Labour’s radical proposals for the private rental sector - including reducing landlords’ powers to demand arrears - have produced a dramatic response from the National Residential Landlords Association.
Yesterday Labour’s shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy told her party’s conference that if her party won power it would end Section 21 evictions; reduce eviction powers for landlords whose tenants are in arrears; introduce four month notice periods; introduce ‘portable’ deposits making it easier for tenants to switch properties; allowing tenants to have pets; permitting renters to make ”reasonable alterations to a property”; creating a national register of landlords; and initiating a legally-binding decent homes standard in the private rental sector.
In response to this NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “It is depressing that the Labour Party is once again demonising all landlords. The vast majority do a good job, providing a fifth of all housing in the country. That is why private tenants are more likely to be satisfied with their accommodation than those in the social rented sector.
“The combined effects of what Labour is proposing, in particular essentially making rent payments an optional extra, will seriously damage confidence and with it, the supply of homes to rent when demand is already high. Tenants will suffer in the long run.
“The reality is that promises of new social housing at some distant point in the future will do nothing to help renters struggling today.”
In response to Labour’s proposals the association says:
Rent arrears - Labour will pledge to end automatic repossessions for rent arrears.
The NRLA says: This would send a dangerous signal that paying rent was somehow an optional extra and begs the question where it ends. For example, would mortgage lenders no longer be able to regain possession of properties if homeowners can’t pay their mortgages? Labour should be focussed instead on preventing rent arrears in the first place by unfreezing housing benefit rates and addressing the supply crisis in the private rented sector which is the biggest driver of rents.
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Pets in rented homes - Labour will include a right for renters to have pets.
The NRLA says: In a shared house, whose rights would prevail if one tenant wanted to bring a pet and another did not, maybe because of a fear of dogs or an allergy? What happens if a property was unsuitable for a certain type of pet? For example, a large dog in a small flat without a garden. What would happen if a pet caused a nuisance for other tenants or neighbours? Would that be classed as anti-social behaviour on the part of the tenant? Could a landlord insist on the pet being removed? If Labour want more tenants to be able to have pets’ landlords should be able to require them to have suitable insurance to reflect the greater risk of pets damaging properties.
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Increased notice periods – Labour wants to introduce a four month notice period for repossessions by landlords.
The NRLA says: This would become a charter for anti-social tenants causing misery for fellow tenants and neighbours alike, knowing that they could stay put for four months as well as those purposefully not paying their rent in the knowledge that they have a four-month period in which nothing can happen.
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Rent controls - Labour wants to consult on proposals to control rent increases within tenancies.
The NRLA says Labour ministers in Wales have warned of the potential for such measures to increase homelessness. Speaking last week, the Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths MS, said of rent controls: “One of the things I think that could happen is that you could see landlords exiting the market in large numbers, and that, therefore, would reduce the supply of property, which could lead to significantly increased homelessness. There are other potential unintended consequences as well. If you look at international evidence, you will see that rent control measures can create a target rather than a cap.”
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What we need is a Night of the Long Knives to get rid of all these communist politicians and businesses such as Shelter and Generation Rent.
I can't support violence but guess u are joking
The real problem here is that the new Brextory Party is a divided popularist party and the old school (sensible) conservatives expunged. The current goverment is all over the place on the PRS.. Eg proposing abolishing Section 21 but (aparently) not AST's?!
What we need are sensible Conservative policies before Labour get in. This could include all new tenacies to be three years with tenants allowed to give notice after six months..(as in France) Periodic tenancies to become roll over tenancies unless a Section 21 has been served within two months of expiry of a tenancy and with the section 21 time expiring after two months unless a court application has been made (and the tenancy thereby becoming a roll over after).
Such reform would take the wind out of the sails of Shelter and Gen Rent and lessen the likelihood of the next Lab goverment acting like a bull in a china shop on the PRS..
I strongly recomend that if u have a Tory MP that u write to them to propose my suggested changes to rental law...
I honestly think this is a reality, the conservatives are in a mess and Labour have a very real chance of getting in power in 2 years time. I am leaving anyway, but this will bring forward my plans.
I am thinking the same thing, Simon, but concerned abour rising interest rates bringing down house prices.
labour will get in the Torys are eyeing up 2028 because they will leave it in such a Mess they know thety have already lost the next election Labour will make an even bigger Mess and thats how the Torys get back in to power basiclly they are all the same and none of what goes on Affects any of them they just want the top job expense account gold plated pensions the whole 9 yards
There's a lot of truth in your comment Charles, the Tories don't want to win the next GE, leave the problems to labour we all know they will f... it up big time
We could be heading for a perfect storm - falling house prices; rising mortgages rates; no buyers in the market & a system which allows tenants to do what they like including not pay the rent. Not to mention EPC C on the horizon. I can see houses standing empty or being repossessed while tenants go homeless. :(
I'm ready for many of mine to sit empty while I sell one per year, which ever way there is enough to see me and my wife out in comfort, what happens after that I really don't care
It will get them lots of votes. There are a lot of renters.
If they're not too indolent to vote, they're already going to vote for Labour or a leftie independence party.
I thought last Friday's budget had shown that the Tories were beginning to realise who they should be supporting but Landlords still don't seem to be regarded as a potential source of votes.
Landlords were already most likely to vote Tory but most tenants, especially the problem tenants, are very unlikely to ever vote Tory, so why do the Tories even try to woo tenants?
U r correct but have not nest politicans would point out that long term yensbts suffer.. Property becomes harder abd harder to find and even sitting te abts suffer when thetr famalies expand or they need to move to work. Clearly many landlords at the lower end of the market suffer if the goverment suddenly built millions of new council homes but at least it would be a sensible policy.. But honest politicans don't exist..
Anyone can come up with sound bites when they're in opposition.
If the Conservatives really want to help with the cost of living crisis and ensure victory at the next election they could simply treat mortgage interest the same as rent from a Universal Credit point of view.
According to the turn2us benefit calculator a single parent with 2 children living in a 3 bedroom house at LHA rent of £825 a month could earn over £1050 a WEEK and still be entitled to a small UC top up. That's a gross income of nearly £55000 a year.
A homeowner with a mortgage loses UC entitlement at just over £600 a week (£32500 a year).
If both earned £600 a week gross in terms of take home income the home owner would have £480 wages plus £36.25 Child Benefit plus £8.85 UC. The tenant would have £480 wages plus £36.25 CB plus £169.65 UC.
While it would be unreasonable to expect the benefit system to pay towards the capital repayment element of a homeowners mortgage surely there should be some contribution to the interest element. Or put another way why is it unacceptable for children in rental properties to grow up in poverty but perfectly OK for the children of mortgage paying homeowners to freeze and starve?
Err .. they're not in power .. who cares what they think ???
It's all vote catching nonsense anyway , if they do get in , oh we can't do any of that after all , sorry...
George- I would want you to be right, but Labour have a total distain for the PRS, I think they will do exactly what they say, and probably more.
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