Landlords and mortgages: what do we know?
Whenever you propose reform of private renting, the landlord lobby always says no, because “landlords couldn’t afford it”. Whether it’s asking landlords to cover the cost of letting agent fees, to apply for a licence, to charge controlled rents, or to pay tax on their loans, we’re asked to believe that they can’t afford it. Then they threaten to raise rents – as if rents haven’t already been outpacing inflation since the end of the recession.
This claim assumes that landlords are already paying large amounts of their revenue out again in costs. Some of them are, but we point out that the majority are not, because they don’t have a mortgage.
For example, an interest-only mortgage of £150,000 at 4% costs £6000 a year. Rent on the £200,000 property bought with that mortgage might get you £10,000. Two thirds of private rented properties have no mortgage, and thus have significantly lower costs and capacity to absorb new regulatory requirements.
Lords debate letting fees ban
When we published our latest research on letting fees in April, we were expecting a long fight to get the issue of banning them back on the political agenda. The Housing and Planning Act, passed in May, contained no changes to the law on fees, and the only area of housing government is currently legislating on concerns planning.
We didn’t have to wait for long though. Olly Grender, a Lib Dem peer, who fought for and won some protections for renters in the Housing Act, was selected to present a private member’s Bill. Happily for us, she picked fees.
Housing & Planning Bill: the good bits, the bad bits, and the silence
The Housing and Planning Bill has been announced and is making its way through the Commons. The government is using the legislation to drive through some major changes that threaten to weaken social housing and harm the poorest members of society.
But they’re also embarking on some much-needed changes to the private rented sector which should help to root out illegal practices and improve renters’ homes.
The Bill is silent on security for renters. At a time when millions of us have no option but to rent privately, we need to start having some protection from eviction on a landlord’s whim: today we launched a petition calling for this. Please sign it and help us persuade politicians to give everyone a stable home.
Is your MP a landlord? There’s a 1 in 5 chance
The first Register of MPs’ Interests of the new parliament was published last week. A comb through the data reveals that there are 126 residential landlords in Parliament. Landlords make up only 3% of the population but they are represented by 19% of the House of Commons (the same proportion of the UK population who rent privately).
