BREAKING: UK’s two landlord associations make their first political joint statement

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Due to merge in January but awaiting legal due process, the RLA and NLA have jointly called for the new Chancellor to change the government’s course on the private rented sector.

The UK’s two leading landlord associations have
issued their first joint political statement ahead of their upcoming merger –
although they still haven’t set the date.

Despite announcing the merger last August, legal
due diligence issues are holding up the process, which was due to take place
early in the new year.

In their submission for the Budget, the Residential
Landlords Association (RLA) and the National Landlords Association (NLA) have
urged the Chancellor to use his first Budget to reverse a decline in the supply
of rented housing.

The statement points to extremely low confidence among
landlords, who are selling more properties than they are buying, with others
switching to short-term holiday lets for tax reasons.

Change course

David Smith, policy director for the Residential Landlords
Association (RLA), says: “Ministers need to use the Budget to urgently change
course to ensure that their tax policies are positively aligned with their
wider housing objectives to encourage good landlords to provide long-term
affordable housing.”

Chris Norris, director of policy and practice at the NLA,
adds: “The tax system with which landlords must contend is no-longer fit for
purpose. HM Treasury has constructed a series of barriers to investment, which
make running an efficient and successful lettings business borderline
impossible.”

The merger will combine their membership and
activities into the National Residential Landlords Association or NRLA, giving
it a total membership of more than 80,000.

This, it is claimed, will mean it represents
the owners of some 500,000 private rented properties or approximately 10% of
the stock in the PRS.

The NLA was founded in 1988 and the RLA in
1973, but in recent years have been pursuing almost identical roles including
training and advice for landlords, and both lobbying and campaigning
activities.

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