from this bad attitude (probably because they were the ones who got off their arses and came to the UK to improve their lives).
 
I think it's most likely a function of the class system, people looking down and treating badly the working class and in return they piss in the soup at every opportunity.

You would only get this in the UK.



btz3Te
 
I also think that the Del-boy mentality has a lot to do with it, with many people preferring to get work done for cash rather than officially through properly trained and insured companies. No comeback at all when the dodgy contractor disappears never to return, and that's a very common scenario.
 
A mystic Meg style prediction of a post from the future:

We were the country of neverending house price increases - with the cheap pound, of course foreign investors were snapping up property and twiddling their thumbs while the profits came rolling in.
If you were very lucky, you might have got a job cleaning the windows.
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The Guardian article is great and straight to the point. We are getting badly ripped off, especially with the PFI initiatives that both New Labour and the Tories have overseen. It is costing us billions extra.

I went to Oddono's yesterday for a small cornet of hand made salt caramel and pistachio ice cream. It has gone up 30p to £2.75. The Italians have barely raised their prices in the last four years, but the Brexit effect has kicked in.

I personally hate Farage, Johnson and the idiots who voted to Leave. They have made my favourite ice cream more expensive and I don't want to eat cheaper English stuff, because it tastes crap. F*** 'em.

Jack
 
The Far North said:
I also think that the Del-boy mentality has a lot to do with it, with many people preferring to get work done for cash rather than officially through properly trained and insured companies. No comeback at all when the dodgy contractor disappears never to return, and that's a very common scenario.
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The 'Del-boy' mentalists are just that. If you have not asked around for a recommendation or
viewed other installations of theirs then in some ways you deserve what you get.

As regards to cash payments, when I was doing small works I would have to ask for cheques, most customers preferred kites.
IME proper companies do not always have the most skilled staff as they are usually trained by these companies and then bugger off to earn more dosh elsewhere.
There can be several reasons as to why a contractor disappears, Del-boys, priced the work too cheaply, IR and VAT issues, run off with the clients wife etc.

Bloss
 
The thought of living in a society whereby the government can take assets off people concerns me greatly. I appreciate this already happens in exceptional circumstances (compulsory purchase orders etc) but this is a step too far.
We live in a free society generally and this is what attracts people here.
Personally it needs to be addressed via higher taxation on second homes in areas of high prices/low availability and a reduction in population growth limiting the demand for housing. You need a controlled slowdown in house prices and not a crash.
 
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