Renters Reform Bill – Concerns From Landlords

 

I absolutely recognise the risk that, in trying to deal with bad landlords, the Government will make life impossible for good landlords. This is a particular danger in Cornwall, where holiday accommodation provides a potentially more lucrative and less regulated alternative use for housing.

That’s why, for over twenty years, I have advocated a rebalancing of taxation and regulation to tip the balance away from holiday rentals and recognise the value of good private landlords.

At the Second Reading of the Renters Reform Bill, I stood up once more in the House of Commons to ask the Deputy Prime Minister to get the balance right:

”Of course, it’s right that we should regulate to avoid bad practice in the sector, but does the Secretary of State not also agree that measures should be available to enable and indeed incentivise good practice? If the previous Government gave thousands of millions of pounds away to holiday-home owners, and various tax incentives to encourage that sector, surely there must be methods by which the Government can actually incentivise good practice, otherwise the bill might become counterproductive.”

Unfortunately, the Deputy Prime Minister’s response that “Good landlords have nothing to fear from this bill” reflects that the government has not yet understood the potential risks of the course they are taking. 

You can see the exchange HERE. (If you don’t have a Facebook account, just close the login screen, and you will be able to play the video.)

The last Conservative Government poured hundreds of millions of pounds of public money into the pockets of second home and holiday home owners, before announcing plans to end Section 21 no-fault eviction. The new Labour Government is pushing ahead with the Renters Reform Bill with little sign that they understand the unintended harm it may cause.