Landlord confidence plummets amid fears over Labour’s housing policies

This is the problem with Ed Milliband EPC C.
I've just had text off tenant damp in cupboard near internal insulation we did off the grants about a year ago. You can't insulate these old houses too much, otherwise we get later damp mould condensation problems.

Why do they say that section 21 is a "valuable concession which is given to landlords"
How can section 21 possibly be viewed as a concession when we have taken all the risks.
Even generation rent are now wondering why the PRS has shrunk so much, perhaps one day they might work it out!

I would not put money on it. The brainwashing from shelter and the media is too far entrenched. They won. We never stood a chance as we were never a collective body prepared to make a stand.

I wouldn’t worry too much. Labour seem to be lacking in ideas and just carrying on where the conservatives left off - in many ways!

Reply to the comment left by LaLo at 09/08/2024 - 12:25I do not see things that way.
If the Conservative version of the RRB became law then possession would have been a discretionary ground which was not a good situation.
However Labour have introduced a hardship clause which means that not only would we need to go to court to get possession but the tenant and their representatives could say that it would cause them hardship if they had to move.
You can imagine all the problems that this might cause, we would never get possession.

No one has introduced anything at the moment.

The April – June 0224 mortgage arrears figures showed that landlords are struggling to afford to keep their buy to let properties.

The number in arrears was up 1% compared with the previous quarter, to 13,570.

When compared to the same quarter in 2023 landlord possession claims increased from 22,526 to 24,495 (9%), and repossessions were up from 5,950 to 6,927 (16%), Ministry of Justice figures showed.

Private landlord repossessions remained concentrated in London, and this was the same for individual mortgage holders.

Heather Powell, head of property at Blick Rothenberg, said: ‘The mortgage arrears stats show that landlords are struggling to afford to keep their buy to let properties.

‘The arrears stats for buy to let mortgages are slowly increasing. 13,570 buy to let mortgages have arrears of more than 2.5% of the outstanding balance, an increase of 1% over the first quarter in 2024.

‘It is likely that these repossessions have in part arisen where landlords increased their borrowings when remortgaging properties. Those landlords are now getting caught out by the significant increase in interest rates from September 2022.’

The number of repossessions instigated by lenders has also increased, nearing pre-pandemic levels.

‘Both mortgage and landlord possessions actions have continued to rise in the current quarter. Mortgage claims have reached their highest volume since Q2 2019 and are now close to pre-covid volumes. This increase has been seen across all mortgage possession actions,’ according to the Ministry of Justice statistician.

‘All landlord possession actions have also continued to rise compared to the same period in 2023, albeit at a lesser rate than mortgage possession actions and not yet at pre covid levels.

‘These increases in landlord possession actions are reflected across all actions for social landlord, private landlord and accelerated procedure claims.’

Another factor affecting landlords is the impact of changes to tax relief, which has removed some of the tax advantages of owning buy to let properties.

Powell said: ‘Landlords who own their properties are also struggling due to the reduction in tax relief for the interest paid on buy to let mortgages, which has had a major impact on their cash flow.

‘Many landlords have decided to sell up, encouraged by the decrease in the last Conservative budget of the top capital gains tax rate payable on the sale of buy to let properties from 28% to 24%.’

There are also concerns about the Chancellor’s future tax plans with possible rises to capital gains tax (CGT) in this October’s Budget. A quick win would be a reversal of the new 24% rate for sales of secondary properties.

‘Combined with the expectation that the new government are going to increase the rate of CGT many landlords are likely to be considering their investment strategy – and may sell up sooner rather than later to avoid the CGT rise,’ added Powell.

‘However, the stats also show that a significant number of landlords have not managed to sell before their lenders have stepped in and taken possession of their properties. Overall, this paints a very concerning picture of the UK rental market.’

Following FCA guidance to avoid possession proceedings during the pandemic, repossessions were very low during most of 2020 and 2021. While they have increased recently, they remain below pre-Covid levels.

I think the hardship test is the biggest concern, whether or not they will be able to get this passed into law, I do not know. If anyone knowledgeable about such matters can provide some elaboration on this, it would be much appreciated.

Reply to the comment left by Teg's Dad at 09/08/2024 - 18:56
Best sell up now then as all these rumours are absolutely nailed on to be made law.