Landlords are continuing to quit the sector and fewer people than ever are now interested in buy-to-let investments.
That’s the view of Jonathan Rolande from the National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB), who believes the crisis is being deepened by a government that views landlords “with indifference”.
He said: “Landlords are in the peculiar position of being a minority, apparently hated by all sides. Those struggling to buy their own home often blame them for pushing up prices, having created scarcity in the market. Tenants see them as profiteering from the crisis in housing, pushing up rents needlessly and being slow to spend money on repairs.”
Commenting on the lack of support those in the sector currently receive, Rolande said: “The government seems to view them with indifference, neither supporting them nor providing any kind of strategy to make them unnecessary. There is an attitude of ‘well, if they don’t want to be a landlord, someone else will’, which means many are choosing to quit the sector already disgruntled by legislation that has made the business of renting out property far less profitable. It’s also a legal obstacle course where minor errors can trip up the unwary, often with huge financial implications.”
Rolande believes forthcoming regulations will only make the situation worse. He said: “With more legislation on the way – EPC changes will cost many landlords dearly – it is hard to see why anyone would still want to buy to let given that there seems little prospect of capital growth and returns.
“In their rush to rebalance the market in favour of tenants and home buyers, the government seems to have overlooked an important point: owner-occupiers pay more than landlords. Partly because of tax breaks, higher loan-to-value mortgages and lower interest rates, owners will almost always outbid an investor buyer.
Rolande added: “We may soon end up in a situation where much-needed homes disappear from the rental market forever, before any housing stock has been built to replace it. Already beleaguered tenants will face fewer choices and inevitably, higher rents. With landlords facing this death-by-a-thousand-cuts policy, it seems once again that it will be those that can least afford it and have the fewest options that will suffer in the end.”
“ EPC changes will cost many landlords dearly”
Still not approved yet and will make millions homeless, but overall the sector has had its day !
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Having read the lockdown files in the Telegraph for the past few days. It is obvious that coherent joined up thinking is not part of this governments make up. Spin and optics and damn the consequences.
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It could be worse…..you could operate in Scotland.
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Government, Shelter, Councils, the media have all been part of the systematic landlord bashing for the last decade. So many crooks alleging landlords are crooks! subtle brainwashing with the use of terms like Rogue Landlord, yet we have a prime minister advocating Sir Stanley for his old man. You have top civil servants who are meant to be impatial joining the labour party no doubt for a good salary and they have the audacity to call landlords ROGUES. IT IS THE POLITICIANS THAT ARE ROGUES and should not be trusted. Perhaps even just the most recent exposure show up who the ROGUES really are? As for the media none have been sufficently strong to report the truth and perpetuate the term Rogue landlords BECAUSE IT HELPS THEM FLOG their news. Does it matter? well apparently not they have done their worst and the Tenants who also hate landlords are having to find alternative places to live with the aide of councils who don’t have the accommodation as the 45,000 small boat people add to their competition demanding homes. The Conservatives told us they would take back our borders and control them – didn’t they do well!!!!! They scammed the people falsely buying their votes. Who will you vote for come the election – who can you trust?
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I don’t think the Government are indifferent to the PRS. It seems they are actively setting out to destroy it by making it more onerous to be a landlord and by their behaviour causing many to think twice about becoming a landlord in the first place. We have the Renter’s reform bill coming and all the implications of that such as abolition of section 21, no specialist housing court as originally promised to prevent perfectly justifiable evictions taking more than a years, compulsory registration, inspections and ombudsman schemes to pay for. Landlords now have the threat of a minimum EPC rating of C hanging over our heads. Much of the lower rent level properties in the UK housing the poorest people are of older stock and one third of all rental property falls into the pre-1919 category all of which properties would require huge sums to be spent upgrading or trying to upgrade EPC ratings. Low rents and big landlord bills. Think you will be able to sell to avoid it, or increase the rent to pay for it when the time comes? Don’t bank on it!
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