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Take That, Gove! Agents and landlords deliver warning letter

A warning letter signed by 330 major players in the private rental sector has been delivered to Housing Secretary Michael Gove.

The delivery - just before the holiday break - was made by, amongst others, letting agent Kristjan Byfield, founder of The Depositary, and William Reeve, chief executive of Goodlord.

The letter warned Gove to back off attacks on the lettings industry in general and landlords in particular.

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Other signatories include Ben Beadle from the National Residential Landlords Association, Theresa Wallace from The Lettings Industry Council and Savills, Heidi Shackell from The Lettings Hub and Peter Knight from the Property Academy.

Here’s the letter in full, below; Letting Agent Today has asked Gove’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for details of any response.

We, the undersigned, are business leaders within the Private Rented Sector across the UK.  With inflation hitting levels not seen since October 1981, we believe that current government policy in the rental sector — covering 35% of UK homes — is stoking housing inflation, the largest single component of the cost of living. 

As set out in the recent Renters' Reform Bill White Paper, current policy objectives include improving the quality of housing and giving tenants greater peace of mind about being evicted. These are worthy objectives which we, and most tenants, support. But tenants - whether professionals or students - also want their housing to be affordable, and current policy appears to ignore this point.

A recent survey of tenants confirms that rising levels of rent are tenants’ biggest single concern, cited by 86% of respondents. By contrast, the condition of rented properties, a priority of the Renters' Reform Bill, while also a significant concern, is cited by fewer than half as many tenants: 42%. 

Government policies to restrict landlords’ legal rights, raise minimum energy efficiency standards to an EPC band C, extend mandatory local licensing, raise taxes on property income and transactions, enhance compliance obligations for HMOs, and increase maintenance costs are putting undue pressure on landlords — most of whom have only one or two rental properties. Already, we see net negative repercussions on rental supply, with many landlords leaving the sector; property portal data shows that supply is down 46% compared with the five year average. 

At the same time, tenant demand is at an all time high, with portal traffic up 142%. Many surviving landlords are understandably looking to cover their increased costs via higher rents. Goodlord’s Rental Index saw rents on new tenancies in September hit £1,249 pcm, up 13% on the same period in 2021. Rent increases restrict mobility and supply, with tenants frightened to move house for fear of facing even higher rents in a new home. 

By failing to encourage adequate supply, government policy is directly contributing to the sharp increases in rental prices. 

Freezing rents in response, as recently introduced in Scotland and proposed by London’s Mayor, would further damage the sector, restricting supply to a greater extent and fuelling landlords’ withdrawal from the sector. We urge the government instead to consider ways to improve supply - while continuing its aspirations to ensure quality homes for tenants - by ensuring the rental sector remains an attractive place to invest without relying on skyrocketing — and ultimately inflationary — rents.

  • Matthew Payne

    The problem is most tenants don't understand that argument ie: landlord pressure = higher rents. The average 25 year old tenant doesn't study the PRS in anywhere near that detail, they just see the soundbites from Shelter on the 10 o'clock news if anything at all. Government knows this and with 100s of marginal seats up for grabs in the May 23 council elections, where they are expecting a tough time because of everything else, mid term etc, they are not going to announce any policy shift that plays into the hands of Labour or the Lib Dems, which any pro landlord changes would precisely do. As with the 2019 red wall, young left of centre voters are where elections are won and lost these days. This is the kind of thing a new government may do after a fresh GE mandate where they have time on their hands. Got to keep up the noise and pressure though of course, but the timing will be decided by other factors.

  • Kristjan Byfield

    Will Gove listen? Doubtful. However, it's vital we take every opportunity to inform and educate him and those around him of the perils of some of the proposals in the RRB white paper, and the dangers of poorly implemented/structured legislation. Ultimately, more pressure will be heaped on the PRS this year, pushing rents higher with Tenants being the ultimate loser in most circumstances.
    It was great to represent letting agents, suppliers and Landlords alike hand-delivering this before the Xmas break.

  • icon

    Very constructive, however you could have pointed out that an awful lot of landlords are mom And pop types who refurbished properties for rent and saw it as a pension supplement. They didn't expect to be treated as villains for providing good quality housing.

  • Fergus Wilson

    PSL provide housing for those who cannot afford to purchase!

    They should be applauded not demonised!

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