9:38 AM, 5th September 2024, About 2 hours ago 9
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Landlords are calling on the housing minister “to level the playing field for landlords and tenants”.
In an open letter to Matthew Pennycook the Portfolio Landlords Action Network group demands the housing minister support landlords rather than “demonise them”.
Portfolio Landlords Action Network (PLAN) is an informal network of Landlords with 75 Properties or more. Their largest member has over 1,500.
PLAN is a small group of large portfolio landlords who cannot walk away from the PRS no matter what reforms are passed. The network does not want to walk away because they believe in the value of the PRS.
Marcus Selmon, Chair of Portfolio Landlords Action Group, comments:
“What we want is a fair playing field for both Landlords and Tenants and a constructive dialogue with the Government and other stakeholders to come up with a new PLAN for the Private Rented Sector. A PLAN that includes us.
“To assist in that process we have written an Open Letter to the Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook. A letter that we want to circulate widely to the various stakeholders in this debate so that we can start a constructive process of engagement with the Government.
“We now set out that letter below.
“If you want to support our aim of engaging with the Minister please feel free to circulate or contact me in the comments below about how you could do that.”
Dear Minister,
I would like to congratulate you on your appointment to this crucial role. I am writing to you on behalf of PLAN, a group of private non-institutional portfolio housing providers. Collectively we develop, own and manage over 10,000 private homes, larger than many Housing Associations.
Like the Government, we actively want and need, for all concerned, to provide good quality, appropriate, flexible, safe dwellings for those that we house. We are committed to working with the Government to build a healthy and thriving private rented sector. We support your aims for rogue landlords to be driven out and wish that the myriad laws that already exist were enforced properly before introducing another raft.
We would welcome the opening of a dialogue around:
The private rental sector, as a whole, provides housing to millions of people. We understand that we are a crucial part of that system, with roles and responsibilities that can make a real difference to our tenants’ wellbeing.
We believe we can offer insights to you and your colleagues at the Department into the wider context of today’s housing market through our knowledge and experience of developing and managing the full range of short, medium and long-term privately rented properties.
The sector is under pressure, not only from the impact of inflation, interest rate increases and huge increases in costs of labour and materials (construction inflation up 40% compared to Consumer Price Index increase of 25% since 2020), but also from the previous Government’s policies, particularly on taxation. The changes in legislation mean it is highly possible that landlords can be running an unprofitable business and yet still be liable for taxation on “profits” that don’t exist.
The result has been that many private housing providers have left and continue to leave the sector. Hamptons International points to 163,000 rental properties disappearing from the market between 2019 and the end of 2023. By driving private landlords out of the sector, the most vulnerable in society are worse off and all renters have less options rather than more. This in turn puts increased pressure and cost on local authorities who have a responsibility to house residents.
The ideas around planning reform, housing target reintroduction, green/grey belt and social and affordable housing all make sense, but all have their own challenges in delivery. No one wants a sector where tenants are becoming worse off, where rents take a higher share of household income/disposable income or where families have to live in temporary and expensive short-term accommodation. What’s needed is supply growth and stability.
The Private Rental Sector is a business and will remain so – we believe the Government wants that. So we believe it is wrong to demonise Landlords in the way some groups do. Because the Private Rental Sector delivers significantly higher satisfaction levels than social landlords (82% vs 74% in the 22/23 English Housing Survey). But many Landlords only have one or two properties and so have a choice if they are put under too much pressure; many are voting with their feet, and retiring from the sector, and moving to passive investments. This is bad timing as it further reduces the available number of rental properties at a time of rising demand. That can only be bad for Tenants
What we consider is needed is a positive vision for Landlords going forward that shows support for the right type of Landlord as approved by the Government. They can then play their part in finding solutions to the current rental crisis.
To do that we believe it is essential to work collaboratively with the Government to develop a solution to the housing issues the country is currently facing. We have considerable expertise, insights, ideas and solutions that would benefit everyone and enable you to meet Labour’s election manifesto. That is why we are reaching out to you in the hope you will meet with us so we can give our vision of a PRS that works for everyone.
Please can you let me know your availability for an initial conversation to discuss these urgent matters – ideally, prior to Party conference season.
Please note this letter has been signed by a variety of members of PLAN and the PRS who support what we are proposing namely a dialogue with the Government on these matters
Yours sincerely
Marcus SelmonChair
Portfolio Landlords Action Network ( P.L.A.N)
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Adam Lawrence
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Sign Up16:10 PM, 4th September 2024, About 19 hours ago
Let's hope this gets some well-deserved traction Marcus!
Cider Drinker
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Sign Up18:29 PM, 4th September 2024, About 17 hours ago
Good luck with your quest. I fear it is doomed to fail because politicians will always aim for the easy targets.
𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐞
I’d be happy to offer 2 years notice if I needed to sell. I think 6 months would be reasonable for most landlords. However, whatever the notice period, it is essential that tenants leave on the final day of the period, without the need for expensive and time-consuming legal action. Other than that, good tenants should only be asked to leave if the landlord (or their family) need to move into the property. Again, a lengthy notice period would be reasonable. Of course, Section 8 Grounds should continue with most of them being mandatory.
𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬
Private rental properties should be at least as good as the average property as far as EPCs are concerned. Properties that have rents lower than LHA rates should be allowed to be 5 EPC points lower than the average.
𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬
I don’t agree that public money should be used to improve private property in much the same way that Thames Water shouldn’t be bailed out by the taxpayer for their failings.
𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭
I’d need 103% of market value plus £2,000. This would cover the cost of replacing the property in my portfolio (stamp duty and legal fees).
𝐓𝐚𝐱𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬
Taxes need to be seen to be fair for them to be acceptable. The current taxation of rental income is an outrage and means that private tenants are paying a disproportionate amount in tax (albeit indirectly through higher rents).
Lee
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Sign Up9:50 AM, 5th September 2024, About 2 hours ago
“Methods to ensure tenants, where desired, have access to buy existing rentals without any of the stakeholders losing out.”
They lost me at the point above! Don’t they understand this would open the door to forced selling. They are virtually saying it’s ok. If a tenant wants to buy the house they rent then how about them making an offer so could the landlord can’t refuse.
Adam Lawrence
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Sign Up10:14 AM, 5th September 2024, About An hour ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 04/09/2024 - 18:29
Fair commentary. I'd think 4 months is "reasonable" notice unless there are extenuating circumstances. Having seen a whole number of LLs in distress over the years the exra 2 months might put them under untenable pressure, which is why that needs to be thought about quite carefully.
Interesting thoughts on EPC, makes economic sense as more costs to living there that are not rents, because of energy bills.
Improvement of property - I think you can justify it as part of levelling up, as there will be a hugely disproportionate effect otherwise. Or, use your type of suggestion to say that improvements are capped to x% of the property value or y% of the rent - that would go some way towards not causing a major geographical shift/issue. £10k in Seaton and £10k in Mayfair as a cap (or any such arbitrary cap) is just classic Westminster legislation.
Taxation - couldn't agree with you more. The central point needs to be that raising the cost of delivery raises the cost to the tenant and primarily spends the tenants' money, not the landlords.
Gromit
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Sign Up10:29 AM, 5th September 2024, About 57 minutes ago
"......that shows support for the right type of Landlord as approved by the Government."
The Government is supporting the right type of Landlord already - big corporate Landlords.
We are the wrong type of Landlord.
david porter
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Sign Up11:35 AM, 5th September 2024, Less than a minute ago
This summer we had a tenant who had been in occupation for several years decide he wanted to buy the property and offered 100,000 less than the fair market value.
He justified this because of the poor condition of the house which was brought about by his deliberate neglect.
This was straight forward old fashioned lying in that he claimed all the defects were caused by lack of maintenance by the landlord. The truth was that damage sustained had been cused by him.
The repairs came to 7500 ( and did include some fair wear and tear) all we could claim form the deposit was 500.
The issue is that when tenants tell lies it is difficult for a landlord to disprove. How does the lovel Angela resolve this please?
Adam Lawrence
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Sign Up11:50 AM, 5th September 2024, Less than a minute ago
Reply to the comment left by david porter at 05/09/2024 - 11:35I'd suspect that the inventory on checkin, inspection reports etc. would be the realistic defence against that sort of thing
Adam Lawrence
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Sign Up11:51 AM, 5th September 2024, Less than a minute ago
Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 05/09/2024 - 10:29
That genuinely seems their direction of travel - started with Osborne, went through another 63 tory PMs, and is still there with RR/KS
Adam Lawrence
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Sign Up11:53 AM, 5th September 2024, Less than a minute ago
Reply to the comment left by Lee at 05/09/2024 - 09:50
There's sensible ways to approach that though Lee. Cider Drinker's idea is not bad, you could also throw in "no CGT" as a sweetener in these situations to make up for the sale of the asset. Then you end up in a situation where everyone (apparently) WANTS the tenant to buy - in situations where no-one wants to sell the home because they might move back in, the unintended consequence means airbnb etc. only, or simply empty home.....but it would all be a balance.
I've sold a few to tenants over the years, always been delighted to do so, not necessarily "offers I couldn't refuse" but there are bonuses e.g. no agency fees, it was in the day when there used to be a CGT allowance, etc.