Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, promised that the government’s flagship plans would deliver “Kings Cross-style transformational regeneration projects across the country” in order to “spread opportunity more evenly and help to reverse the geographical inequalities which still exist in the UK”.
The proposals will see a radical shift of powers and money from Whitehall to local leaders and include a landlord register, scrapping Section 21 evictions, a national ‘decent homes standards’ and tougher measures for rogue landlords.
The latest announcement also reveals that £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Building Fund being will be launched, which will provide loans to SMEs and government support for 20 of our towns and city centres, starting off with Wolverhampton and Sheffield, undertaking ambitious, King’s Cross-style regeneration projects.
As you would expect, the property industry was quick to react. Here's what they're saying:
Timothy Douglas, Propertymark’s Head of Policy and Campaigns, said: “What’s key for ‘levelling up’ the private rented sector is ensuring that local authorities have the staff and resources needed to actively go out, inspect properties and prosecute.
“Abolishing Section 21 has been talked about for a while now by the UK Government but what agents want to know is what will replace it to maintain confidence in the market for landlords.
“Propertymark believes the only workable alternative is to strengthen all grounds for possession and make them all mandatory – this is in keeping with the spirit of the UK Government’s intentions as tenant’s won’t be evicted unless they have been provided with good reason to do so.
“We await further details but additional commitments from the UK Government to build more genuinely affordable social housing is important because the long-term solution to address the lack of affordability in the private rented sector is to ensure that more social housing is built to reduce housing need.”
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “Every tenant should have the right to expect properties to be safe and secure. The existing Decent Homes Standard however is not the right vehicle with which to achieve this important goal.
“At present, this standard, designed for the social rented sector, does not reflect many of the differences between it and the private rented sector. This includes the types and age of properties in each.
“We will work with the government to ensure whatever standards expected of the sector are proportionate, fit for purpose and can be properly enforced. Without this, criminal landlords will continue to undermine the reputation of the vast majority of responsible landlords doing the right thing.”
Jonathan Samuels, CEO of Octane Capital, commented: “It goes without saying that anyone tackling the high cost of renting in the modern age should be provided with a home that is fit for purpose and so the introduction of the ‘Decent Home Standard’ is a positive step in this respect.
"The abolition of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions’ is also another step forward where tenant protection is concerned. However, many landlords will be understandably concerned that this could be utilised by professional nightmare tenants as a loophole to avoid eviction, which often comes at a considerable cost to the landlord themselves.
"With this in mind, perhaps a tenant register should also be considered along with the proposed landlord register, so both tenant and landlord have peace of mind that their best interests are being looked after.”
Marc von Grundherr, Director of Benham and Reeves, commented: “While they’ve certainly been framed with the best intentions, the latest government announcement on levelling up the rental market will hardly help endear them to the nation’s landlords, who have already been subject to numerous financial penalties via legislative changes in recent years.
"Any landlord worth their salt will already be delivering a suitable property to market and the additional hoop of a ‘Decent Homes Standard’ will add further time and cost constraints that simply aren’t needed.
"We also saw how rogue tenants utilised government changes to tenant evictions during the pandemic and so we can expect more of the same now but on a permanent basis.”
Nicholas Christofi, Managing Director of Sirius Property Finance, commented: “It’s great to see the government’s intent to support SMEs by making them the focus of their levelling up plans and the agile and adaptable nature of these smaller housebuilders should pay dividends when it comes to improving the prosperity of our nation.
"That said, there’s no ‘new money’ in today’s loan announcement of £1.5bn and so let’s hope that the government continues to provide support to SME housebuilders on an ongoing basis, not just via a few initial, headline-grabbing gestures.”
James Forrester, Managing Director of Barrows and Forrester, commented: “We’ve enjoyed a house price boom of late but for those with an eye on a longer-term return, the likes of Wolverhampton and Sheffield are a safe bet.
"Any significant level of regeneration is only going to help boost the local economy, which in turn will rejuvenate the local housing market. So we can expect to see upward growth both where house prices and rental market values are concerned across the areas to have been earmarked for ‘levelling up’.”
