Propertymark’s members worry about landlords leaving the sector

There is a surge in demand because landlords are leaving the PRS.

If thriving means lifetime tenancies until the tenant decides to vacate; not getting your property back as the Courts will be instructed to ascertain who will be in greater hardship should they grant possession to the landlord; the removal of any CGT allowance for property not someone's main residence.

Many of us landlords thought "levelling up" was in fact "levelling down" will see, should Labour be elected to rule over us, considerably more levelling down. Hopefully should the Conservatives retain power they might have the sense to reconsider the Renters Reform Bill and work WITH PRS landlords and not to crucify them.

Whoever gets in, maybe my suggestion of 3 years ago, for every PRS landlord to serve a s21 on the same date with the same expiry date 3 months hence - and no one need follow through - will be enough of a wake-up call that PRS landlords are serving, yes serving, this country by housing many many people who Local Authorities and Housing Associations do not have the wherewithall to do so.

There is a surge in demand because migrants come to Treasury Island in huge numbers every day. Migrants arrive in such numbers that house building cannot keep up.

If a landlord leaves the sector, the house will often be bought by an owner occupier or another landlord. The net effect is zero.

However, sometimes the property will be used for holiday letting. Despite the proposed abolition of the Furnished Holiday Let tax regime, FHL remains a better alternative to long term tenancies. Holiday lets reduce the availability of housing.

Some investors may even leave their properties empty in the hope of capital gains over the longer term. It is sometimes less expensive to leave a property empty than it is to have a tenant.

As for an empty threat of serving Section 21 Notices, this will not help. The courts act as a funnel; they ensure tenants are only evicted at the speed that the court operates. What a mass Section 21 exercise would achieve is to delay the case of those landlords serving genuine Section 21 Notices and encourage the government to bring in emergency legislation to protect tenants.

Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 05/06/2024 - 12:13
"The net effect is zero."

No it isn't.

Private rentals make 10% more efficient use of the housing stock than owner occupied. (Source EHS).

It would require far more housing to house the same number of people.

Not to mention the billions pumped into construction/renovating/restoring by small landlords. 'The houses don't just disappear', they don't exist in the first place.

Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 05/06/2024 - 12:13
" Holiday lets reduce the availability of housing."...many moved into holiday lets only because they didn't want to do direct AST's. Make it so holiday lets are under the same tax structure etc as normal lets and either 1. nothing happens - those in holiday lets remain so or 2. properties revert back to longer term rentals as less hands on workload, 3. The property gets sold to a FTB or home owner (no for rental). Result, a possible increase in long terms lets available or a drop of the same. Negligible net result overall.

"Some investors may even leave their properties empty in the hope of capital gains over the longer term. It is sometimes less expensive to leave a property empty than it is to have a tenant." Correct - net result - loss of rentals

"As for an empty threat of serving Section 21 Notices, this will not help. The courts act as a funnel; they ensure tenants are only evicted at the speed that the court operates. What a mass Section 21 exercise would achieve is to delay the case of those landlords serving genuine Section 21 Notices and encourage the government to bring in emergency legislation to protect tenants."

While the PRS is a sector entity, it is made up of those who's who have a variety of reasons as to why they invested in it. For many there wont be an option not to evict, especially if you are beholden by mortgage or finance and getting the asset back in you possession cannot be guaranteed in any timely manner. Its an unknown risk and anyone would mitigate accordingly. For others the time has come to cash in to live off the money raised in retirement.

The death of the PRS will be due to any further government interference causing a fracture, but ultimately the downfall will be landlords leaving for their own reason. The issue becomes realised when all the reasons are acted upon at the same given time. Uncertainty and direction of travel of the next government has to be key here because and downfall will come on their watch and theirs alone and to renters th implications will be obvious and far worse than they are now.

Maybe it has to dive for the renters themselves to kick off so they can see the effect of their decisions on the very same people they say they are there to help??? It's one thing for them to disregard what LL's are saying, but when the tenants start blaming the government too as a result of their policies....???