Jul

‘End Tory hostility to private landlords’, NRLA tells next Prime Minister

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The next prime minister must end hostility towards landlords and encourage investment to meet rising demand, warns the NRLA.

It says the supply crisis in the PRS needs to be urgently addressed if the government is to achieve its homeownership ambitions, as the association’s latest poll reveals that nearly a quarter (23%) of landlords in England and Wales plan to cut the number of properties they let in the next 12 months – up from 20% a year ago.

Read one landlord's heartfelt complaint that she's been chased out of the sector.

Only 14% want to buy more properties, according to the poll of 708 landlords by BVA-BDRC, which also found 60% had seen increased demand for rental housing in the second quarter of the year, a big jump on the 39% of landlords who reported this a year ago.

250k drop

The NRLA says since the government began to restrict mortgage interest relief for landlords, the number of private rented homes in England has fallen by more than a quarter of a million.

In stark contrast, those providing holiday lets continue to enjoy full mortgage interest relief, creating a distortion in favour of short-term housing over longer-term rentals.

It expects the supply of homes to rent to keep falling over the coming year and points to research by Capital Economics that suggests removing the stamp duty levy on additional properties would see almost 900,000 new private rented homes made available across the UK during the next ten years.

NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “Driving rents up just leaves tenants with less cash to save for a deposit.

“We need a strong and vibrant private rental market that meets the needs of those who rely on the flexibility it provides, those who need somewhere to live before becoming homeowners and those for whom the promise of social housing tomorrow provides cold comfort today.”

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