The Progressive Property Podcast Landlords, Who do You Vote For?
Mark Homer and Thom Luter deep dive into the Labour and Conservative party's general election manifestos with a focus on landlords' and property investors' best interests.
Mark shares his opinions on each party's plans for the future related to all things property, and chooses his best and worst points for landlords and investors from each of the competing promises.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- For landlords, the question of “Who do I vote for?” in the general election on December 12th may well be decided by the types of properties in their portfolio, and the types of tenants they are happy with. For instance, landlords happy to take in LHA tenants may find favour in Labour’s plans.
- Both Labour and the Conservative parties, are proposing, in their political manifestos, to do away with Section 21, which is the ruling that allows a landlord to evict a tenant simply because they want to.
- The Section 8 rule, the provision within the legislation that can be used to remove a tenant for non-payment or for misusing the property, unfortunately has no teeth, and be misquoted in order to allow the tenant to stay on. Section 21 offers an alternative route for a landlord wishing to remove tenants in these cases.
- Boris Johnson and the Conservatives wish to amplify the powers of Section 8, going forward, which should remove the need for the “Plan B’ of Section 21.
- In terms of manifesto similarities between Labour and the Conservatives, are the following:
- Both parties wish to increase stamp duty for foreign investors by 3% on the existing 3% surcharge.
- Banning leasehold houses
- Plans to build hundreds of thousands of new homes
- Improving social housing
- Create more carbon-friendly homes
- As for the plans to build more homes in the UK, Mark Homer believes that Boris Johnson is more than likely not telling the truth on this, and that Jeremy Corbyn will be the one to actually see to it that houses are built.
- If the carbon-friendly homes pledge is supported by funding from the government, then it will undoubtedly be beneficial. But if all homes, including older properties, are suddenly expected to be rated A, then landlords may find themselves suddenly facing huge bills. This will lead to a distinct lack of opportunities for investors, and a drought in the rental market.
- Labour want to bring in rent controls. Mark hopes this will be on a city-by-city basis, as in the Berlin model. By capping rents across the board, there will be a severe drop in the supply of rental property, leading to a decline in standards.
- The Conservatives have pledged to keep the Right To Buy initiative, whereas Labour have pledged to abolish it, in the hopes that councils will be able to develop a stable of properties for the purpose of housing those who need it.
- The vote on the 12th December may be swung in the minds of landlords by the Conservatives’ pledge to withhold benefits, including housing benefits, from any non-UK residents for the five years. Labour are opposed to this, and will make direct payments to landlords on the tenants’ behalf.
- Under the current Conservative ruling, landlords are responsible for making sure that their tenants have the proper immigration status. Labour want to make this a local council issue, something Progressive Property co-founder, Mark Homer agrees with. As he puts it, “We’re not Border Force”
- In Mark’s opinion, the Conservative manifesto’s best point is forcing local councils to use developer contributions to build more houses locally. The worst point is removing Section 21, but this is dependent on what they end up doing to add heft to Section 8.
- In Labour’s manifesto, Mark names rent controls as the worst point. The reinvigoration of LHA, and the providing of direct payments to landlords, is the strongest point.
BEST MOMENTS
’Take away Section 21 and there’s got to be a good replacement for it’
’They believe in a freewheeling economy’
’This goes back to Karl Marx and communism’
‘Chairman Mao’s little red book isn’t too relevant in 2019, in my opinion’
‘I can see why they would ideologically go down this road’
‘You’re not giving people the chance to advance their financial literacy’
‘It’s ridiculous. We’re not border force’
LINKS
You can download a copy of each official Manifesto here:
Labour: https://labour.org.uk/manifesto/
Conservative: https://vote.conservatives.com/our-plan
CONTACT METHOD
MARK HOMER Markhomer@progressiveproperty.co.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhomer1
https://www.facebook.com/markprogressive
https://twitter.com/markprogressive
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ABOUT THE HOST
Kevin McDonnell is a Speaker, Author, Mentor & Professional Property Investor. He is an expert when it comes to creative property investment strategies. His book No Money Down: Property Invest talks about how to control and cash flow other people’s property to create financial freedom.
CONTACT METHOD