Each parties’ manifesto impacts us all, but for businesses and workers in certain sectors, their eyes are drawn more strongly to certain areas of each manifesto.
For buy-to-let landlords, how each party plans to solve the shortage of houses and what their plans for the rental sector are most important. To make things easy for landlords, we’ve summarised the main talking points from each of the main parties’ policies and pledges that could impact the rental property market.
Conservative
- Promise to deliver a million homes by the end of 2020, and half a million more by the end of 2022. A commitment that the party made in 2015.
- Want to eradicate unfair leasehold practices such as soaring ground rent.
- Plan to strengthen equalities law, meaning that landlords sound denying people because of their ethnicity, religion or gender could be prosecuted.
- An improved protections for renters: increased security for good tenants and encouraging landlords to offer longer tenancies.
Labour
- Plan to make building new homes a priority, aiming to build over one million houses.
- Stop rising ground rents and end the use of leasehold in new developments.
- Tenancies will be made more secure with three year occupancy becoming the norm and a cap being put on rent rises.
- Empower tenants by giving renters new consumer rights.
Liberal Democrats
- Promise to spend directly on house building, with 300,000 homes aiming to be built every year by 2022.
- ‘Help to rent’ scheme that provides first-time renters under 30 with government-backed tenancy deposit loans.
- Improve protection against rogue landlords by introducing mandatory licensing.
- Want to cap deposits and increase minimum standards in rented homes.
None of the main parties has pledged to end the changes that have impacted landlords recently such as the unpopular change to mortgage interest tax relief and the stamp duty increase on second homes.
Landlords in Birmingham
Despite the uncertainty and changes to landlords’ predicaments in recent years, Birmingham remains a popular choice for property investors. For many reasons, the city is an attractive proposition for buy-to-let.
Whether you’re an experienced landlord or are new to the industry, a property inventory is needed to prevent disputes with tenants.
To find out how we can help make it easier to manage your property in Birmingham, call us today on 07891 551 905 or email bookings@skribes.co.uk.