A leader of the Renters Reform Coalition activist lobby has made a specific targeted attack on the motives and honesty of the National Residential Landlords Association.

The attack came over the weekend from Tom Darling, campaign manager of the coalition, tweeting on X from his personal social media account.

The coalition is a loose affiliation of some 20 activist groups including Acorn, Generation Rent, the National Union of Students, the London Renters Union, Renters Rights London, and the Greater Manchester Tenants Union. The coalition is funded by the Nationwide Foundation which was established by the Nationwide Building Society as an independent charitable foundation.

Darling’s comment was in response to a social media post by Ben Beadle, NRLA’s chief executive, who tweeted about the government’s proposed tax raid on holiday let landlords as previewed in the mainstream press yesterday. 

Beadle said such a tax proposal meant: “Good bye furnished holiday let tax breaks it seems … This isn’t the solution to the key issue at play here – long term, sustainable private rental sector housing.”

Darling – citing Beadle’s comments – then tweeted: “Striking that the NRLA would oppose this given they spend every day talking about ‘supply crisis’ of rented homes. The proposal removal of short term lets tax breaks would make it  more appealing to keep property in the private rental sector versus, for example, putting on Airbnb. In other words, it would incentivise the supply of rented homes.

“In my view it reveals what is actually the core of the NRLA agenda which is a belief in the favourable tax treatment for propertied interests for their own gain – not any sort of societal good as they claim.”

A spokesperson for the NRLA told Landlord Today yesterday evening: “We would be more than happy to discuss this and other issues facing the private rented sector with the Renters Reform Coalition. Sadly they have so far failed to accept our approaches for a meeting.”

The spat all revolves around  government leaks  published in The Sunday Times. The paper said that the Budget on Wednesday will contain what it called a £300m “tax raid” on the rental sector. 

Specifically it said: “The Chancellor [Jeremy Hunt] is to launch £300m tax raid on second home owners who make money from holiday lets in an attempt to make the [income tax cut] sums add up. He will abolish a series of tax perks for landlords who rent out their properties to short-term holidaymakers rather than long-term tenants.

“Although it represents another tax grab by the Conservatives, Hunt will argue it will help tackle the housing shortage in coastal areas and holiday hotspots such as Cornwall and the Lake District, where landlords are converting to holiday lets to benefits from generous tax perks, depriving local people of housing.”