Failure to solve rental crisis will hurt Labour for years to come

Almost 200 days’ worth of a year’s salary going on rent. Homeownership inching out of reach. And average prices hitting their affordability ceiling.

These are just a few of the headlines about the capital’s rental crisis City A.M. has published this year alone.

And it’s a perennial problem Labour has promised to put right. Ahead of the election, the party devoted just shy of 1,000 words of its 142-page manifesto to its plans for house building, the planning system, and – yes – the private rented sector.

It made key pledges to “immediately” abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions; to place strict time limits on landlords to investigate damp and mould; to allow tenants to challenge unfair rent hikes; and to address the building safety, leasehold and so-called ‘fleecehold’ crises.

“Labour will legislate where the Conservatives have failed, overhauling the regulation of the private rented sector,” the document asserted. This week, ministers begin walking the walk, with the Renters Rights Bill set to be introduced in the House of Commons today.

Campaigners, including Tom Darling from the Renters’ Reform Coalition, greeted the news as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” that promised “real impact”.

We’ve all heard – or experienced – London’s horror stories, from poorly maintained properties to lengthy queues simply to view a letting, which then vanishes from Zoopla and Rightmove after someone offers to pay higher than the asking price, driving up average rents.

As of 2022-23, the English Housing Survey found there were 4.6m private rented households in England, while the 2023 census revealed more than one million of these were in London, after the figure rose by a quarter in the past decade.

For so many, the prospect of a bolstered sense of security in the place they call home will no doubt be a welcome one. The insecurity of not knowing when a rent hike or eviction notice could land on the doormat breeds costly instability.

From having to ask permission to paint the walls or adopt a pet, to serious life decisions such as taking a pay cut to switch careers, resume education, or start a family, that lack of control places unfair constraints on renters’ individuality – that we’re all the worse off for.

Labour will undoubtedly face similar lobbying efforts to their predecessors. In the wake of the King’s Speech, Sián Hemming-Metcalfe, from lettings software firm Inventory Base, warned government plans were “predominantly tenant-focussed” with landlords at risk of feeling “left out in the cold” and renters potentially affected by “destabilising an already fragile market”.

While ahead of this week’s introduction of the bill, Ben Beadle, chief of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), stressed the need for “certainty” and for measures to “work and [be] fair to both tenants and landlords”.

Let alone suggestions potential capital gains tax hikes could lead to a property sell-off – leaving renters with fewer options for homes to let.

But the success, or failure, of the new government to get to grips with housing more broadly, in the wake of the last administration’s climbdown on Section 21 and removal of mandatory house-building targets, is likely to inform voters’ views in years to come.

According to think tank More in Common, who spoke to 10,000 voters in the week following the election, housing policy is a relatively high priority for the public’s test for a successful Labour government in five years, coming joint fifth with a closer EU relationship.

While YouGov’s tracker shows the number of people who consider housing one of the most important issues facing the country has more than doubled since May 2020.

Balancing the needs of all stakeholders, and maintaining the delicate equilibrium in the housing market, is of course a crucial task ministers must get right.

However, if Labour wants to shore up its support by translating promises of ‘change’ into tangible improvements, sorting out the private rental sector will be vital.