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Landlords slam government over its ‘damaging’ attacks on rental sector

Patience with Ministers appears to be wearing thin at the NRLA which says tax, regulatory and other assaults on landlords are beginning take their toll.

Nigel Lewis

nrla housing squeeze landlords

Landlords’ lobbying group the NRLA has warned that the Government’s campaign to cool investment in the rental market is causing the current supply crisis, rising rents and overall making homeownership more difficult to afford.

This includes the three per cent stamp duty levy on landlords and restricting mortgage interest relief to the basic rate of income tax measures that, the NRLA warns, are creating more problems than they solve.

According to data from research consultancy BVA/BDRC for the NRLA, 62 per cent of private landlords in England and Wales report heightened tenant demand in Q1 2022 – a record high.

Over the same quarter more landlords (11 per cent) sold property than purchased new property (eight per cent), making the supply crisis even more acute.

This is having a predictable effect on rents. Official data shows that private rents across the UK increased by 2.4 per cent during the first quarter of 2022, the biggest leap since 2016.

Warned

“Ministers have been repeatedly warned of the damage that would be caused if they continued to attack the private rented sector,” says NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle.

“The supply crisis is completely counterproductive to the Government’s mission to turn renters into homeowners.

“By suppressing supply whilst demand increases, with rents going up as a result, they continue to make it harder for tenants to save for a home of their own.

“The Chancellor needs to wake up to a crisis of the Government’s own making, scrap the tax on new homes to rent and review other measures which add to a landlord’s costs.”

May 6, 2022

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