The government’s housing policies for the private rented sector (PRS) are ‘coming home to roost’ even in central London, a leading letting agent has told The Neg.

Charlie Woods (main picture), who heads up the lettings operation at agency Russell Simpson, which is celebrating its 30^th year in the lettings business, says it is government policies that are largely to blame for the PRS stock drought worrying industry analysts at the moment.

During an interview that is published in full within the June issue of The Negotiator magazine, Woods says that people who are wanting to invest in London property feel that ‘it’s not that attractive right now’.

“Although existing landlords are looking to expand their portfolios to gain economies of scale, the smaller ones looking to enter the central London market are staying away for the time being,” he adds.

Letting agent

“The government’s policies are coming home to roost – some buy to let investors are put off by the additional tax burdens and the loss of tax breaks seen in recent years.

“It’s no longer such an easy ‘profit and loss’ equation to calculate as it used to be in the past over over a 5-10 year forecast, for example.

“Nevertheless, the long-term landlords, you can argue, are benefitting from this drought because rents are rising when tenancies come up for negotiation, and bidding wars are taking place.

“This has pushed up rents by between 12% and 15% recently.”

This month’s HomeLet rental index shows that rents are rising by 7.4% year-on-year, albeit lower than inflation which is currently running at 9%.