Concern raised over Lib Dem lettings policies

Labour and Conservative policies for housing and property have been criticised heavily by sectors of the industry - now it's the turn of the Liberal Democrats.

The National Landlords Association has raised a number of concerns aobout the Lib Dem manifesto launched this week, claiming ambiguities in it are deeply alarming at a time when landlords will be making large financial decisions.

The NLA says the Liberal Democrats are unclear about rent controls and longer-term tenancies, saying they will not legislate for them but do support them - and the NLA says the party also has what it calls warm words for the much-criticised landlord licensing schemes currently undertaken by some local authorities.

The NLA is also calling for clarity about the Lib Dem desire to establish a voluntary register of rented property where either the landlord or the tenant can register the property, to improve enforcement and tax transparency.

The association is worried, too, by the party pledge to ban letting agent fees to tenants if the transparency requirements we introduced are not successful in bringing fees down to an affordable level by the end of 2016.

Other Lib Dem policies causing concern, says the association, are:

- Extending the use of Rent Repayment Orders to allow tenants to have their rent refunded when a property is found to contain serious risks to health, and withhold rent from landlords who have not carried out court-ordered improvements within a reasonable period of time;

- Introducing a new Help to Rent scheme to provide government backed tenancy deposit loans for all first-time renters under 30;

- Conducting a full review of the help single people get under homelessness legislation;

- Reforming the Green Deal pay as you save' scheme into a new Green Homes Loan Scheme, funding renewable heat and electricity alongside energy efficiency;

- Passing a new Green Buildings Act to set new energy efficiency targets, including a long-term ambition for every home to reach at least an energy rating of Band C by 2035; and

- Improving the standard of private rented and social housing, requiring these homes to be upgraded to Band C by 2027.