Robert Jenrick pays a heavy political price for his anti-landlord stance

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Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has polled near the bottom of a cabinet league table compiled by the party faithful who have slated his performance in recent months.

In the Conservativehome.com online poll of Tory voters, Jenrick came third from bottom with a paltry 1.3 point rating; only party chair Amanda Milling and education secretary Gavin Williamson fared worst, with a -14.3 and whopping -44.1 point score respectively, while Boris Johnson is only just above him with a 3.4 point score.

In stark contrast, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has a 74.1 rating, while even Home Secretary Priti Patel garnered a 26 point rating.

Landlord worries

Tory voters are no doubt worried about tax and regulation increases for landlords, as well as the eviction ban.

Jenrick has also fared badly across other areas; in May 2020, he was involved in controversy when he overruled the Planning Inspectorate and approved a £1 billion luxury housing development for Conservative Party donor Richard Desmond.

He was also criticised for his response to the national crisis following the Grenfell Tower fire.

High-flyer Jenrick, who won his cabinet post as part of Johnson’s 2019 reshuffle, is the 18^th minister in 21 years in a department which is still seen as a secondary area of importance, where ministers must fight for influence and funding alongside other priorities.

This is evidenced by the quick departure of many former housing secretaries and ministers such as Brandon Lewis (19.2 point rating), Sajid Javid (66.6), Alok Sharma (26.8) and Grant Shapps (17.5) who are better regarded by rank and file now they’re in new jobs.

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LATEST: Councils’ are ‘doing too little’ to tackle rogue landlords, says NRLA

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Criminal and rogue landlords are very unlikely to be fined over their activities with just 3,500 penalties issued by local authorities since 2018, it has been revealed.

This is despite ministerial claims that there are 10,500 such landlords in operation, says the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

“Our findings show that most councils are failing to use all the tools available to them to tackle rogue and criminal landlords,” says Chris Norris (pictured), Director of Policy and Campaigns at the NRLA.

“By failing to apply appropriate sanctions to punish wrongdoing, councils are weakening the principle of deterrence which underpins the civil penalties regime.

“We are calling on all councils to ensure they are making full and proper use of the powers they have to tackle those landlords who cause misery to tenants and bring the sector into disrepute.

“The Government’s plans to reform the private rented sector due later this year will mean nothing if changes are not properly enforced.”

FOI requests

The NRLA quizzed local authorities across the UK via multiple Freedom of Information requests and found that very few had issued civil penalties against errant landlords, which can reach £30,000 under current rules brought in three years ago.

It also found that over half of authorities had not issued any civil penalties since these regulations were introduced.

Of those that did, most had issued only a handful with 71 per cent of all civil penalties being generated by just seven per cent of local authorities. And 40 per cent of councils that had issued civil penalties issued between just one and five penalties.

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Built-to-Rent chief says landlords leave tenants ‘in fear of eviction’

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The CEO of the UK’s largest listed residential landlord has taken aim at private landlords whom she accuses of leaving tenants in constant fear of eviction.

Helen Gordon, boss at Build to Rent expert Grainger, told Property Week that it had a stronger social conscience than many of its competitors.

“On the topic of Environmental, Social and Governance, our ‘S’ is much stronger than many other property companies. Anyone renting with a buy-to-let landlord is worried they’ll be served notice at any time. In a Grainger block, people are working all the time to make sure you stay with us.”

She adds that as the country has reopened, demand has swelled for its high-quality, professionally managed rental product. “We launched schemes in Southampton and Manchester at the end of March,” Gordon says.

“Our Southampton scheme has beaten all records – it’s now fully let. We had allowed a year to lease it up, and it happened in under four months. And in Manchester, 140 units have already been let.”

Technology

Gordon believes the emphasis Grainger places on technology and service is a key reason for continued demand for its properties.

“We have superfast broadband going into each apartment, not being split at the building,” she points out. “We doubled the speed for our customers during the pandemic.

“Grainger offered co-working spaces, gyms, extensive cleaning regimes and even parcel collection. We were doing shopping for people. That really differentiates us from the buy-to-let landlord who may have been absent.”

The firm, which has 9,000 operational units, with another 9,000 in the pipeline, boasts that it has been particularly resilient during the pandemic, with rent collection levels at about 97-99%, while others have struggled. Gordon suggests that local councils struggling to meet housing targets should also consider partnering with Build to Rent developers.

Read the Property Week article in full.

Read more about build-to-rent.

Pic credit: YouTube.

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Tory MPs declare war on landlords who convert rural rentals into Airbnbs

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Tory MPs have declared war on landlords in holiday resorts who are kicking out tenants to convert their properties into Airbnbs.

Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall is set to declare a housing emergency by the autumn, reports The Times, as locals have been left homeless by soaring property prices and the staycation boom.

“There are just 19 properties you can rent long-term in the whole of South Hams on Rightmove, yet there are 300 advertised on Airbnb in Salcombe, another 300 in Kingsbridge, a similar number in Totnes. Yet we have hospital staff who can’t find anywhere to live, RNLI crew that can’t live in the town they serve,” says Mangnall.

Holiday spots

Fellow Tories in the South West – Steve Double and Derek Thomas – and Duncan Baker in North Norfolk want housing secretary Robert Jenrick to introduce a range of measures to ease the housing crisis in key holiday spots.

Plans include regulation of Airbnb-style rentals, incentives for landlords to rent to local people, the building of more affordable homes, restrictions on the number of holiday and second homes and the ability to impose council tax surcharges on second homes.

They say the pandemic has accelerated a problem which has been brewing for years fuelled by low interest rates, cheap mortgages and a stamp duty tax cut.

Tim Farron (pictured), the Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale in the Lake District, has also launched a petition urging a change in planning laws to stop family housing being turned into second homes and holiday lets.

In the first six months of 2021, 14,660 second homes were bought in Britain according to Countrywide, which is the highest number since 2009. Across the UK, the number of new rental properties being listed is down 14% compared with the 2017-19 average, according to analysis by the property portal Zoopla. In Cornwall, it has dropped by 44%.

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