Governments the world over like telling us we are in this together.
But are we?
I think of all the shop keepers that have been closed for months and months. OK, they may (or may not) be entitled to various government financial support packages, but they certainly do not compensate for lost profits.
Then there are us pilots – aircraft stuck in hangars, largely unused, or parked out on the grass. Hangarage fees or parking still must be paid even though not all the normal service has been provided.
In fact there is a very long list of people who have lost the benefits of a service, to one degree or another.
However, in alll this, there are those that have insisted on requiring the same amounts to be paid. Of course naturally I think of lanlords first and foremost. Now I understand they will argue they also have their costs to cover – perhaps loan interest in the case of landlords, perhaps not, but so do many, and therefore are we really in it together? Should landlords as one example be expected to make some concessions? Should they have been required to share the pain, or should they continue to have benefited from the same income? How has this played out through Europe and beyond?
Discuss!
That’s an interesting analysis,
I’m a landlord and my income is way down, I’ve got a good relationship with all my tenants and have taken measures to try to help them, including some rent holidays, different payment structures and delay of payment, etc. I’ve also lost some Tenants who have been unable to continue. I do not think one should be forced to, but reasonable adults can recognise and try to help if possible.
It does appear that those on the public payroll haven’t had any of the financial pain so perhaps they should. Particularly as it is the government that destroyed the economy.
One mans death, the other mans bread as we say here. I bet there is an English saying for the same thing 
I should have added, I am aware of some landlords (as I used them as one of my examples) who have been remarkably generous to tenants. I dont wish to imply that everyone in every sector who could, has just sat back and taken what is due to them.
Happily, I’m not in that business, but many private and commercial property landlords are struggling. Tenants are going bust or just unable to pay on time, while insurance and building maintenance need to be paid for, as does our army of public sector employees who account, in Scotland, for more than 20% of the “workforce”.
Indeed, it is the public sector as a whole which has really done well out of the CCP virus. Furloughed on full pay or working from home, many are at least saving their usual travel expenses.
It may be a hate-crime to say it, but some poor Scottish farm and forestry owners have also done OK. People (except those who have died) still need food, farm and “greening”subsidies are hosed into our bank accounts, and a happy coincidence of incompetent government and tree-hugging in Ireland has sent Scottish timber prices through the roof. But don’t worry, we’re British farmers, so we’ll think of something to complain about.
Jacko wrote:
People (except those who have died) still need food
The policies in Europe have been particularly mindless but FWIW my relatives in Germany are in the food business and have done very well over the last year. When people can’t entertain themselves in other ways or leave the house much they apparently entertain themselves at home, eating good food that they can still buy as a solution to sensory deprivation.
Starting from zero I’ve bought and paid for some US rental property over the last 30 years and we lost one tenant last year, in the beginning of the CV-19 issue but not because of it. What I found is that that the timing was actually good. It was a great time to remodel, no restrictions on a critical industry and people looking for work that I could put out there. Then with work completed and paid for in six intense weeks I rented it in one day, with rent higher than before but still intentionally competitive to get it rented to tenants chosen with an eye to their income stability. I got about a dozen applicants before pulling the advert – so much for a weak rental market. Our property in Germany is meanwhile rented to somebody in the food business, see above. The rent is a little below market and they likely won’t ever leave.
2020 income was about 10% better for me than any previous year but having said that my main gig (very well compensated 40 hr/week wage slavery ) is not looking as secure as it once did… and I really would like to last for five or more years, even with the stock market and real estate assets that form my retirement fund having boomed. Such is life: you take it one day at a time, take balanced risks but don’t avoid them, react when needed and usually everything works out. Its when you get greedy and look for short term returns that things fall apart in a crisis.
I frequented restaurants frequently during our local period of outside only dining etc, and hope that others doing the same helped somewhat mitigate the damage caused by restrictions on their business.
Keeping business going is a whole lot smarter and better than accepting its cessation. There are no short cuts, everybody must adapt and keep the ball in play or everybody suffers.
I’ve also noticed a buoyant rental market. I only have one rental property but when I had a change of tenant (non-covid reasons, they were just ready to move on) in Dec 2020 the market withstood a 20% increase in the rent and it still let within 48hrs.
In the commercial property world, my next-door neighbour is a commercial landlord and has reported most clients being pretty good and paying (as long as they can). He has a good proportion of public sector clients so is quite well protected. A small number of large companies have taken the piss – not paying rent because they think they can get away with it – but this is not widespread and it’ll make them forever the tenant that no-one wants. The main example is a large pharmacy chain with origins in Nottingham.
It is a fair point that perhaps the public sector should take a haircut to share the pain. Politically completely unworkable though.
What I find unacceptable is airfields continuing to charge parking and hangarage at full rates while closed, especially when not actually mandated to close by law. Of course usually people would vote with their feet, but hangarage in the UK (especially the south east) is not a competitive market. The logical thing is for the charge to revert to a lower ‘storage’ rate on account of airfield facilities being unavailable.
Another example is one of the guys in my team at work who has two young kids in nursery (pre-school). When this closed (by law) in lockdown 1 they were written to and told that they were expected to continue paying the fees, otherwise their place could not be guaranteed upon re-opening. Again this is not a competitive market (hard to get a place, geographical monopolies) so people sucked it up, but eventually half fees or something was negotiated.
The question being whether the airport still has the same costs as before the lockdowns. They will be making less money on fuel and landing fees, and mine hasn’t made staff redundant that I’m aware of. Perhaps they had fewer hours than previously, but they were still working to some extent in a caretaker role. Buildings and surfaces will still need nearly the same amount of maintenance as before, so why should I expect hangarage to go down?
@kwlf it depends on the airport and the degree of remaining activity of course, but most will have made a tidy profit from furloughing all the staff. Power consumption massively down too with lights, navaids and radar off.
Your reasoning suggests your hangarage costs should be driven by what it costs the airport to provide it and whether these costs are being covered? I tend to approach the matter from the other direction and ask what I’m getting for my money (an aircraft storage facility is one thing, hangarage at a useable field quite another). Remembering of course that (unlike pubs) they were never mandated by law to close.
most will have made a tidy profit from furloughing all the staff
How do you make profit from that?
