The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

8 responses to “Congratulations, you own another bank”

1. 

   Guthrum

   September 28, 2008

   Unfortunately ‘I’ don’t, the State does. which is a bit like saying I own a Maserati, because some Bank Robber has stolen my life savings, and spent it on a Maserati.
   To own something is to to have material enjoyment of the goods I ‘own’, I have had no say in any of this, otherwise given the choice I would not have bought it !

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2. 

   Tom Paine

   September 28, 2008

   Agreed. The headline was meant to be sarcastic.

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3. 

   tbrrob

   September 28, 2008

   I own two whole banks…
   My — I’ve never felt so powerful…

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4. 

   William Gruff

   September 30, 2008

   ‘If you insulate people (not just greedy bankers, but the foolishly greedy people who over-borrowed to go into buy-to-let or remortgaged to pay for short-term expenditures) from the consequences of their actions, you promote levels of irresponsibility which will bring you back to this point over and over again.’
   Indeed ‘you’ do but what do you do for those not so greedy tenants of the ‘foolishly greedy’ buy-to-let brigade (often people such as myself, struggling to survive on the national minimum wage – entirely my own fault, and that of Mrs Thatcher’s boom and bust chancellors, but still difficult nonetheless) who cannot but be made homeless by repossession of a property my wife and I have not failed, nor been late, to pay to live in since we moved into it? I agree that they should suffer the consequences of their actions but why should I, yet again?

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5. 

   Tom Paine

   September 30, 2008

   Your lease remains valid and binds the bank or new owner. The house doesn’t disappear and the new owner will need a tenant

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6. 

   Jackart

   September 30, 2008

   “but the foolishly greedy people who over-borrowed to … or remortgaged to pay for short-term expenditures) from the consequences of their actions, you promote levels of irresponsibility which will bring you back to this point over and over again.”
   Says a man who owns a Maserati….

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7. 

   William Gruff

   September 30, 2008

   ‘Your lease remains valid and binds the bank or new owner. The house doesn’t disappear and the new owner will need a tenant’
   A six month assured short-hold tenancy agreement, signed almost two years ago. The new owner, the lender, need only give us two months’ notice to quit the property, for any reason, and we must do so. The lender will wish to recover as much of the original loan as possible by selling the property as quickly as possible and is unlikely to wish to assume the responsibilities of a private landlord in the meantime. There are no grounds to assume that a new owner will also have bought with the intention of letting and a sitting tenant can only reduce the likelihood of a quick sale.

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8. 

   Tom Paine

   September 30, 2008

   William, your position is no different legally than it was before. You signed that form of contract and could be evicted on notice at any time. I doubt if it will sell with vacant possession any better than as an investment at present, but if your landlord goes down, yes a bank may choose to sell with VP. With buy-to-let buildings standing half empty everywhere, you will find it easy enough to move. Indeed, with rents likely to plunge, you may be ill-advised to stay. Anyway, I don’t get your point. Do you want the government to take money off every taxpayer to save your landlord’s financial arse? All this assumes he’s one of the imprudent ones, which may not be true. Let’s hope he borrowed lightly and invested wisely. He seems to have found a serious tenant at any rate so he cannot be entirely a fool. With so many cheaper options on offer in what is suddenly a buyers’ and tenants’ market, he must be hoping his tenant is. B^)
   Jackart, yes – a man who owns a Maserati bought without borrowing. I hardly think Vittoria or I have contributed anything to the credit crunch. Rather I see myself as a patron of the arts. She gives free pleasure to aesthetes wherever we go. At any rate, she’s really mine – unlike Northern Rock or B&B.

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