May’s new housing adviser is ex-policy geek at Shelter!

Well said. This is very disappointing news. Why on earth would a Conservative Government appoint someone who is hostile to the provision of housing for rent in the private sector? It is predicted that more and more people will need private rentals over the coming years and the Government needs to work positively with those who have the willingness and capacity to provide this.

Already the Government's attacks on the sector have done terrible damage - we see this in the homelessness figures. As we all know, the draconian tax measures mean we now have to pay tax on our costs as though they were profit. This means our tax bills in many cases will rise exponentially. So we have to put up rents and this hits those at the bottom most. This is a particularly acute problem in London as the LSE has pointed out. What is so difficult to understand about this?

And the 'charity' which is supposed to advocate for tenants (but not provide anything practical for them, like a roof over the heads) has supported these attacks all along and calls for more.

Also, there is the fact that established companies cannot supply the additional new housing needed, because they no longer have landlord money to fund new-builds - as landlords withdraw from the market and their confidence is knocked.

This is a very regrettable move. I hope they realise the error of this and that either this man gets a reality check now that he is in the corridors of power or that he gets the sack when they realise his policies and ideas are more suited to the far left.

Incidentally, I wonder if they know that the HPC site that is one of his favourites calls us 'BTL scum' and writes disgusting things with violent imagery about us. I was even told they were trying to track down my home address. What did they want that for? This is disturbing indeed.

Shelter, Generation rent, HPC and HMG are digging a hole deeper and wider than any government in the last half a century, possibly longer. We have already seen some of the effects in the single homeless figures (but Heather Wheeler will rectify this‽). Families are now being made homeless, children are living in poverty. All caused by inappropriate action of successive governments worldwide, starting with the failure to adequately regulate banks which led to the current financial crisis. Light years of red tape, Council tax during void periods, selective licencing, abolition of fees, section 24 and freezing of Housing benefit has done nothing for tenants except increase rents to a level which can no longer be afforded by the poorest members of society.
Why is it impossible for the government and organisations like Shelter to work with landlords rather than against them?

We've got a new Cold War.....and a Class War to go with it. The property 'haves" ( us nasty greedy capitalist landlord scum) and the property "have nots" ( nice friendly touchy feely left wing
Generation Rent Uni Marxist Corbynistas)
It's all about votes folks! And we are in the middle of it.

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 27/04/2018 - 09:37
m ay has never been a Conservative--and the party now is libdim

may makes major look ok--rudd is being groomed to be next leader--you dont have to make it up!

Why have they appointed a person with strong labour views who appears to hate the BTL sector. In one video he refers us to a feudal system. They certainly want to kill the BTL sector.

Conservatives want a majority of owner occupiers, because they tend to vote Conservative. Labour wants a majority of renters, especially social renters, because they tend to vote Labour. I suspect the appointment of this guy is nothing more than window dressing. There are important local elections next week remember.
Sadly, until a political party has the courage to publicly accept that the housing crisis cannot be resolved without the professionalism, expertise and resources of private rented sector landlords, people who cannot afford to own their own home will continue to be pawns in what has become a very sick political game

I thought this was an April fool's joke when I first read this thread. Then I realised April 1st was a few weeks ago. This woman May is beyond useless. She is just a lefty Liberal in Conservative clothing like Cameron and Osborne. This is very very bad news for the BTL sector. I dread to think what they are going to hit us with next. My money's on a steep rise in CGT just for starters.

Looks to me that it is a high time to make a move out. We are hit with more and more regulations, GDPR, God knows what else is to come. What I dread the most is obligatory purchase, by the state, all second and further properties. I am not sure if they will go to confiscation, but that was already mentioned by Corbynov...
I am extremely tired with these attacks, and this appointment added up to the already widespread insults.
I just wonder if the next step will be attacking limited companies? Perhaps not, as Hunt just bought a number of apartments as an Ltd.

I think the next big thing coming down the tracks is the abolition of section 21. This is strongly advocated by Shelter and a gaggle of other groups. The government has so far resisted, but for how much longer? As researchers at the LSE have pointed out (and I believe the Labour Welsh government too) mandatory long term tenancies will likely restrict further the supply of rental properties to the most "vulnerable" tenants - the very people that longer security of tenure would be most intended to help. The popular refrain is that long term tenancies are standard on the Continent, but what their proponents won't tell you is that landlords are treated a lot better and positively encouraged to supply to the market rather than demonised. For example, in Germany, a landlord keeping a property for 10 years is free to sell without paying a penny in capital gains tax - a benefit that a UK landlord could only dream of. And of course on the Continent, nearly all countries allow full deduction of mortgage interest against tax. In Germany, rental default is also much rarer than in the UK and I wouldn't be surprised if, in part, that's because the courts treat it more strictly. So, the next time you hear someone saying we need
to abolish section 21 and introduce a German/Continental style rental market in the UK, ask them if that also includes the tax changes and other things that incentivise landlords to invest. Meanwhile, I hear the build-to-rent sector proudly boasts of how they often do grant longer tenancies. What they are more shy about, of course, is that their market is overwhelmingly "premium" tenants with excellent references and jobs and who therefore present a low risk of default or adverse behaviour issues.

Rent Smart England coming soon ?