A mortgage broker claims there’s “no downside” to the current problem of landlords quitting the private rental sector.

Jonathan Burridge, founding adviser at hybrid mortgage adviser We Are Money, has issued a statement responding to the Renters Reform Bill, which is widely seen as a pro-tenant set of proposals.

Burridge says: “This is a good move for tenants and gives them greater protection for a fundamental need of tenure security. 

“The number of properties owned for investment has doubled during the past decade, so, if the impact of this legalisation is a mass exodus of landlords it will mean more property available for owner occupiers and might see prices adjust. 

“The exiting landlords will make a tidy profit and the state coffers will increase because of bumper Capital Gains Tax revenues. I don’t see a downside.”

Lewis Shaw, founder of Teesside-based broker Riverside Mortgages, is also bucking the property industry’s trend of criticising the Bill.

He says: “Almost everyone seems to think that if landlords are forced to sell up because of the inability to manage their properties, this will reduce supply and send rents even higher. This is based on flawed thinking. 

“It’s almost as though many commentators think each time a buy to let is sold, it vanishes from the stock of property available, thereby reducing total property supply, which it doesn’t. The number of homes remains equal. 

“For every buy to let that is sold, it’s sold to either an owner-occupier or another landlord. If sold to a landlord, then it’s available to rent. If sold to a first-time buyer, that’s someone who isn’t renting and has potentially moved out of rental accommodation. 

“This, coupled with the start of 100 per cent mortgages, helps tenants who have been scalped for years by landlords get onto the property ladder. You might even consider the timing of 100 per cent mortgages to be suspiciously convenient, with mortgage rates killing buy to let and renter reform making its debut.”