The government’s new Levelling Up White Paper, revealed this morning, includes a radical reshaping of the private rental sector.
Section 21 eviction powers will be scrapped, all properties in the private rental sector will have to meet a new minimum Decent Homes Standard, a new consulting on introducing a landlords register will be launched, there will be a fresh effort to clampdown on rogue landlords, more will be done to help get people on to the housing ladder, while there will be as greater focus on creating more affordable social housing.
The Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove will unveil the government’s flagship Levelling Up White Paper today. This document will, according to the government, “set out a plan to transform the UK by spreading opportunity and prosperity to all parts of it”.
The White Paper will set out a complete ‘system change’ of how government works that will be implemented to level up the UK.
At the heart of this new way of making and implementing policy will be 12 bold, national missions – to be achieved by 2030. This includes: “By 2030, renters will have a secure path to ownership with the number of first-time buyers increasing in all areas; and the government’s ambition is for the number of non-decent rented homes to have fallen by 50%, with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas.”
You can view the 12 missions by clicking here.
Among some of the other missions will see: “hundreds of thousands more people completing high quality skills training every year, gross disparities in healthy life expectancy narrowed, the number of poor quality rented homes halved, the most run down town centres and communities across the country rejuvenated, a significant decrease in serious crime in the most blighted areas, and every part of England getting a ‘London-style’ devolution deal if they wish to.”
Among the various commitments pledged this morning, the government says it will support 20 of our towns and city centres, starting off with Wolverhampton and Sheffield, undertaking ambitious, King’s Cross-style regeneration projects, transforming derelict urban sites into beautiful communities. This work will be spearheaded by Homes England, which will be repurposed to, in addition to its existing functions, regenerate towns and cities.
The ‘80/20 rule’ which leads to 80% of government funding for housing supply being directed at ‘maximum affordability areas’ – in practice, London and the South East – will be scrapped, with much of the £1.8bn on brownfield funding instead being diverted to transforming brownfield sites in the North and Midlands. The Metro Mayors will be allocated £120 million of this funding.
The government will announce a plan that for the first time ever, all homes in the Private Rented Sector will have to meet a minimum standard – the Decent Homes Standard. Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions will further be abolished, ending the unfair situation where renters can be kicked out of their homes for no reason. We will consult on introducing a landlords register, and will set out plans for a crackdown on rogue landlords – making sure fines and bans stop repeat offenders leaving renters in terrible conditions.
Home ownership will be boosted due to a new £1.5bn Levelling Up Home Building Fund being launched, which will provide loans to SMEs and support the UK government’s wider regeneration agenda in areas that are a priority for levelling up.
The government will further commit to building more genuinely affordable social housing. A new Social Housing Regulation Bill will deliver upon the commitments the government made following the Grenfell tragedy in 2017.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said: “The United Kingdom is an unparalleled success story. We have one of the world’s biggest and most dynamic economies. Ours is the world’s most spoken language. We have produced more Nobel Prize winners than any country other than America.
“But not everyone shares equally in the UK’s success. For decades, too many communities have been overlooked and undervalued. As some areas have flourished, others have been left in a cycle of decline. The UK has been like a jet firing on only one engine.
“Levelling Up and this White Paper is about ending this historic injustice and calling time on the postcode lottery.
“This will not be an easy task, and it won’t happen overnight, but our 12 new national levelling up missions will drive real change in towns and cities across the UK, so that where you live will no longer determine how far you can go.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson commented: “From day one, the defining mission of this government has been to level up this country, to break the link between geography and destiny so that no matter where you live you have access to the same opportunities.
“The challenges we face have been embedded over generations and cannot be dug out overnight, but this White Paper is the next crucial step.“It is a vision for the future that will see public spending on R&D increased in every part of the country; transport connectivity improving; faster broadband in every community; life expectancies rising; violent crime falling; schools improving; and private sector investment being unleashed.
“It is the most comprehensive, ambitious plan of its kind that this country has ever seen and it will ensure that the government continues to rise to the challenge and deliver for the people of the UK.”
Only an oddball like Gove could mix rental reform with Nobel prize winners.
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Usual government shambles, maybe they should look in their own back garden about levelling up, it’s always about rogue landlords but not the good ones who get charged more taxes/costs. Registered rents will be next.
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A party political broadcast on behalf of the conservative PARTY! After all they are good at parties.
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The 12 Missions is basically a “Jam Tomorrow” wish list/political broadcast in which we are being asked to believe that by 2030 the UK will be some sort of utopia where all the social and economic problems that have beset the country and grown worse over the last decades and decades will be pretty much gone in under 10 years. There is, of course, some room given over to PRS landlord bashing, harping on about rogue landlords as if they were the norm and the terrible state of PRS housing as if that were the norm. An emotive statement is made about abolishing Section 21. Apparently tenants are not merely asked to leave, they are “kicked out for no reason”.
There is also a statement that “By 2030, renters will have a secure path to ownership”. Does “renters” mean all renters including the PRS? Will a right to buy at a discount be applied to the PRS funded of course by the rich landlords who deserve no sympathy? There is a lot of officially sanctioned anti PRS rhetoric flying about. Maybe I am a conspiracy theorist but there is an agenda hidden in this. Why is the PRS being singled out?
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Your property wlll no longer be yours, it will belong to the tenants. All you have to do is buy it, maintain it, whether rent is paid or not, comply with ever increasing legislation and join a register so HMRC can be sure to squeeze every last penny from you. We have sold two properties in the last two years and will sell one a year, to avoid CGT UNTIL WE ARE OUT. Better get your hard hat out, Gove and start building those council houses. You are going to need them.
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I hate everything about this, from the stupid name to the stupid proposal.
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The odd times I watch the TV and a programme on rented homes appears with a film of someone’s flat where the walls are black with mould and water drips through a partly collapsed ceiling, a lady appears from the local Authority to say how shocked she is and no one should be living like this and yes I know it has been going on for 2 years and we are trying to sort this out.
Why not a list of rogue Authorities and how the Government is going make a public list of them and prevent them from owning any rented properties in the future.
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