UncleEbenezer wrote:I expect what he meant is that the modern landlord can fill a house with low-paid Eastern Europeans just as easily and profitably as Rachmann filled his houses with low-paid black immigrants.
There is nothing inherently wrong with or evil about renting HMO buildings out to foreign workers. It's more a matter of how you maintain and manage the accommodation, and whether you are fair and reasonable. And in fact they are usually very good tenants.
I've done it in the past and one of my children is doing it now. I don't consider either of us to be Rachmannic!
What is becoming an issue for doing this is that some councils are imposing rather invasive regulations specific to HMO's, which reduce the viability of that enterprise if you live in one of those councils. Predictably, as with most attempts at government regulation of housing, it will lead to higher rents if supply is thereby crimped.