Anti-landlord nonsense steps up a gear – thank you Labour and Generation Rent

I’ve tried to ignore the manifestos and was doing well but then up pops my old friend Angela Rayner with some more nonsense about landlords in the private rented sector (PRS).

Labour doesn’t understand housing and it certainly doesn’t understand landlords – and why we have invested time and money in providing housing for others.

It’s not like the properties we rent were gifted to (most) of us, but that doesn’t stop Labour and its acolytes from thinking we are leeches.

Indeed, it’s hard to believe that we should take whatever they say seriously, but the self-inflicted implosion of the Conservatives means we will have to face some uncomfortable truths.

Tribulations that landlords face

Leaving aside that there’s no mention of the trials and tribulations that landlords face, there’s also no mention of encouragement of new investment either.

It’s all about renter rights and making it more difficult to evict.

That’s all well and good when you are playing to the stalls, but what happens when the homeless numbers go up?

I’ve said before that there’s no chance of Labour delivering 1.5 million homes without major legislation being put in place.

Oh God, I hope they do and those middle-class right-on areas that are so woke, and so left-wing get overrun with new social houses.

Social houses that people who have just turned up the country are in the front of the queue to get, natch.

No appreciation for Section 24

There’s no appreciation for Section 24, rising interest rates and a court system that sees an eviction taking years, not months.

Talk of a four-month notice period made me laugh out loud.

A dedication to abolishing Section 21 to make renters more secure and lower homelessness numbers is pure fiction.

I say let’s get rid of Section 21 and move to Section 8 so the courts and Shelter can see why we are evicting.

I’m guessing that route will be blocked pretty quickly.

Also, still no explanation of how section 21 will be abolished on day one – nothing.

They can’t be using emergency legislation, can they?

Part of me hopes so because they’ll have to stymie evictions as landlords finally wake up to the huge issue facing all of us.

There will be a ticker tape parade of section 21 notices flying through the air and we’ll be regaled on BBC news about landlords abusing the system.

Not tenants not paying rent.

Law to end tenant bidding wars

But the biggest laugh has to be a law to end tenant bidding wars. What?

A result of (high) demand and (low) supply is that those who can, will offer more rent to secure a home.

That isn’t the fault of landlords.

And as Labour gets its feet under the table, more landlords will see what a precarious situation is developing and might join the throng.

More homes for sale mean fewer homes to rent.

Fewer homes to rent means higher rents to pay.

Higher rents mean tenants offering over the advertised rate.

Do you see where I’m going with this, Ange?

Just do some joined up thinking for once.

Talk of ‘unscrupulous landlords’

There’s also plenty of talk of ‘unscrupulous landlords’ but nothing about bad tenants.

Nothing about our homes being trashed, rent not paid and the courts actively working against us.

Labour’s la-la land sees tenants as paying rent on time, having pets that don’t need to wee and homes being left in a pristine condition.

Tenants don’t commit anti-social behaviour but, obviously, in selective licensing areas that is the responsibility of ‘unscrupulous’ landlords.

Landlords dream about quality tenants – it’s why we don’t evict them!

The writing is starting to appear on the wall for landlords – Labour wants to destroy the PRS.

It has believed the sound bites from the likes of Shelter, Generation Rent and Crisis.

Sadly, the Tories have done nothing to help the sector. Nothing.

That’s why we are going to see a true political episode when the election result is announced.

A self-inflicted injury by a party that doesn’t care, has lost its way and doesn’t know what it stands for.

What a state of affairs when we have two insipid, uninspiring men to choose from.

Financially rewarding being a landlord

In the coming months, we’ll see whether it’s going to be financially rewarding being a landlord and many will be preparing for the worst.

If we can’t make the numbers work, I imagine that the landlord exodus in the first 12 months of a Labour government will be on a scale we haven’t seen or imagined before.

Great tenants will lose their home and we’ll have to explain that ‘Labour did this’.

Spell it out. Make sure tenants understand. Urge them to put the reason why on social media.

The other upshot is that landlords will need to protect their business.

That means market rents and taking tenants who can pay – tenants with guarantors and who look after a property.

That will leave a lot of renters to struggle – but that won’t be our problem.

Labour has fired the first shot in its anti-landlord war and there will be causalities.

The war of words will get messy. But then, we didn’t start this fight.

Hoping for a hung Parliament

I’m still hoping for a hung Parliament, or Reform holding the balance of power.

It won’t happen. Things have gone on too long.

Landlords need to work together, tenants need to work with us and ignore the empty, angry words coming from Labour.

As the new laws and regulations come in, there will be lots of people celebrating the struggles of landlords – even our demise.

And as the investment we worked so hard for slips from our fingers, as homeless numbers rocket, just appreciate that we did our best.

It was our political leaders that let us down.

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader

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