The lowest-paid will suffer most by the Government war on landlords

I have posted the following comment on the ConHome page ....

"The point that Government and those who seem to detest private housing providers overlook is that many people need the flexibility of the PRS to provide housing they do not wish to purchase themselves or are unable to afford to buy. Any policies which reduce the provision of PRS housing will most hurt those who want/need to live in rented accommodation. Scarcity will increase rents and reduced competition will result in poorer quality. What the UK needs is more housing of all tenures, not Government policies which reduce investment into additional housing provision. If people hadn't invested into new housing, as buy-to-let landlords have been doing for over two decades, the housing crisis would be significantly worse than it is now."

This government is just not showing any sign of understanding the true value of the PRS. Private landlords have year on year the highest tenant satisfaction rates of all forms of rental housing tenure ( English national housing survey) It beggars belief that they continue to be misled by politicised pressure groups of leftie persuasion . They are close to destroying a huge and essential housing sector at a time of acute and growing housing need. They are now meddling further with a Section 21 they have already handicapped with poorly thought out bolt on bits of legislation. If section 21 is to be scrapped Gov had better get its replacement spot on or they will face a huge collapse of confidence.
I have already sold off six of my rental properties, I am watching this latest government assault closely, if they follow their usual pattern of messing up, I am out.

Reply to the comment left by Anthony Richard at 30/07/2019 - 02:28I think there will not only be a collapse of confidence but maybe even social unrest as more and more people face homelessness and those lucky enough to be renting will face more and more rent rises as a direct result of government policy.
Of course if the government continues with their daft policies and rents are capped or tenants are given the right to buy OUR properties etc we may be rioting as well.
I just can't get my head around how a government can be so stupid

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 29/07/2019 - 21:08
Mark, i tried to get my comment up on the ConHome web page but couldn't see how to do it! Looked for how to join up - didn't see a way in. Any ideas?

Top of the page, you need to sign up for an account, then click on an email link to confirm its you

I agree with so much by excellent people in this site. We had 13 properties, sadly two which were in Southwark, London, who have put in additional licensing in for all HMO properties, (3 people, 2 or more families). Their room sizes meant that one room in each would have to have become permanently empty, having been occupied without void for years, by grateful people who wanted a very low cost room. So we had to sell both and evict all. We are in process of selling another and more will go. A disaster for those who can only afford the cheapest rooms. All part of the misguided belief that everything needs regulating. It is those at the bottom who will find it hardest

Reply to the comment left by Ross Tulloch at 30/07/2019 - 10:02All the comments posted here are excellent, although Ross - your comment and that situation really touched me. It is such a tangible but brutal consequence of the ill conceived government (central and local) regulation (meddling) that shows the reality of what is happening within the PRS.
If you haven't already, please post it on ConHome website, as it deserves a wider audience, and maybe, just maybe, some MPs will start thinking twice before introducing yet further regulation in the sector. We can only hope.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to go over to conhome and make important points about the lunatic trajectory the Government is on.

I would say that for the first time we have someone in Cabinet who is clearly on our side - Jacob Rees-Mogg. Unfortunately he is not in housing or the Treasury, but maybe he will have some influence.
He has produced an excellent report with an academic at the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he clearly argues that the Government must stop discriminating against and scapegoating private landlords. He also quotes my report for the iea several times.
JRM's report is here:

https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CC70_Raising-the-roof_web.pdf

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 30/07/2019 - 13:02
I am not fan of 18th century England, manners, speech and attitude, but I have looked through his report and agree with Ros.
I do not think Boris and a new housing minister, whoever she/he is at the moment will listen to him. Will JRM be willing to campaign for us? Or even DO anything at all? I do not think so, he is not known for taking any actions, apart from talking.

I have just had a long chat with my Inventory Clerk. Landlords' current plight with all this new legislation is very evident to Inventory Clerks too - he knows of several long term clients with multiple properties selling up, because of the legislative climate (so impacting their business too), but the main point being about the number of properties being lost to the rental sector - I wish there was a way we could capture the numbers. He is not a landlord but sufficiently aware to volunteer the observation that landlords can't keep picking up the slack and the diminishing financial returns caused by the many recent changes without looking for 'compensation' elsewhere - i.e. via rents.
Has the government never heard of supply and demand?