POLL – What is the ROOT CAUSE of increasing homelessness, lack of supply of quality rental properties and rising rents in the UK?

Difficult one to answer because ALL of them in their own way are contributing to the undermining of the PRS to ensure that homelessness, lack of supply of quality rental properties and rising rents in the UK result!

It might be better to suggest that the root case is exactly this - the use of ALL of the above COMBINED with the anti PRS crap that is fed to the government that has produced the toxic environment that is now in place.

If you think about it, all the tickboxes relate directly back to this ....

Sorry...I think you need to redesign that poll. If that was a market research survey you'd normally expect a "none of the above" option to be in there. The other factors affecting lack of supply. And I think you should rephrase the question.

The extra 3% SDLT wasn't on the list but is a massive barrier to enlarging our portfolios.

Also that experienced portfolio landlords have to pay higher interest rates than novice first time landlords and can only borrow from a very limited pool of lenders.

For me it was the additional 3% SDLT that halted any plans for further expansion.

As others have said, I think that most of the points listed have contributed to the current situation, without necessarily being the root cause.

If there is a single root cause, I'd argue that it's the shortage of total properties, whether for rent or for sale. Only building significantly more houses will (IMHO) lower rents (and house prices).

Reply to the comment left by Jon Landlord at 13/05/2022 - 11:11
Total population of UK was estimated at 67 million in 2020:

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/population#:~:text=Population%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom%20is%20expected%20to%20reach%2067.44,macro%20models%20and%20analysts%20expectations.

The number of single person households is on the increase:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/home-alone-single-households-rising-faster-than-families-n768rb0fx#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20single%2Dperson,the%20Office%20for%20National%20Statistics.

The majority of landlords are small landlords with around 2 properties. All of the above factors in the poll would act to disincentivise anybody who wasn't an incorporated body who had capacity to rent out from doing it. The only people who aren't penalised and don't have rules to follow are the public sector landlords. Do you have have all these rules to follow if you take in a Ukrainian refugee? Or do they just come and live in your house whether you have an EICR/gas safety certificate/EPC or not? And unlike Universal Credit do you just get paid for taking in an Ukrainian refugee?

I think the major problem is the demand on and lack of social housing, which is exacerbated by out-of-control illegal migration. This means those who would have normally qualified for social housing, are forced into the PRS, which is already supply-limited.

There isn't just one root cause, or even a primary cause, there are multiple factors at play which together are causing the increasing rents and decline in availability.

The most prominent factor for one landlord may not be the dominant factor for a different landlord. The root causes may also include many other factors you have not mentioned, (others have already mentioned the Stamp Duty Land Tax and total shortage of properties being built), such as mortgage/finance availability, or type of properties being built, or planning regulations, or welfare benefit changes (not necessarily changes to Universal Credit), or increased risks from bad tenants, or the risk of civil penalties, or council tax on each room within a HMO, or increasing utility costs, or behaviour of councils, etc, etc. All of the factors you have mentioned, plus all of the factors I have mentioned, plus no doubt many others, all contribute to homelessness increasing.

You forgot mass immgaration both iligal and legal, that a HUGE problem and cause.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 13/05/2022 - 10:54
I agree about the SDLT. I recently offered £222,000 for an absolute wreck of a house.

My solicitor quoted £8,625.00 for the Stamp Duty alone. That money could have gone towards making a decent home for someone to rent. There would have been so much work to do that I can't imagine that the proverbial FTB would have had the resources to take it on.