Property portal claims BTR is now ‘mainstream consumer choice’ among renters

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A property portal has claimed that the build to rent (BTR) sector has reached a tipping point and that homes within this kind of development are now a ‘mainstream consumer market’ even though it still only represents less than 1% of the UK private rental market.

The claim has been made by website Love to Rent which has launched a week of promotional activity for BTR backed by the British Property Federation, the UK Apartment Association and leading providers including Allsop, Simple Life, Folio, and Fizzy Living (pictured, above).

“The key selling points of build to rent including great customer service, longer tenancies, on-site amenities and a sense of community are what set this type of living apart,” says Peter Sloane (left), Chair of Love to Rent.

Unreliable landlord

“Renting has never managed to shake off that image of a slightly unreliable private landlord, but we want to dispel those myths and show there is a different way to rent.

“The build to rent sector has been gathering momentum for years but now with over 50,000 units now occupied and record investment into the sector last year, we have reached a tipping point where it has become a mainstream consumer market.”

Commenting on behalf of the British Property Federation, Ian Fletcher says: “Renting is about people. It is about giving customers a great experience through inspiring and conscientious employees and good suppliers.

“The Build to Rent sector has happy customers. We know from customer feedback that people love their Build to Rent homes, the range of services they offer, sense of community, and great customer service. “With an ever-increasing number of homes being delivered for a variety of needs and budgets access to the Build to Rent has never been easier.”

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Do you agree? New Shelter report hightlights national ‘housing emergency’

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Shelter has condemned Britain’s housing system as unaffordable, unfit, unstable and discriminatory – a situation made worse by benefit cuts and the pandemic.

The charity’s new report, Denied the Right to a Safe Home, highlights a housing emergency, reveals gross inequality in the housing system and calls on the government to build at least 90,000 good quality social homes a year.

Shelter’s survey of 13,000 people found that 23% are living in homes with significant damp, mould and condensation, or homes that they can’t keep warm in winter, while 8% report regularly cutting back on essential items, such as food and heating, to pay their housing costs. 

Another 8% fear losing or being asked to leave their current home – largely driven by private renters who live in the least secure housing.

The research found that race, disability, sexuality and socio-economic status are all barriers to a safe home. Black people are 70% more likely to be impacted by the housing emergency than white people and Asian people are 50% more likely.

Disability

Shelter says 54% of people with a significant disability don’t have a safe or secure home, compared with 30% of those without a disability.

Chief executive Polly Neate (main picture) says decades of neglect have left Britain’s housing system on its knees.

“Lives are being ruined by benefit cuts, blatant discrimination and the total failure to build social homes,” says Neate.

“Shelter believes a safe home is a human right, but the pain and desperation our frontline staff see every day shows this is still a long way off.

“We are fighting for everyone impacted by the housing emergency and as we emerge from the pandemic, we want the public and politicians to do the same.”

Download the Shelter report.

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Campaign group claims banning ‘unfair evictions’ will save councils £161m a year

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Generation Rent has claimed that ending unfair evictions could reduce homelessness by nine percent and save councils £161 million a year.

By unfair evictions it means banning Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions that follow a tenant complaining about a property or its maintenance, or when a landlord decides to sell a property in order to sell it or re-let it to new tenants at a higher price. Generation Rent says 68,430 households have faced homelessness in this way since April 2018.

Tenants can protect themselves from ‘revenge evictions’ over complaints by reporting the matter to the council both before and after a Section 21 notice is issued, but few do this.

Generation Rent says it wants revenge evictions banned and also make landlords who to sell up compensate their tenants for the cost of moving home.

Section 21 evictions are a hot political potato at the moment as landlords wait to hear when all kinds of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions will be banned via the government Autumn White Paper, and what they will be replaced with.

Government data

Generation Rent is basing its evictions claims on MHCLG data that shows out of 755,250 households made homeless or threatened with homelessness between April 2018 and December 2020, 140,950 had been in a private assured shorthold tenancy (19%).

Of these households, 68,430 had faced an unfair eviction – either following a complaint about disrepair or due to their landlord selling or re-letting the property (49% of private rented sector cases and 9% of the total).

Evictions specialist Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action says: “Further to these figures quoted by Generation Rent, our data from the courts shows that at the coal face the possession cases situation is not as severe as they are suggesting,” says Paul Shamplina.

“It is also up for debate what ‘unfair eviction’ means as many landlords use Section 21 notice evictions for good reasons including to remove tenants who have stopped paying their rent but who have not been affected by the pandemic.

“That is why when Section 21 is banned, there needs to be special measures put in place to ensure landlords with legitimate reasons for repossession have a way to achieve that.

“And remember that many of the landlords that the Landlord Action team speak to are often repossessing because they have had enough of the new rules and extra taxation and want to sell up.”

Generation Rent have also published a report recommending the tenancy reforms it would like to see in the White Paper ‘to end unfair evictions and give renters’ greater long-term security in their home’.

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