With repossessions almost doubling and other property owners facing negative equity, the BPF believes a professionalised, branded rental sector, where big firms provide long term homes to rent, is what is needed.
Current government policy is still focused heavily on ownership. However, many housing associations are facing real problems as shared ownership schemes are left vacant due to a lack of lending, with banks seeing such initiatives as ’sub prime’ given the high proportion of repossessions.
The BPF is calling for changes to stamp duty, local housing allowance (LHA), and the planning system which it believes will help the rental market and encourage private companies to invest in a professional rental sector like that of the USA and Europe.
The BPF wants to see changes made to the charging of stamp when buying multiple properties so that it is charged per purchase and not on the collective amount, this would greatly reduce costs for large investors buying a portfolio of properties which they could then professionally manage.
It also wants rental developments to be specially recognised through the planning system, given the different financing model they use to properties built for owner-occupation.
Ian Fletcher, BPF residential director, said: “Over the past decade the private rented sector has proven itself invaluable to Government objectives. It has facilitated the rapid expansion of higher education, housed those unable to find any other home, and supported the UK’s flexible labour market.
“The sector’s ability to adapt has been a huge strength; one that is even more invaluable in current economic conditions, which the Government should be harnessing. We have had an excellent independent review of the sector. It is now time to act on it and start moving forward, so that the sector can drive up standards, add to supply, and ultimately achieve its full potential.”
The BPF is also calling for a return to the old payment method of direct payment of local housing allowance (LHA) to landlords. The government scrapped the old regime last April, but the BPF says this risks the security of thousands of vulnerable people who may not be best positioned to manage their own finances. The new system risks private landlords taking their properties out of the market for social security tenants.
* Gross mortgage lending reached an estimated 12.6 billion GBP in December, down 11 percent from 14.2 billion GBP in November and 47 percent on December 2008, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This is the lowest monthly figure since April 2001.
Lending totalled 256.4 billion GBP over 2008 as a whole, down 30 percent on 363.7 billion GBP in 2007 and the lowest annual figure since 2002. Recent mortgage approval figures from the Bank of England indicate lending will decline further in the coming months, so improvements in lending are unlikely to be seen in completion levels until the second half of the year at the earliest.
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[tags]landlord, buy to let mortgages, energy performance certificates, rental property[/tags]
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