Government leaks to the Observer newspaper suggest that the Housing White Paper will show a huge policy shift towards renting - and may trigger the start of formal consultations over banning letting agents’ fees on tenants in England.
The newspaper - the latest to carry well-informed leaks of what will be in the White Paper, expected to be released officially tomorrow (Tuesday) - says the document will signify a move away from David Cameron’s recent emphasis on home ownership, a policy espoused in the past by Maragaret Thatcher too.
“Ministers will say they want to change planning and other rules to ensure developers provide a proportion of new homes for ‘affordable rent’ instead of just insisting that they provide a quota of ‘affordable homes for sale'" says the newspaper.
The White Paper will also announce incentives to encourage landlords to offer guaranteed three-year tenancies which are regarded as family-friendly for tenants with children needing greater certainty for schooling.
The Observer quotes Communities Secretary Sajid Javid saying: “We are determined to make housing more affordable and secure for ordinary working families and have a rental market that offers much more choice. We understand people are living longer in private rented accommodation which is why we are fixing this broken housing market so all types of home are more affordable. These measures will help renters have the security they need to be able to plan for the future while we ensure this is a country that works for everyone.”
It is understood the White Paper will also tell councils to put more emphasis on rental schemes in towns and cities, while making it easier for institutional investors creating Build To Rent properties.
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The three year tenancy incentive for Landlords will be interesting. I think if handled correctly it could be a good option for both Landlord and Tenant.
The key is making sure tenants rights do not exceed Landlords- rent act springs to mind! The ability to evict for rent arrears or unsociable behaviour is crucial.
goverment have tried for decades to get private money from pensions/institutions to invest in the PRS with very little success. The speed in liquidation of such assets has and I suspect still remains their issue.
The problem is having social tenants in the private sector doesn't work.
Now the rules are going to be changed so that the tail is wagging the dog.
What is needed is a laissaez private rental sector with safeguards to prevent the worst excesses and more social housing to be built.
the government should be able to work with the private rented sector....Build to Rent has a long way to go yet....why not turn over the future of our rented private stock to Pension Funds who as we all know have a great record of cost efficiency and social responsibility
If the government wanted to think outside the box why not utilise the current tenancy deposits that tops £3.5billion and utilise an insurance policy to mitigate risk and then transfer the deposits into HTB Isas for the renters - gets them saving for a deposit utilising the 25% uplift for those that genuinely want to buy and offers better protection to landlords/agents of utilising a sytem that is regulated by the FCA.
The government's determination to do away with small landlords and small Letting Agents seems to be clear........ no doubt big business and big government will win through, to the eventual detriment of everyone.......... fairness in the market should be the governments objective....... not this.........
...and what about the small, private landlord that has seen an unprecedented attack from this Government! It's about time they reversed some of the appalling, politically motivated tax changes put in place by Osborne. On three year leases, I think this will work well but some mortgage companies try and restrict lettings to 6 months and this needs to be discouraged by the BoE
This institutional Build to Rent 'drive' all sounds a bit like something out of the Soviet era rather than Britain 2017. What's gone wrong?
Build to rent will be over priced rabbit hutches similar to purpose built student accommodation.
Tenants want to be able to buy a property in the future not to rent forever.
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