Dipti Tait, 51, has been trying to sell a two-bedroom flat near Heathrow since July 2022, or for 682 days, in what she describes as “the longest-ever chain-free sale.”
“I blame the Conservatives,” the hypnotherapist and author says. “Liz Truss was about as qualified as me about economics. My son has just done Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford (the same degree and university as Liz Truss) but I wouldn’t expect him to know how to run a country.”
Tait inherited an ex-council flat, valued at £290,000, in 2011 when her mother died. As she was living in the Cotswolds and not London, she rented it out.
“I’m an accidental landlord; I inherited a place because my parents died and I’m an only child.”
In 2018, following a divorce, she took out a mortgage on the property in order to buy a house for herself in the Cotswolds. The rate was 2.89 per cent and her repayments came to £468 a month.
In 2022, when she knew this low rate would go up, she asked the tenants if they’d pay more to cover some of the difference. They had been on the same rent for five years. “When the rates went up, they either needed to pay more or I’d have to sell the flat.”
They refused to pay any extra so Tait put the flat on the market in July 2022. The tenants agreed to viewings but refused to move out when an offer was accepted in September 2022, and Tait had to go down the eviction route.
While this process was going on, Liz Truss had her disastrous mini-Budget, which saw mortgage rates skyrocket, and then Michael Gove announced the Renters’ Reform Bill which introduced new grounds for eviction for landlords who genuinely want to sell their properties or move back in.
Following the latter, her tenants doubled down on staying put: “They said: ‘We know even if we can’t pay the rent, you can’t kick us out.’” The eviction took so long that the sale fell through.
The tenants were finally evicted in August 2023 and the flat was empty but, in the meantime, Tait’s fixed mortgage had come to an end, and she was now on a standard variable rate of 6.99 per cent, with monthly mortgage payments that had almost tripled to £1,132 a month.
As she couldn’t afford to pay this, along with the bills and service charge, she came to an arrangement with her mortgage lender that £1,000 would be added to the amount she owed each month, meaning she’d get less equity back when she sold.
A second buyer was found but government policy yet again thwarted her attempts.
“Following Grenfell, the Conservatives changed the leasehold laws in the April 2024 budget, so you now need a Fire Risk Assessment External Rule form (FRAEW) if your flat is over five storeys and has cladding.”
Tait’s flat isn’t over five storeys and doesn’t have cladding. “The problem is that the mortgage companies don’t care – they still want it. The sale went through all the way to the end and then, last week, just before the money was going to be released, the mortgage company asked for this form, which we didn’t have.”
While Tait can understand the reasoning behind both the Renters’ Reform Bill and the FRAEW form, to protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords and guarantee the fire safety of a property, she feels like the decisions aren’t put into practice effectively.
“It’s not black and white,” she says. “It’s got into such a pickle now where people make a decision ‘up there’ and don’t realise the ripple effect. How do you undo the damage done?”
Tait estimates the process of evicting her tenants, paying the increased mortgage, keeping up with the service charge and bills, and paying the agents’ and solicitors’ fees will have cost her about £30,000 by the time the flat is sold, plus it’s taking a toll on her emotional wellbeing.
“I earn an okay amount but I’m really struggling. I have good emotional stamina, because of my job, but this could totally push someone off the edge.”
Tait has just managed to secure a third buyer, who has found a mortgage lender who doesn’t require the FRAEW form, but says the entire process has left her disillusioned with both Labour and the Conservatives.
“All of them are so short sighted,” she says. “There’s no authenticity of leadership. They don’t care about the people once they get in…. I don’t know who to vote for – maybe the Greens or Liberals.”
