With Jeremy Corbyn at the helm, what can we now expect of Labour’s attitude towards the housing market?
It looks as though we can certainly expect calls for rent controls and a ban on letting agent fees.
Perhaps most controversial would be an extension of Right to Buy by which private tenants would be given the right to buy their homes at a discount.
At the same time, he would suspend Right to Buy schemes for councils in certain areas, such as expensive parts of London.
In June, Corbyn said he would extend Right to Buy to the private rented sector.
He said: “We know that Generation Rent faces an uphill struggle simply to get into long-term housing. We have seen some good ideas from Labour to establish more secure tenancies for renters. Now we need to go further and think of new ways to get more people into secure housing.
“So why not go with Right to Buy, with the same discounts as offered by way of subsidised mortgage rates, but for private tenants and funded by withdrawing the £14bn tax allowances currently given to buy-to-let landlords?
“I believe this idea could open up the possibility of real secure housing for many currently faced with insecurity and high rents.”
There is some suggestion that Right to Buy in the private rented sector as proposed by Corbyn would be aimed at tenants of larger landlords – but we have yet to see the detail on this.
Corbyn would also build 240,000 new homes a year, and has said he will also consider banning foreign offshore companies from owning British homes.
As the left-wing backbench MP for Islington North, he has also repeatedly made his views very clear on rent controls and the regulation of letting agents.
He has consistently voted to ban letting agent fees charged to tenants and prospective tenants; for three-year tenancies to become the default; and for action on rent rises during longer tenancies.
In October 2013, he introduced a Private Members Bill “to provide for the regulation of letting agents; to protect tenants’ deposits; to require the enforcement of environmental and energy-efficiency standards in private-sector rented accommodation; to amend the law on secure tenancies; to provide for fair rent to be applicable to all rented accommodation; to require landlords not to discriminate against people in receipt of state benefits; to require local authorities to establish a private rented sector office; and for connected purposes.”
Introducing the Bill, he said: “When the Government tell me that the cost of private rented accommodation is one of the main drivers of this country’s large housing allowance bill, I absolutely agree with them.
“However, the way to deal with it is not by restricting the level of housing benefit paid to tenants but by controlling the level of rent that is paid.”
His Bill, as with most Private Members Bills, went nowhere, but Corbyn’s views have not changed.
He has since said private sector rents would be tied to local average earnings.
One of Corbyn’s most telling speeches was this month in Cambridge, where 1,200 people packed into a rally and a further 100 stood on the pavement outside to hear.
There, he talked about State-funded mortgages to help get young people on to the housing ladder.
He also described the city’s private rented sector as “out of control” and spoke of rent controls.
He said Cambridge was one of the most expensive places to rent in the UK, alongside London, Oxford and York.
He said: “You see an out-of-control private rented sector, with private sector landlords charging absurdly high rents that are subsidised by DWP payments through housing benefit.
“Can’t we instead turn it round, regulate the private rented sector, control the levels of rents and give people real security for remaining in those places, rather than six month short-hold tenancies with all the stress and tension that does to those people, or children forced to move schools every six months.”
At the same rally, he did not seem to subscribe to the belief that a greater supply of housing would be key, saying it would “help a bit”.
He said: “The property boom can be reduced a bit by more building, but the crucial part is to get young people on the housing ladder, which I would look to achieve via a state mortgage scheme.”
Corbyn also spoke of the need for the UK to take in more refugees.
Notably both Emma Reynolds, former shadow housing minister and more latterly Labour’s CLG spokesperson, and Yvette Cooper, a former Labour housing minister, have both declined to serve on Corbyn’s new shadow cabinet.
Comments (17)
He can want whatever he likes, he won’t get in, therefore it means nothing.
Am I the only one that sees that having a fairer better society is helpful to good business best example Germany
The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money. The PRS is dysfunctional at many levels including unregulated agents. However, Corbyn’s ideas are not the way forward – in fact they are the very opposite.
bish bash whallop socialism. Thankfully by the time Labour get in perhaps 10-15 years I will be retired. MUhhaahaaaaa
We had similar from Milliband. The people voted his party out by a huge margin.
Problem is that it’s a logical extension of the frankly bonkers conservative policy on RTB on “privately” (charity) owned housing association properties.
Rent Controls? That could be interesting. The local authority could fix the rent of say, a 2 bed flat in Kensington at perhaps £1000 pcm and then the landlord would have to decide on which of the 800 or more prospective tenants to chose.
But once referencing had reduced the number down to only 250 or so, how to chose? Perhaps the landlord could organise a 100 metre sprint, or maybe he or she could just chose the best looking? If the landlord was a sleezey guy then he could chose only from young sexy women with very little clothes on. What about a lottery – this could at least help to boost the hapless landlord’s income by selling tickets.
Finally, I guess the only fair way would be to have a List that tenants went on and when they finally reached the top of the list, based on points, such as number of children etc then…oh that’s been done before, hasn’t it.
A couple of months on the front line of a rental agency would soon sort him out!
Mans a buffoon, he has effectively made the Labour Party unelectable
Well hopefully they pack him off to have the cosy chat he would like with the militant groups in the Middle East in a bid to create world peace. Should solve the problem for all of nicely!! The man is a tree hugging idiot away with the fairies, but hey, all of us agents and our staff out of a job will be fine, because there was loads of money left in the pot last time for us to increase that benefit bill….
A life changing moment – back to the old Labour of strikes, high inflation and socialism. At least we have a few years to plan our action before emigrating.
Collectivism, Communism, Corbynism……….says it all really.
I just hope on planet Corbyn he has enough money to invest in new housing so he can provide good quality housing to the increasing population the UK has seen in recent years and will see under his vision.
Nothing to worry about. Has no chance of being elected PM.
That is what they said about his bid to lead the labour party!
True but all he has done is appeal to the majority of the minority. Labour have set themselves back 20 years.
Nice guy, totally unelectable.
I will stop here as its bad enough with portals let alone throwing politics into it 😉
Comrades this could be an investment changing moment.