Allan's July Market Update

Published: 05/07/2024 By Allan Fuller

What does the new Labour Government mean for the Private Rental Sector? 

As I have said before each political party promises to build 300,000 new homes every year, our new government is promising one million five hundred thousand in five years, remarkably similar. This in fact is, probably less than the country needs. There is only one reason why property prices and rents are so high, it is all about demand vastly outdoing supply.

The Labour Party manifesto stated that section 21 would be axed, what we will need to know is what will replace it? For the PRS (Private Rental Sector) to work successfully it must be fair to tenants, but also for landlords.

Tenants must have good safe homes, and that is what the vast majority of landlords want to provide, getting all property to a ‘C’ energy rating for property is important but will be a difficult task for owners of properties  in places such as London with a vast amount of housing stock that is a hundred years old, in fact often dating  to the Victorian/Edwardian era, so care is needed in dealing with this aspect otherwise much stock will simply be lost to the PRS.

There has been recognition of urgent need to totally overhaul the entire planning system which has prevented development for far too long, we can only hope that ‘change’ means real positive and progressive change that creates those one and a half million homes that we desperately need.