A leading figure in the property industry has hit out at the Government’s “hammering of buy-to-let landlords”, saying the policy will hit tenants.
Auctioneer Clive Emson said that changes to tax relief and extra Stamp Duty could have a “catastrophic” effect.
He said there is no point in penalising small landlords when demand for homes is far outstripping supply.
Emson said: “To alienate the private landlords is so short-sighted.
“The public sector clearly does not have the funds or expertise to develop sufficient social housing – so where do the tenants live if the privately owned stock is removed?
“This could be catastrophic.
“The notion that tenants will turn into first-time-buyers instead of tenants is a folly. They will buy if they can, but new rules imposed on mortgage lenders last year have made it even more difficult to get that vital loan.”
Comments (5)
It is pleasing to read that ‘Woodentop’ is not so ‘Wooden’ as the tag implies ……. I wonder what, if anything, Osborne or Cameron, ever put into the drafting of this Socialist driven legislation…… As surreymac quite rightly said ‘ A big institution has NO votes at the election box…. A million Private Landlords do’….. Think again, you are in power by a thread and many of us Tory voters are not best part pleased with your antics
CE is so correct and makes you wonder who actually is pulling the strings on this. All those that have been around for a few decades must surely have noted that this isn’t the norm for conservative policy, very labour orientated policy if you ask me and is something they pushed for over the last few years. The answer may lie in the civil servants who have been in office for years having more input than they should? This is not a vote winner for the tories. Remember “Yes Prime Minister”, it mocked what actually does happen.
The object is to clear the way for the large institutional investors to fill their boots with build to rent. It’s never been about FTB’s. Only thing he may have overlooked is that the companies like L&G don’t have a vote come election time. Meanwhile the 1 million small landlords that he screwed do.
I whole heartedly agree with your comments.
Government continually make the assumption that;
a) All tenants want to buy a house and commit to long term borrowing.
b) All tenants are able to borrow money from the Banking Establishment.
c) The Letting Industry through out the UK mirrors what’s happening in the Capital with Tenant Fees running into £1000’s (Not True)
Government should support and encourage investment by Landlords into the sector. This would raise standards of housing available and acknowledge the importance of a strong private rental sector.
Totally agree with the article.
The Governments logic (if any) is perverse. However, it is always worth remembering that they are, by & large, professional politicians i.e. with little “real world” experience, who look primarily at electoral cycles in order to survive. Of course a large “slice” of the advice they receive will be from the Civil Service who, again, probably have little “real world” experience.
My only explanation for the current PRS policy is that as Labour exits “stage left”, they are trying to appeal to a hitherto largely untapped (but vociferous) constituency of voters i.e. tenants. So, they’ve joined the agent/landlord bashing brigade to give themselves credibility, calculating at the same time that landlords will probably vote for them anyway.
No doubt they’ve also been advised that their attempt to “corporatize” the PRS, with such initiatives as “Build to Rent”, will more than make up for any loss of “small” landlords.
Only time will tell, but I’m not convinced that “Build to Rent”, for example, will deliver the right mix of properties that a wide range of tenants will want to live in.