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Category: government and politics
A prominent think tank has released an influential report lauding private landlords for the crucial role they have to play in the success of the UK housing sector.
The Radix Big Tent Housing Commission (RBTHC) released a study showing the social and economic impact private landlords have, as well as potential solutions for the overall housing shortage crisis. The report urges the government to treat housing as national infrastructure.
Who are the RBTHC?
The RBTHC is a multidisciplinary think tank, formerly chaired by Dame Kate Barker, a noted housing economist and former external member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) – the council behind the Bank of England’s Base Rate decisions.
It focuses on producing well-researched recommendations for problems relating to the housing sector, for the government’s consideration.
Their report, titled Beyond the Permacrisis – Delivering 1,000 Homes a Day, claims that flawed government structures are significantly to blame for the repeated failures to meet housebuilding targets. It also stated that private landlords should be held to the same standard as housebuilders.
It is crucial that not only those who are renters of necessity but also those who are renters of choice have the opportunity to live in sustainable, high-quality and safe homes …
Both institutional and private landlords have a critical role in the housing market and should be engaged with on an equal basis to volume housebuilders.
The RBTHC has backed the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) in its calls for improvements to the justice system:
It is critical to recognise the valuable housing provided by good private landlords as represented by professional bodies with voluntary codes of conduct such as the National Residential Landlord Association and The Property Institute; in the same way that the British Property Federation (BPF) and Association for Rental Living (ARL) represent larger institutional Build to Rent providers offering both traditional (single family) houses for rent, as well as (multi-family) apartment blocks in urban areas.
Later in the report, they state:
The Commission supports the NRLA in calling for the Government to publish a plan alongside the Renters’ Rights (Reform) Bill which outlines a clear set of standards that tenants and landlords should rightly expect from the justice system and a route map explaining how to achieve them.
Meanwhile, organisations such as Zoopla, Rightmove and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have also warned that demand for rental housing outpaces supply.
NRLA response
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, has released a statement in agreement with the RBTHC report’s conclusions:
Renters across the country are struggling due to a chronic shortage of homes to rent to meet demand. They need more choice.
As the Commission notes, both institutional and private landlords have a critical role to play in meeting the country’s housing needs.
The government should also accept the Commission’s call for a plan to improve the justice system alongside the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Ministers have pledged to ensure the courts are ready for the changes in the Bill. It’s time for clarity about what ‘ready’ means for the sake of tenants and responsible landlords.
Since the report was published very recently, not enough time has passed for its recommendations to be addressed on any higher level, though it is not unique in its calls for more clarity on court reforms.
As you can see in our recent reports on the Renters’ Rights Bill, the Labour government is under more pressure than ever to deliver clearer solutions to the issues addressed in the Bill.
