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Landlords and the Housing Crisis: The Battleground of This Parliament

We may still be over 4 ½ years away from the next UK General Election, but from one perspective the run up to any election begins almost as soon as the dust has settled on the old one. The two major opposition parties both chose a new leader over the summer, and one of the key battlegrounds is already shaping up to be the Housing Crisis.

What is the Housing Crisis?

Put simply, there are not enough affordable homes in the UK at present. Years of speculative purchasing, a low number of new builds and a focus on redeveloping brownfield and inner city sites purely for luxury apartments, has had a critical effect on the UK’s housing market. People cannot afford to buy their own homes so more are forced into renting, which has put pressure on the property owner’s end of the market, driving availability down and prices up.

 

What Are the Parties Pledging to Do About It?

  • The Tory government is expected to push through plans to sell off social housing to present occupiers – called “Right to Buy”. Though applauded by some, there are many concerns about unscrupulous owners buying the property to take advantage of a competitive rent market. They have also pledged to permit increased house building between now and 2020 but critics say that Right To Buy will be a disaster and other steps are not enough
  • New Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has stated that the issue would be a priority of his leadership. Whereas most opposition parties have typically had just one minister dedicated to housing, Corbyn has chosen a group to help deal with the issue and particularly “sky high rents and insecurity” of the rental market. Most tellingly, Labour has said if it wins the Welsh Assembly elections in 2016, it will abolish Right To Buy

At the Lib-Dem party conference in September 2015, new party leader Tim Farron chose to focus strongly on the critical lack of affordable housing. He announced that the LibDems would oppose the “Right To Buy” scheme for council properties and create ten new garden cities in the UK

How Does It / Will It Affect You?

As a property own who rents to students, in the short term not much will affect you. After all, there is a strong chance that your property is in the centre of a city or close to campus and will be unaffected by immediate plans to build elsewhere.

However, in the long-run, the government is expected to take – or be pushed to take – more drastic action of the housing crisis does not ease any time soon. There could be pressure to introduce steps mentioned previously. These could include rent caps, a restriction on the number of extra properties you may own, increased council tax on second properties and strict regulation of buy to let mortgages. As more houses are built, you will find an easing of the market and more competition, and you will simply have to bring the rents down – with or without a government enforced cap.