The landlord vote – who gets it?

Hi, as a landlord with over 20 years of experience in this business, I realise that we are not all made from the same cloth and we do not all hold the same political beliefs.

Some of us are right-wing leaning and some left-wing but I hope we all have an interest in a balanced and workable PRS that meets the needs of tenants whilst preserving a landlord’s rights to his or her property.

Most of us will agree that the policies that have been implemented by our current government since 2016 have not achieved this aim but rather the opposite.

The raft of legislation, punitive taxes and licensing schemes have driven many good landlords to sell up and leave the market resulting in good tenants losing their homes, a lack of rental supply and higher rents. I pointed all of this out to my local Tory MP George Freeman but it fell on deaf ears.

I want to let as many landlords as possible know – who may not otherwise have realised as I do not think it has been widely publicised – that Reform has included the PRS as a major issue within their draft manifesto and have actually listened to what landlords have been telling the government for some years now. They are also asking for feedback on the draft – it makes a change for a political party to ask us!

Two main points of particular interest for Landlords and the PRS are:

• Scrap the 2019 tax changes for Landlords
  The tax system should encourage smaller Landlords into the rental markets. Not penalise them
• Abolish the Renters’ (Reform) Bill
  Existing legislation was adequate to address bad practices. Instead we will boost the monitoring, appeals
  and enforcement process

If you are interested you can find the link to the manifesto on the Reform UK Facebook page or on their website. Whether you choose to give them their vote or not I hope that some landlords will be interested enough to read that manifesto and judge for themselves.

I have listened to many landlords lamenting that they have no one to vote for and no one who supports them which is why I wanted to post here and say Reform UK appear to be the only party so far who are opposing current government policies.

Some of you may feel that the Reform Party are too right wing for you to consider. Not being particularly politically active I knew very little about it so I made the effort to go and meet our local candidate, Kabeer Kher who will be challenging George Freeman in Breckland Norfolk. The man I met was a quiet and thoughtful man with an education in economics and politics, and an MBA in banking I believe, who works in the mortgage industry.

Growing up in Northern Ireland Mr Kher would have been exposed to the very extremes of politics. Yet I did not sense any divisiveness but a genuine interest in the opinions of both his right wing and left wing friends and as we talked he explained how he sought out the opinions of others that may often differ from his own as he felt there was always something to learn.

I was surprised by the man I met and the policies he stood for so hope that whether you end up agreeing or not some of you will take the time to read the manifesto and find out for yourselves. Reform’s housing manifesto can be read here 

What do you think of the above policies by Reform?

Thanks,

C

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