A future Labour government = rocketing rent rises and landlord misery

And so, to the Labour Party conference where the sparkling wit and wisdom of Angela Rayner on the opening day managed to chill landlords everywhere.

There was nothing much to be surprised about, the normal platitudes about poor tenants having to put up with shoddy homes.

And did anyone else notice how she practically spat the words ‘no-fault evictions’ out of her mouth?

Though I did smile at the Property118 story about her appearance on LBC when poor old Angela couldn’t (wouldn’t?) accept that landlords leaving the PRS is causing an issue.

We all know why she would not answer because she would have to accept that not all landlords in the UK are bad – and we deliver a vital service.

Anyway, fair play to Andrew Castle who tried to get Angela to answer – it’s obvious she either doesn’t know the answer or doesn’t want to engage with the issue of what happens during a landlord exodus.

She just keeps repeating the mantra that she will provide social housing with no indication of when (if?) this will actually happen. This interview is just a sad reflection on the quality of our politicians and the scale of the problem now facing landlords in the private rented sector. If you haven’t seen this video, brace yourselves:

@lbc

Andrew Castle wants to know what Labour plans to offer landlords #LBC #ukpolitics #labour #landlord #uk #rent #politics #angelarayner

♬ original sound – LBC

‘Countless amount of landlords at the moment’

Remember, we have a ‘countless amount of landlords at the moment’ and none of us appear to be fed up and wanting to pack this game in.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – there is very rarely not a reason for an eviction and Labour could unveil a law that ALL evictions must have a reason.

To anyone supporting this notion, that means understanding that the awful landlords whom you regularly malign are, in fact, dealing with horrendous arrears, our properties are getting trashed, and we are dealing with anti-social behaviour.

So, I’m left wondering should Labour brings in rent controls, will landlords then hike rents before the deadline to the ‘market rate’?

But wait. What if other landlords decide to do the same and ALL rents start going up – so what was the ‘market rate’ when we started putting rents up becomes a laughable figure very quickly.

This is what has happened in Scotland with their never-ending rent controls.

Is there a member of the Labour Party reading this who can understand how rents might spiral?

And that’s because you thought you were helping tenants BUT you don’t understand the private rented sector or market economics.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Reality doesn’t appear in a Labour Party manifesto but let me help you.

You say there is a housing emergency but you don’t understand why.

Uncontrolled migration and not building enough homes for people to rent are major reasons.

Both of these are not the fault of landlords.

Market of PRS homes will shrink

But you blame us anyway but fail to understand that as we leave the sector, the market of PRS homes will shrink.

And with less choice and more renters wanting somewhere to live means they must pay more in rent.

That is market economics in action right there.

And if you bring in a rent cap, the market will be gutted as landlords either leave to avoid the prospect of not getting their homes back – or put up rents to take into account the cap on rent rises.

That, in turn, leads to less choice and a shrinking market, rents go up and people can’t afford to rent.

It’s a vicious circle and one that has been created by politicians. Not landlords.

How long can we afford to be the whippings boys and girls of politicians and tenant activist groups?

At the Labour Party conference, you said you want to encourage home buying with a mortgage guarantee scheme – which leaves taxpayers on the hook for trillions – but you never talk about capping house prices.

Does that mean you do understand market economics or not?

Along with the law of unintended consequences, these loons don’t appreciate the law of freedom of choice.

We decided to invest our money into an asset and deliver a (much-needed) service to tenants.

It’s ours to do what we want with

We are free to decide to sell our property because it’s ours to do what we want. It’s not the tenant’s property and it’s certainly not the government’s.

I fear we are heading into a world run by lefties who believe the world is as they see it – not as it really is.

What will happen when landlords do sell up and there are no extra social houses for the tenants?

It takes years to build and deliver homes.

Why will that timescale change because Labour says it will wave its magic wand and ease planning restrictions? It won’t.

As the French say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

C’est la vie!

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader

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