Is it time for a Landlord Equality Bill?

Paul you are spot on!

The imbalance in the treatment we receive is shameful.
The Renters Rights bill will also be a disaster for tenants.
No one will take on a tenant who does not have a secure job and a good income.
That eliminates a substantial proportion of tenants.
One to add to the list:
It is about time we also had a tenant data base.

I'm in. You might also want to consider a challenge around how social housing and council providers are providing very poor standards of housing to tenants in many cases compared to private sector landlords. These social and council homes providers need to be held to account for slamming landlords while at the same time leaving tenants in sub-standard housing. I would like to see these social homes and council providers receiving very heavy fines for providing sub-standard properties and the public should also be made aware. On another point, if the Government want to create a database for rogue landlords, then there should also be a database for nightmare tenants for total transparency.

It is up to landlords to ensure that the government and local authorities suffer because of the Draconian measures they are taking against us.
We must not discriminate against DSS tenants, and indeed I shall encourage all DSS tenants to apply using my ten-page application form followed by a professional referencing report. If they qualify for Rent Guarantee Insurance, I will willingly accept them, otherwise no. The same applies to those with children.
I used to offer affordable accommodation, now I have upgraded all my properties together with upgrading the rent to way beyond the local housing allowance.
Having had my fingers well and truly burnt, I will no longer take any tenant who qualifies for legal aid and indeed has even the remote possibility of ever qualifying for legal aid.
Make sure that tenants adhere strictly to the new notice rules (probably the best anti tenant rule in the whole act), Two months coinciding with rental periods (absolutely nutty rule), try to make the tenants responsible for council tax in perpetuity by finding the most minor of errors. No doubt others can come up with many more ruses.
Landlords must rebel whilst remaining firmly within the new laws.

Reply to the comment left by TheMaluka at 27/01/2025 - 15:27
bang on. My sentiments entirely.

Only a 10 page application? haha!

I can't wait to explain to any HB/UC applicant that applies to me (after the RRB comes in) that it is exactly because of this piece of legislation that now means I am unable to offer them anything - whereas I may have been able to do so before.

With the email response to let them know I cannot offer them a tenancy I might suggest they let their MP know too (who more than likely will be one that voted in favour of the RRB in the first place)

Oh the irony.

The idea of subsidising housing for others through land and property taxes and regulations may sound noble, but it is deeply unjust to expect developers and land and property owners to bear the cost. Land and property has embedded value due to past government policies, and now the government cynically treats land and property owners as "fish in a barrel"—easy targets for taxation and regulation. This approach imposes a disproportionate and unfair burden on one segment of society to cover for the government’s long-standing failures.

The housing crisis isn’t the fault of landowners. It’s the result of decades of failed economic policies that have stagnated growth and left our GDP per capita comparable to Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S. At our current sluggish growth rate, it would take 30 years to catch up with the U.S.—assuming their economy stands still. Having maxed out what they can take in income taxes, the government is now squeezing capital assets, especially land and property, through overt taxation and covert regulation, further incentivising investment and growth.

Social and affordable housing must be funded through general taxation so that all citizens—not just land and property owners—share responsibility and have a say in policy. Politicians avoid this because it forces hard truths on the public. Instead, they target land and property owners as scapegoats, exploiting the fact that land and property cannot be hidden or moved. In many parts of the country, construction costs now exceed property values, meaning land often has negative value due to government policies. Why should land and property owners, who have worked for their assets, be punished for the systemic failures of governments?

Let’s be clear: the demand for affordable and social housing is the direct result of the government’s failure to foster an economy where all can earn a sustainable living. Market rates reflect supply and demand, but by choking the planning system and creating endless red tape, the government prevents the market from responding to housing shortages. If the market were allowed to work, supply would rise to meet demand, stabilising prices and enabling most people to afford housing. For those few genuinely unable to pay, the state should provide support—not force private land and property owners to cover the cost.

What’s worse, duplicitous politicians have no intention of addressing one of the root causes of our housing and economic woes: mass immigration. Immigration artificially inflates GDP, making politicians look good on international rankings, while reducing living standards for the average citizen. They rely on an uninformed electorate to miss this inconvenient truth. Meanwhile, 54% of the population already takes more from the system than they contribute, creating an unsustainable dynamic that cannot last.

Land and property owners and property developers are not villains. They are being used as scapegoats to distract from the government’s failures and avoid uncomfortable conversations with the public. We must demand policies that address the real issues—economic mismanagement, planning inefficiencies, and an overreliance on immigration to prop up numbers—rather than punishing those who have worked hard to build and maintain their assets. The housing crisis can only be solved with bold, honest leadership and a fair, equitable approach to taxation and policy. It’s time for voters to hold politicians accountable and refuse to let them use land and property owners as their convenient targets any longer.

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 27/01/2025 - 16:03
Make sure that both the tenant and the local council have to do a lot of work whilst you consider the tenancy. One year's bank statements, properly organised and annotated with the income highlighted, and all major expenses explained, one year's DWP statements showing no deductions and no loan repayments, proof of marriage (who would want to house unmarried couples!), birth certificates of children, proof of ownership of pets - the list is endless. One word of warning, reject fish tanks; I accepted one such request and the tank was so big that it exceeded the floor loading.

