Buy to let landlords have been savagely attacked by the country’s biggest investment company – which just happens to be a major player in the struggling Build To Rent sector.
Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) has slammed “unscrupulous” landlords over claims many are taking people’s money and “giving them a bad experience”.
Interviewed by the Daily Telegraph, Bill Hughes, global head of real assets at L&G, claims too many buy to let landlords have been “suboptimal and substandard”.
The Telegraph points out that Hughes is spearheading L&G’s push into the BTR industry.
In recent months the property industry’s biggest cheerleaders for Build To Rent – the British Property Federation and Savills, who jointly monitor and promote the sector – have complained about the slow planning system. In addition the BTR trade body has renamed itself as the more consumer-friendly ‘Association for Rental Living’, which has also created a code of practice which it claims already conforms with the provisions of the Renters Reform Bill going through Parliament.
L&G, which manages nearly £1.2 trillion of assets, has built a portfolio of 10,000 BTR homes in the least eight years, 5,000 of which are occupied, having spent £3 billion on the sector.
Hughes tells the newspaper: “You have got owners of rental property who are not managing them well. Unscrupulous landlords who are taking people’s deposits and giving them a bad experience. We‘re here to reset standards of quality that renters should expect.
“That’s one of the things that institutional capital can do. You’re there at scale and very long-term and you know that your reputation matters so you’re not going to run the risk with it.”
On the L&G website Hughes is described as being “responsible for transforming its UK property fund management business into a global-reaching real assets platform.”
It also says he plays “an active role in several influential government and industry committees around ESG, infrastructure, regeneration and housing. He was appointed a UK Built Environment Climate Ambassador by the UK Green Building Council to mobilise the real estate industry at COP26 and champion the development of the Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap for the UK Built Environment.
“He is Chair of the Property Industry Alliance (PIA) which brings together the UK’s leading property bodies to give them a stronger collective voice on issues such as policy, research and best practice. Bill is a current Trustee of the UK Green Building Council and an Honorary Fellow of the College of Estate Management. He is a past Chair of the Green Property Alliance, a past President of the British Property Federation (BPF), past Chairman of the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) and was a Commissioner for the Lyons Housing Review.”
You can see the full interview here although for many readers it may be behind the Telegraph paywall.