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A missed opportunity ‘to provide support to individual landlords’

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s new 'Job Support Scheme', unveiled last week, has been welcomed by millions of workers across the country, but the initiative in its existing form fails to provide a much needed boost to help landlords facing financial hardship. 

Research by YouGov for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) shows that the total rental income lost by private landlords with properties in England as a result of Covid-19 could be as high as £437m. 

The study found that almost a fifth of landlords have lost up to half of their usual rental income, and that is why the government’s Winter Economy Plan must go beyond the measures announced to subsidise wages, according to David Alexander, joint managing director of Apropos. 

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He commented: “The chancellor has missed a golden opportunity to provide support to individual landlords in this country at a time when many of them are experiencing severe financial hardship.

“These ‘invisible’ people, who own one or two properties and rental is often their sole source of income, make up the majority of landlords in the UK and they are facing extremely difficult times.

“If these individuals are not supported then the risk is that they will exit the private rented sector in large numbers which will cause enormous problems for tenants in the coming year. Supporting this vital group within the renting sector is essential and must be addressed immediately.”

 

Alexander continued “Larger companies and investor groups involved in the PRS have rightly been financially supported through various government loans, schemes and grants but many smaller landlords don’t have their business structured in a way to benefit from this backing.

“Therefore, there are thousands of landlords who have been unable to access any financial support in the first six months of the pandemic and now face a further six months without any government help.”

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  • George Dawes

    Missed entirely on purpose

  • Neil Moores

    I agree with George Dawes.
    Tenants not paying rent but not being evicted saves the government loads of money.. If the tenants were evicted that would be a different kettle of fish as the local authorities would have to scramble around for emergency housing and the costs that go with that.
    In the medium term the super wealthy and big business can pick up the scraps, ready for the future. Not all the scraps though, so there will definitely, in the long term, be a much reduced supply of rental property.

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    • 28 September 2020 13:24 PM

    I do wonder whether the big corporates want the penny packet properties owned by most LL.

    They will surely prefer to buy up apartment blocks

    I can't see how the corporates will get hold of these properties.

    Just can't see them going on the open market to buy up individual properties.
    I reckon any properties being sold by LL will be bought by those escaping cities

    But certainly a total loss to the PRS.

     
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    George is entirely correct, all they are doing is kicking the can down the road and passing on the problem which won't go away. Shameful.

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    Landlords biggest problem is not the Gov its Landlords !

    The Gov does what the Gov does & Landlords just moan & put up with it - No Choice.

    There are 2.6M Landlords in the UK (Hamptons Int.) Yet the biggest Landlord body, the NRLA, has just 80k members, so when they they try to lobby the Gov they are up against Tenant bodies who claim to support Millions of Renters - who do you think the Gov listens to?

    Yes the Gov are killing Landlords BUT they are well & truly aided by Landlord Apathy :(

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