What does the future hold for landlords?

CPS Homes for rent signsIn the past 20 years, the private rented sector (PRS) has doubled in size. It now provides a home for 4.7 million households. More than ever, there are families, over-65’s and the most vulnerable calling the sector home. As a result, the PRS is arguably under the Government spotlight's more than it has ever been, with declining home-ownership being a huge concern for the powers-that-be.

The sector has already seen a lot of changes in recent years (including tax changes and minimum energy efficiency standards), with more policies looking like coming in soon (such as the tenant fee ban and longer-term tenancies). Additionally, the Labour Party want an introduction of Rent Caps and Generation Rent are campaigning for the removal of Section 21.

Renting: in numbers

  • One in five people now live in the private rented sector
  • 3.9 years is the average time people stay in rented homes
  • 84% are happy with their current accommodation
  • 72% are happy with the way their landlord handles repairs
  • 60% hope to eventually move out and buy a property

Source: The latest Housing Survey, published by the Government

This all means we should be mindful of the fact that what may have worked 30 years ago, may not be suitable for the sector of today or the sector of the future.

As such, the Resident Landlords' Association (RLA) has embarked on a large-scale research agenda through their research lab, PEARL. The topics they cover and their findings are well worth a read for any landlord; https://research.rla.org.uk/.

The lab enables the RLA to collect views and opinions on the impact of new and proposed policy changes, understand the issues faced by landlords and construct alternative policy suggestions to help the sector improve for the better.

10 August 2018

The information contained within this article was correct at the date of publishing and is not guaranteed to remain correct in the present day.

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