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The general election & property: who cares

Unless you have been living under a rock, you'll know that a general election is on the horizon. While news coverage swirls around public service funding, immigration, benefits and the health of the NHS, not much airtime or column inches have been given to matters relating to housing. So, are property professionals the only people hung up on housing policies

The answer this time is 'probably yes'. The Conservative Party - playing up to the unshakable aspiration that homeownership is still the nirvana of success - dealt a trump card back in December when it reformed the stamp duty system to make 98% of property transactions cheaper. Happy days for the thousands of buyers who saved up to £4,900 in tax overnight, as money in the pocket is what being a 'party for the people' is all about. Whether you call it the 'buying of affections' or a shrewd move, many voters will feel they have done well out of Chancellor George Osborne's announcement long enough to stop them probing housing policies or vote against the party.

There is consternation, however, among high net worth individuals pouring over details of a proposed mansion tax. A new levy, should Labour win power in May, would see an annual charge on homes worth more than £2 million, applied in a progressive fashion according to a homes' value. There's also a similar policy in the Liberal Democrats' manifesto, stating that owners of properties worth over £2 million will pay 1% of the property's value on an annual basis. However, high net worth individuals aren't a large enough group to sway the outcome of a general election, especially as a percentage will be made up of foreign nationals with no right to vote anyway.

Landlords and those in the buy-to-let industry are also finding their feathers ruffled in the run-up to the big vote. Threatened with Labour's ideal of a.) three-year tenancies, b.) the scrapping of tenant fees and c.) rent increase caps, lenders, letting agents and landlords can all see a catastrophe on the horizon should Ed Miliband sweep to power. Elsewhere, the Lib Dems have taken retaliatory/revenge evictions to heart as part of their campaign. Our industry is panicking that the general public fail to grasp what the reality of such changes would be, and that brings us on to perhaps the group that should be scrutinising property policies and manifestos the most - tenants.

Our population is growing. Home ownership is not possible - or desirable - for everyone. Build to rent programmes are gathering pace and investment, and a moveable workforce is driving the demand for flexible accommodation. Tenants, out of everyone with the right to vote, perhaps have the most power to influence the outcome of the election. According to figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government, up to 7.5 million homes in the UK are owned by landlords - each possibly filled with more than one eligible voting tenant. Plus the level of home owning occupiers in London is just 58% - indicating almost half of the capital's residents reside in a let property - that's quite some critical mass. Perhaps now is the time for tenants to get reading those manifestos.

*Simon Duce is the Managing Director of ARPM Outsourced Lettings Support

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