‘Back landlords, don’t bash them’, says new Kate Barker-led report
The Radix Big Tent Housing Commission urges the Government to stop treating landlords as the part of problem and instead part of the solution to the UK's housing supply crisis.
A new report into the problems facing the UK’s housing market published by a Labour-supported think tank and lead by economist Kate Barker has backed the role of private landlords and called for them to be given the same status as volume house builders.
Her report, which follows her first investigation into housing supply ten years ago, says it is “critical to recognise the valuable housing provided by good private landlords as represented by professional bodies with voluntary codes of conduct such as the National Residential Landlord Association (NRLA) and The Property Institute; in the same way that the British Property Federation and Association for Rental Living represent larger institutional Build to Rent providers”.
The report is an attempt to persuade the Government, and in particular Labour ministers and activists, that private landlords are not ‘the problem’ but instead part of the solution.
Barker’s report published on Friday backs the NRLA and other organisations’ calls for the justice system to be improved before the Renters’ Rights Bill becomes law, and for Labour to set out its plans other than promising vaguely that ‘digitisation’ will make evictions easier to complete online.
The Commission is staffed by a panel of 16 academics, lawyers and property experts including Lord Best, who is best known to agents as the architect of the Regulation of Property Agents or RoPA industry reform proposals.
Struggling
“We warmly welcome today’s report,” says Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the NRLA.
“Renters across the country are struggling due to a chronic shortage of homes to rent to meet demand. They need more choice.
“As the Commission notes, both institutional and private landlords have a critical role to play in meeting the country’s housing needs.
“The Government should also accept the Commission’s call for a plan to improve the justice system alongside the Renters’ Rights Bill. Ministers have pledged to ensure the courts are ready for the changes in the Bill. Its time for clarity about what ‘ready’ means for the sake of tenants and responsible landlords.”
