EXCLUSIVE: ‘Stop your vendetta against landlords’, portfolio player tells Ministers

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The government must stop its vendetta against landlords or face a housing crisis, warns the boss of one of the UK’s leading guaranteed property cash buying firms and landlords.

“If they continue with these increased costs and liabilities against us, there won’t be many left and that means a shortage of rental homes,” Open Property Group’s Jason Harris-Cohen tells LandlordZONE.

The company buys any type of property, whether vacant, owner-occupied or rented, and currently has 120 let/managed properties across England and Wales, focused on the northern powerhouse cities where it can achieve yields of around 7%.

He’s willing to invest in the portfolio, spending £150,000 when EICRs (electrical installation condition reports) were introduced, as most of the properties needed remedial works.

Massive impact

But imminent measures to raise all rented homes to EPC band C by 2028 will have a massive impact on the business, says Harris-Cohen.

“In our portfolio, the average rating is a D and some have an E rating. Those properties have already had energy efficient condensing boilers fitted and double glazing, but to raise them above an E we’d have to fit internal or external insulation which is financially prohibitive and disruptive for tenants.

“I’ve just been quoted £8,000 for external insulation on a two-bed Victorian property, which across our portfolio would translate to hundreds of thousands of pounds. Who has that kind of liquidity?”

Jason Harris-Cohen

Although small landlords have it tough, he believes there’ll be more pressure on larger landlords who have multiple properties to retrofit.

“It’s hard enough trying to get access to do a gas safety certificate when a tenant will often cancel or not answer the door,” he says.

Logistical nightmare

“Trying to get a tradesman to install internal insulation over a number of days will be a logistical nightmare as we’ll probably have to put tenants in a hotel.”

Harris-Cohen believes that as well as dealing with the usual costs, maintenance, void periods and electrical inspections, selective licensing is yet another burden on landlords, and particularly unfair because they don’t get the licensing fee back pro rata when they offload a property.

He’s hoping that there are no more surprises to come, and adds: “If Labour get in and they introduce a rent cap, I will definitely sell my portfolio as it will no longer be financially viable.”

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