Landlords have criticised proposed new price controls on the monthly rents they can charge tenants.
Eric Pickles on Thursday said that landlords yearly rent rise between 2014-18 should not be more than the retail price index (RPI).
But the Association of Residential Landlords said this could restrict investment and have major consequences for tenants and construction workers.
Landlords charge tenants for use of local facilities, including the labour market, emergency services and the use of schools and hospitals.
ARLA had submitted a plan, rejected by the coalition, seeking to guarantee 15% of buy-to-let mortgages and raise housing benefit payments by 4.6% above RPI inflation.
Pickles, Minister for Local Government and Communities, said in a statement "The proposals will put an end to over a decade of rents rising faster than inflation or wages.
"Tackling the upward drift in rent is essential to safeguard the UK's globally competitive position. The challenge for communities is to maintain high levels of local service while reducing rent. We are confident this is possible and that our proposals create a positive climate for further capital investment, in the residents interest."
But a spokesman for ARLA said: "This proposal is the toughest our members have ever faced. The coalitions settlement could have serious and far-reaching consequences.
"We want to continue to improve things for tenants. Instead, these proposals risk not only our member's balance sheets but the attractiveness of the UK as a centre for international property speculation. We will now carefully consider our political donation and lobbying plans before responding fully to Mr Pickles."
5 comments:
Good work.
I've been both a landlord and a renter. Neither is intrinsically evil.
JH, no, being a landlord is not intrinsically evil, hence and why we are not suggesting it be made illegal.
We are just saying that the rental value of land is the ideal source of government revenue.
JH. In fact it is the absolute opposite to evil. It is the deployment of your private property - in the way YOU choose - to make a return which at the same time provides a much needed service to anyone who wants to avail themselves of it.
The 'evil' bit arises, when being a landlord is not only subsidised by the state but is also wildly under-taxed with respect to the two other factors of production, labour and capital. In other words it is The State that is evil and seeks to buy the votes of all of us by a fake subsidy system for landlords which, self evidently, we all pay for.
Landlords in that sense can be considered in various lights. Perhaps as victims of power politics. Perhaps as shrewd operators in taking advantage of these perks. Perhaps as unwitting beneficiaries. Or perhaps as unwitting recruits to the march of cronyism...
And then there are the banks that finance this....
Why do you think LVT is so universally loathed by many politicians and bankers?
Does Eric Pickles serve any purpose other than being the Tories’ equivalent to John Prescot: token beer bellied / pork pie guzzling / working class accented member of the cabinet?
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