Category: Real Estate

In a blog released within minutes of Sir Keir Starmer becoming Prime Minister, activist group Generation Rent calls for rent controls.

It says: “In order to be effective, we believe the new government must limit the rent increases landlords can impose to tenants stay put, rather than continue to allow landlords to push rents up faster than tenants’ wages.”

The activists also want to stiffen Labour’s policies on so-called bidding wars.

Starmer spoke in broad terms during the election campaign about giving tenants the right to challenge ‘high’ rent rises, and stopping agents and landlords from effectively auctioning tenancies to the highest bidder.

But Generation Rent’s blog states: “While plans to challenge increases are welcome and bidding wars must be outlawed, any system that would allow tenants to offer so-called ‘voluntary’ offers over asking prices would undoubtedly be exploited by some landlords and letting agents to allow back-door bidding wars.”

The average cost of an English rental property in June lifted 6.7% to £1,225 compared to a year ago, as the lettings market enters its high season.  

The South West posted the highest year-on-year rise, where prices jumped 13.1% to £1,347 over the same period, data from the Goodlord Rental Index shows.

In London, rents broke the £2,000 mark for the first time this year, rising 2.2% to £2,010. This was also the lowest annual uplift among English regions.  

The report points out: “June traditionally marks the beginning of the high season for rental prices. Buoyed by demand from students, rents typically peak between June and September.   

“Last year, rents peaked in July at £1,367 per property, on average.”    

Between May and June, average rents rose by 4% month-on-month to £1,225 — with all but one region recording an increase in rents.  

The boss of the UK’s largest group of landlords has criticised the political parties for their ‘silence’ on one of the most pressing problems facing those both renting and managing tenancies within the sector.

Ben Beadle (main image), Chief Executive of the NRLA says the lack of debate during the election campaign about the gap between Local Housing Allowance (LHA) payments and private rents is troubling.

His organisation’s analysis of official LHA data reveals that of the 1.5 million households who rent privately and receive Universal Credit, nearly a million have to cover the shortfall between what they get in LHA via Universal Credit.

The NRLA points out that this problem, faced by so many private renters and the landlords or letting agents who manage their tenancies, has disappeared from all the political parties’ radar. Even the Labour party’s manifesto only mentions Universal Credit once and makes no reference to LHA.

Understand the commitments from each party’s manifesto and their potential effects on landlords in the general election 2024.

As we approach the general election, we know you’re keen to understand each party’s plans – especially after the Renters (Reform) Bill and the abolition of Section 21 were scrapped at the last minute.

To make things easier, we’ve put together a summary of what the leading national parties are promising in their manifestos.

We’ve kept it straight to the point without any extra commentary – just the facts on what each party plans for the private rented sector, energy efficiency and how taxation changes might impact landlords across the UK.

Half of HMO landlords say their property or portfolio is their sole source of income.

Just under 30% of landlords who took part in a mortgage lender’s survey owned an HMO property or portfolio. Some 72% of these landlords own HMO properties through a limited company. 

Half said they did not have another job and used their property or portfolio as their sole source of income.

Despite some of the complexities of managing HMOs, the survey – by Landbay – found that nearly half of the properties were self-managed by landlords, a third of whom owned portfolios with over 20 properties. 

The reason for this more DIY approach could be that the most popular size of HMO portfolio was the smallest, between four and 10 properties, with 34% falling into that category.

The survey found that the highest proportion of HMOs were in London and the South East (47%), followed by the East Midlands.