Then reject them.

Reply to the comment left by G Charles at 27/01/2025 - 16:14
Whilst I agree with your erudite summary, I now believe that it is time for Landlords to rebel whilst remaining strictly within the law.

Totally agree. The Council automatically think its the Landlord who is in the wrong. I had a phone call recently from the Council telling me that I had acted illegally as I had posted an abandonment notice on a property. They failed to ask the former tenant any questions about previous actions like he had had a Section 8 and 21 notices because he was dealing drugs at the property and the Police had served me with a certificate to say the property was being used for drug dealing. The tenant had stated he was leaving at the end of the notice and also left the back door open. Oh and the place trashed but the Council automatically assumed the landlord had acted illegally. I was not impressed.

Reply to the comment left by TheMaluka at 27/01/2025 - 16:42
Thank you, Maluka. You're absolutely right—a stand must be taken, and it must be taken now if the housing market is to survive.

For too long, housebuilders have been transformed into little more than instruments of state policy. Stripped of autonomy, they are forced to shoulder the full risk of delivering homes that, in a healthy economy, the state should fund through general taxation.

The Competition and Markets Authority’s Housebuilding Market Study Final Report (26 February 2024) paints a grim picture. With an average development timeline of 6.3 to 6.6 years—2.5 years of which is consumed by construction—developers are left struggling to meet demands under a mountain of restrictions. Profit margins are capped at 20% on cost or 25% of GDV by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), ignoring prolonged timelines and escalating indirect costs like abortive work. Shockingly, annualised returns now barely compete with what one could earn in a risk-free deposit account.

Local authorities demand not just affordable housing at capital values tied to 75–80% of market rent but push for social housing at an unsustainable 25–50% of market rent. These unrealistic expectations are eroding the viability of developments, leaving builders caught in a financial vice. On top of this, RICS Red Book Valuations slash at least 10% off the open market value of entire new developments due to the perceived impact of social housing and its tenants.

Even environmental reports are weaponized against housebuilders. One recent report cost £250,000 just to bring a 26-unit scheme up to a modest 47 units. The three mandatory ecological surveys required—restricted to the bat season between May and September—are a glaring example of bureaucratic inefficiency. Miss this narrow window, and developers are condemned to a year-long delay before even submitting a planning application. This is not environmental stewardship; it is systemic obstruction.

These crushing burdens are hammering land values. Builders are surviving on the fumes of historical land acquisitions, but this lifeline is evaporating. Rising capital taxes and relentless regulations are decimating profitability, dragging land values down with them. Given the long-term nature of land investments, landowners would be wise to delay entering sale or promotion agreements, anticipating potential policy changes with a new government in 2029. Acting prematurely in the current climate risks significant losses.

However, landowners, beware: the government is tightening its grip under the guise of reform. The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 empowers acquiring authorities to strip away hope value from Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs). This chilling policy means landowners can be forced to sell their assets for public projects—whether housing, healthcare, or education—at significantly deflated prices. Former minister and current Chairman of Soho Estates, Steve Norris, did not mince words when he described this government overreach as nothing less than ‘theft.’

This is not new. The private rented sector has been under siege before. The Rent Act 1977 gutted landlords with regulations that set rents below maintenance costs and guaranteed tenants rights of occupancy for two generations. By the time the 1988 Housing Act provided relief, countless landlords had been forced to sell at derisory prices or bleed dry under holding costs they couldn’t recoup. One arm of the government enforced repairing obligations at costs exceeding rental income, while another regulated rents below holding costs. This contradictory policy framework crushed landlords then—and threatens to do so again now.

The Rent Officer service—a relic from those bleak days—lurks in the shadows, ready to reimpose its damaging rent controls at the whim of the government. Meanwhile, local authorities stand ready to enforce housing standards with costs that exceed allowable rental income, setting landlords up for financial ruin.

At the same time, the government is quietly dismantling the private landlord system in favour of corporate giants like Legal & General and Blackstone. These behemoths are profiting from regulations designed to push out smaller landlords. Under co-living regulations, these corporate giants are granted shocking exemptions, reducing single-person dwellings to a minuscule 18–27m²—a stark contrast to the 38–40m² required of buy-to-let landlords. Worse, monthly rents in these rabbit warrens frequently surpass £2,000, their returns—and future equity gains—funnelling directly into the coffers of offshore hedge funds and pension portfolios. What should remain a cornerstone of personal wealth is being siphoned away into unaccountable, foreign hands.

This is a direct assault on the equity and independence of a generation. For renters, these policies ensure they will live without an equity stake in society and retire with nothing to show for it.

The warning signs are all around us. Housebuilders, landlords, and landowners are being systematically dismantled. This isn’t just bad policy—it’s the erosion of fairness, opportunity, and autonomy in our housing market.

We must act now to stop this. Speak up. Demand change. Fight back before it’s too late.

Reply to the comment left by Jerry stone at 27/01/2025 - 18:21
Hope you gave them both barrels.