Landlord Voice Magazine January 2016 - Nottingham | Page 6

HOUSING BILL LEAVES MOST
NEEDY OUT IN THE COLD
those who need help with
their rents face new
benefit caps

T

Photo: Lord Howard Flight

Tory peer hits out at severe
plans aimed at landlords
W
hile pressure mounts from outside
the Government over its buy-tolet tax changes a former Shadow
Conservative Chief Secretary from within the
Conservative Party is throwing his weight
behind the opposition.

Lord Flight has issued a stark warning
that the rush to sell which the plans may
cause, could spark a house price crash and see
thousands of tenants homeless as landlords
repossess properties for vacant possession.

The Tory peer defended buy-to-let as
a sensible alternative to pension schemes for
old age and landlords’ mortgage interest relief
as a minor concession in comparison with the
tax credits and income accumulation which
pensions enjoy.

He also labelled the idea that buy-to-let
had squeezed young buyers out of the market
as ‘misconceived’.

“The fundamental problems creating
scarcity value have been our nightmare planning
arrangements and the hoarding of land with
6 | LandlordVoice | January 2016

“The fundamental problems creating
scarcity value have been our
nightmare planning arrangements
and the hoarding of land with
planning permission by developers”

planning permission by developers”, said Lord
Flight.

“Furthermore, the new high rates of
Stamp Duty are a major disable when first time
buyers cannot borrow to finance large Stamp
Duty costs.”

With the overwhelming majority of
landlords saying they will put rents up and the
Institute for Fiscal Studies warning that the lack
of supply problem which pushes up rents would
only be worsened by the measures surely it’s
time for a re-think.

he force and breadth of
argument against the
Housing and Planning
Bill is indeed compelling and
now Lord Richard Best, a
crossbench House of Lords
member, has joined the fray in
a column for the Guardian.

Lord Best points out that
the Government’s promise
to build 200,000 new starter
homes with a 20 per cent
discount takes no account of
those who are not in a good
enough financial position to
take advantage.

The peer refers to
research by estate agent
Saville’s which suggests 70,000
affordable homes a year would
be needed to cater for them.
“Yet councils’ ability to require
housebuilders to include some
affordable rented housing in
new developments will go if
the Housing and Planning Bill
becomes law,” said Lord Best.

“Meanwhile,
welfare
reform means those who need
help with their rents face
new benefit caps, ceilings
and ‘subsidy withdrawal’,
while tenants earning more
than £30,000 (£40,000 in
London) will be hit by ‘payto-stay’ increases.”

And
so,
with
landlords facing a
tax regime which will
force many to consider
selling up perhaps the
Government
should
consider exactly who it
is that will provide homes
for the people the Planning
and Housing Bill leaves at a
disadvantage.
Photo:
Lord
Richard
Best

January 2016 | LandlordVoice | 7