Torygraph

In an attempt to end the era of heavily subsidised (council house) rents, the Coalition's new system will lead to tenants paying as much as 80 or 90 per cent of the market rate. "This is still about there being affordable rent, but it needs to be more realistic. At the moment, if you get a council house you are really winning the jackpot," said a source. "In terms of the rent you pay it is very, very heavily subsidised. You may pay only a third or a half of the market rate."

And increasing council rents will help push up private rents.

Plentiful council housing is one of the best ways of keeping rents down. But too much of that would annoy "the market."

Well, having no tenant certainly does not give you a guaranteed return.

When there's high demand this doesn't happen much. A bigger problem - so I'm told - is the cost of wear and tear, decoration, and repairs after tenants leave.

As for landlords, owner-occupiers traditionally rent out spare rooms anyway. So owner-occupiers don't necessarily push rents up. Generally they're less likely to be demanding about rent because they don't have to pay the extra cost of repairs/maintenance/redecoration. And they can choose to rent out casually, or not.

BTL landlords don't have that choice. They're on the hook for all expenses, they don't live with tenants so their costs are likely to be higher, and they have to pass those costs on tenants to keep up with payments.