Landlords worried about new government’s effect on the rental market

Four in five (79%) landlords don’t think the new government’s housing policies will improve the rental market, a poll from SpareRoom has revealed.

As of July 2024, only 19% of landlords said they were confident in the rental market versus 54% in December 2023.

Up until now, landlord confidence in the rental market has stayed relatively consistent since June 2021, with the past three years’ worth of survey data revealing a near 50/50 split between confidence and no confidence.

Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom, said:

“There’s a stark contrast in landlord confidence in the rental market now compared to the last three years, and there seems to be little faith in the newly elected government when it comes to housing policy.

“Section 21, which is a valuable concession for landlords, is set to be abolished by our new government, with the Renters Reform Bill aiming also to ban the regulation which could perhaps be a reason for this dip in confidence.

“It will be very interesting to see if confidence grows based on key decisions government makes over the next year, which will naturally also reflect changes in rents across the country.”

Labour plans to launch a Renters’ Rights Bill, which should replace many of the measures contained in the scrapped Renters’ Reform Bill.

The bill should abolish Section 21 evictions; enable tenants to keep pets; introduce the Decent Homes Standard; require landlords to fix hazards faster; introduce a digital database of landlords, tenants and councils; launch a property ombudsman; introduce new anti-discriminatory measures; and give councils more enforcement powers.

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