Chancellor urged to encourage landlord investment in ...

The chancellor Rishi Sunak has been urged to make it more attractive for landlords to invest in the private rental sector.

Sunak has also been encouraged to ignore calls by leader of the opposition Keir Starmer to introduce more tax penalties on landlords to fund social care.

The calls were made by Dominic Agace, chief executive of Winkworth, in the London-focused agency franchise network’s latest Property Exchange podcast.

He said: “30 per cent of homes in London are in the private rented sector.

“Young professionals coming to work in London to build a career need to be based in the capital and it is critical that housing stock is here and affordable.

“It is important that they are able to come to ensure our continuing status as a global centre. There has to be a balance of fairness between tenant and landlord.

“Prices in central London have come down so it is a good time to invest and make the most of the capital growth and increasing rents as people return to the capital. However, landlords need some fresh encouragement from the chancellor to invest in London.”

Agace also warned that Starmer’s proposals to tax landlords further rather than hiking national insurance to pay for social care would just push up rents.

He said: "This could push landlords to sell off more properties, reducing supply and leading to rent increases - which would be more costly to working people needing to rent than the rise in national insurance.

"A healthy private rental sector is essential and landlords can't be pushed much further in areas such as London where yields are already very low and rents have declined significantly as a result of the pandemic."

You can listen to the podcast via the links below:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-the-rental-market-turning-london-vs-a-typical/id1569362828?i=1000534887386

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/05ypQiw80KCanDF2yjNaeX

Audioboom: The Property Exchange / Is the rental market turning? London vs a typical rural market, Devizes (audioboom.com)