The government should consider changing tax rules, benefit payments and planning regulations to help more young people get affordable accommodation within the private rented sector, a group of MPs says today.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Private Rented Sector - a committee for which the Residential Landlords Association acts as a secretariat - says a range of issues including council powers to prevent properties being turned into shared homes to rent, and housing benefit restrictions for the under-35s could be making it more difficult for young people to rent in the private sector.
The Group's report calls for:
- the Government and local authorities to look at whether planning powers, specifically Article 4 Directions, are unduly restricting the supply of new private homes for rent. The MPs' group says the powers can be a useful tool but it should be easier for landlords to rent out shared homes to families, and then turn them back into use as houses in multiple occupation.
- a full review of the Shared Accommodation Rate rules, which means single people under 35 can now only claim housing benefit equivalent to a room in a shared house, to see whether the changes mean not enough housing is available at the right rent for those who need it.
- investigating paying housing benefit directly to private landlords to encourage more to rent their homes to those on benefits.
- an increase in the rent-a-room' tax allowance to encourage more homeowners to let rooms to lodgers.
- a ban on council tax being charged for bedsit rooms, or the introduction of a lower band for bedsits, to ensure rented rooms aren't made unaffordable by more councils charging separate council tax on them.
- a review of VAT rules to encourage more properties to be converted for housing use.
The group's Conservative chairman Oliver Colvile MP, says fears of studentification - the prospect of too many students living in one residential area - are often behind the use of planning powers to restrict conversions to shared housing.
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