The Conservatives hate landlords – Pass it on

The Conservative Party used to be the party of property ownership and free enterprise, but its recent policies on housing have betrayed its core values and its loyal supporters.

The Tories have broken their promises to reform the private rented sector (PRS), and have instead punished landlords with unjust taxes, soaring costs and stalled legislation.

The Renters (Reform) Bill, which will end Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions and erode our rights, is supposed to be debated by Christmas, but I doubt it will happen.

And if the final version does scrap Section 21, the exodus of landlords from the sector will, inevitably, be triggered.

Landlords who face the danger of losing their properties

This Bill is disastrous for landlords who face the danger of losing their properties without a fair and effective process to regain possession.

It seems like the government has dismissed our worries over the ability to evict problematic tenants or those who accumulate rent arrears.

The housing minister, Rachel Maclean, tried to placate our fears at the Party conference by saying that we would still be able to evict such tenants, but I don’t trust her.

The minister also said that being pro-tenant was Conservative, but this is a false claim when the government has done nothing to improve the affordability and quality of housing for renters.

Soothing words are not enough to solve the structural problems in the PRS, which is suffering from a shortage of supply, high demand and sky-high rents.

The government has also failed to help landlords who are coping with rising costs, shrinking profits and unfair taxes.

Discouraged landlords from investing

The stamp duty surcharge on additional properties has also discouraged landlords from investing in new properties.

Perhaps the only good news in recent times for the PRS – but not for every landlord – was when Rishi scrapped the EPC targets.

Otherwise, the Conservatives have shown a lack of respect and gratitude for the role and contribution of landlords in providing housing for millions of people, especially those who cannot afford or access social or owner-occupied housing.

They have succumbed apparently to the vilification of landlords from tenant activist groups as being greedy and exploitative, while ignoring the variety and professionalism of the sector, as well as the difficulties and risks that we face.

They have also failed to tackle the root causes of the housing crisis, such as the lack of affordable and quality housing supply, the insufficient funding and regulation of social housing, and the obstacles to home ownership.

Conservative Party has lost the trust of a large number of landlords

I would say that the Conservative Party has lost the trust of many landlords. And many landlords have lost confidence in the Conservative Party, which has shown that it is not interested in supporting the millions of us who rent out properties.

It’s hard to believe that the sound bite PR from tenant activist groups has delivered the situation we find ourselves in.

These groups are effectively pushing the government to break up the PRS, push up rents for millions – and not demand that we have enough homes available for people to rent.

However, it would appear that Michael Gove’s promise that the Renters (Reform) Bill will get a second reading by Christmas leaves me jaded – this is a law that will help protect tenants defaulting on rent, damaging a landlord’s property and causing chaos with anti-social behaviour.

It’s also unnerving to see that rents are ‘rocketing’ when they are going up at less than the rate of inflation. That means many of us are losing money – and BTL rates are increasing.

The laws we already have enforced to deal with criminal landlords

We don’t need more regulation for the PRS, we just need the laws we already have enforced to deal with criminal landlords.

All of the extra rules will simply punish good landlords who don’t want to rent out property with a draconian Bill and unsympathetic courts failing to support us.

And it’s always the tenants who are left with higher rents and less choice.

No doubt we will get the blame for that too.

The Conservative Party has abandoned us and betrayed its core values by failing to provide a clear vision and a coherent strategy for the private rented sector.

We barely got a mention at this week’s conference – even though there is a ‘housing emergency’.

The private rented sector deserves better than this.

Protect both landlords’ and tenants’ rights

Landlords deserve a political party that will deliver real reforms, protect both landlords’ and tenants’ rights, and ensure a fair and sustainable housing market for all.

According to government data, 94% of private landlords rent property out as an individual, with 44% becoming a landlord to contribute to their pension.

I appreciate that there are more tenants with a vote than landlords, but will no one listen to us?

As I say, the Conservative Party obviously doesn’t like us and you might think things couldn’t get worse, but we still have the Labour Party conference to look forward to. God help us.

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader

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