2019 will see the first December General Election in almost a century. Whilst Brexit and the climate are playing key components in each the campaigning for each party, the most important component to us as landlords and a letting agent is the housing element. So what are each of the three main political parties promising when it comes to housing?
Conservatives
- Encourage a market in long-term fixed rate mortgages, which could “slash the cost of deposits”.
- Allow councils to use the money they raise from developers through the planning process to give low-paid local people a discount of up to a third on some of the new homes build.
- Reform leasehold, including by banning the sale of new leasehold homes.
- Bring in a “better deal for renters”, including abolishing no fault evictions and requiring one “lifetime” deposit that moves with the tenant.
- Protect and enhance the green belt.
- End rough sleeping by the end of the parliament: part paid for with proceeds of a 3% stamp duty surcharge on foreign buyers.
- Support the residents of high-rises with the removal of unsafe cladding.
Labour
- Create a new Department for Housing, making Homes England more accountable and put councils in the driving seat.
- Create a new English Sovereign Land Trust to buy land more cheaply for low-cost housing.
- Impose a new tax on developers for the event of stalled housing construction.
- Build 150,000 new council and social homes annually by 2025.
- Reform Help to Buy to focus it on first-time buyers on ordinary incomes.
- Implement rent controls, open-ended tenancies and cap rental figures with inflation.
- Fund new renters’ unions in every part of the country
Liberal Democrats
- Establish a new Help to Rent scheme to provide government-backed tenancy deposit loans for all first-time renters under 30.
- Promote longer tenancies of three years or more with an inflation-linked annual rent increase built in, limiting rent hikes.
- Introduce mandatory licensing to cripple rogue landlords and devolve full control of Right to Buy to local councils.
- Recognise tenant panels so that renters have a voice in landlord governance.
- Introduce a new Rent to Own model for social housing where rent payments give tenants an increasing stake in the property, owning it outright after 30 years.
- Allow local authorities to increase council tax by up to 500 per cent where homes are being bought as second homes with a stamp duty surcharge on overseas residents purchasing such properties.
Irrespective of which party leader finds themselves in 10 Downing Street on Friday 13th December, landlords and property investors should begin to take considerations and implementations to ensure they meet the standards that a new government is likely to impose. A new variety of regulations and legislation changes are set to be brought in next year regardless of the political party in charge, and it will inevitably prove to be beneficial to ensure your knowledge and compliance on these subjects is at the forefront of your property portfolio.
Alternatively, through effective and transparent property management conducted by Abode, we can face any and all changes imposed by any government for your properties and allow you peace of mind. For more information, call us on 0161 883 2525.
