Twist or bust? The dilemma facing UK landlords after Labour win

Hi Angela Rayner, well done on beating a limping, exhausted, beaten Conservative party in the election. I imagine the rise of Reform was a last-minute scare, eh?

And many of those famous Red Wall voters who still haven’t returned to the Labour fold.

That’s the working class for you.

Like me, they probably only know one of your policies, so you managed to keep all the others quiet, didn’t you?

But I feel that we might have got off on the wrong foot, what with my disdain for your achievements while in politics and your selling a council house despite being a very vocal critic of Right to Buy. Bygones.

I’m really hopeful that with you in charge of housing and the private rented sector (PRS), we have someone who has seen both sides of the fence. That is as a tenant and (allegedly) a landlady.

You say you will build 1.5 million new homes. You won’t. We all know you won’t.

You say you will crack down on ‘lurid conditions’ in the PRS. You won’t. We all know you won’t because while you are good at hitting the law-abiding decent landlord, I doubt very much whether you have what it takes to tackle criminal landlords.

You say you will protect tenants. That’s a laudable aim and a welcome one, but I’m wondering whether you have any ambitions to protect landlords.

You know from the types who might break a landlord’s window, for example.

And you have racked up some PR mileage saying you will crack down on Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions but here, I feel, you will come unstuck.

Abolish Section 21 ‘on day one’

You see, it’s one thing to mouth off about criminal landlords – which decent landlords do too – but abolish Section 21 ‘on day one’?

This is another conceit you haven’t been pressed on and I/we would love to know how it will happen.

Because, I’m guessing, it’s not going to be as easy as you make it sound.

So, let’s ignore the BBC types trying to build up tenants – both private and social – as some sort of electoral force and focus on the big issue.

What will you say when evictions and possessions don’t fall?

What will you say to tenants that unfair no-fault evictions weren’t ever a problem in the real world?

Because you will have forced landlords to use section 8 which means we have to give a reason.

And we will.

Why? Because there’s an unfortunate dose of reality coming your way.

Angela, I’m not relishing this prospect at all, and I have been one of your sternest critics.

Not because I don’t like you (I don’t) but because I fear what you will say and do when what landlords have been saying is proven to be true.

That not all tenants are decent tenants.

The dilemma facing landlords

So, here’s the dilemma facing landlords as you contemplate which laws to bring in as you choose the furnishings for your new office.

You might slowly be realising that landlords are ordinary, hardworking people who have made an investment in property.

They want that property to realise a profit whether from rents or capital gains.

But what if your first move scares an already anxious private rented sector?

That means landlords selling up and leaving fewer homes to rent.

Will you stop them leaving? Preventing them with a law from selling their property?

That would be a bold and stupid move because that would then alarm the larger portfolio landlords.

And it will probably put the skids under the build to rent crowd too.

You see Angela, actions have consequences – they might not be the intended consequences, but they will affect the PRS.

Who will you blame then?

You’ll see why the Tories struggled as they did despite trying to appease renters.

Tenant campaign groups will come knocking

Hand on heart, I wish you well with your new endeavours Angela because the tenant campaign groups will come knocking.

They’ll demand rent caps, ending Section 21, taxpayer subsidised rents, laws to prevent eviction under any circumstances and years-long tenancies.

You will think, as all lefties do, that these are great and sensible ideas, but you are in power now.

And the civil servants who have always been on Labour’s side will point out what will happen when you implement these mad wish list notions.

Then you’ll be the baddie to tenants.

It’s not meant to be that way, is it?

You are meant to be the salvation, the bringer of cheap rents, the provider of loads of new houses and the destroyer of landlords.

Unfortunately, this is the moment that you’ll realise that you need landlords, but landlords don’t need you.

Or your barmy ideas to control the sector.

We can sell and leave – and you’ll be left with a disaster you can’t solve because no one wants to pay for emergency accommodation.

Here’s a tip: Make life for landlords easier, not difficult. Providing homes isn’t easy, or cheap or simple.

And you need to get over the mantra that banning Section 21 will stop people being made homeless. It won’t.

Again, Angela all the best love in this cruel world known as politics. You’ll need it.

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader

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