In my last blog 'What will the election result mean for the UK housing market?' I looked at what the election result means for the housing market. It will have wider implications for the lettings market.
Most notably, the Conservative party manifesto contained a clear commitment to the abolition of so called ‘”no fault evictions” giving good tenants more security in their home, which will be of particular comfort to families in the private rented sector.
That manifesto also contains promises to introduce lifetime deposits, though it remains unclear how they would operate on a practical level.
Importantly, the manifesto also contains a commitment that landlords will have enhanced powers to recover possession of their property where they have grounds to do so - for example on non-payment of rent or where they have an intention to sell the property. That should protect their position provided the appropriate resources are put in place to give this effect. Until this is clear, there will remain some nervousness over how this might operate in practice.
For those landlords, the threat of rent controls, which were being proposed by the opposition, will have been a much greater concern. With the Conservative party making clear their opposition to such measures, the prospect of that occurring has receded. With that, the prospect of landlords leaving the sector has also receded, which risked cutting the amount of good quality rental stock available to let.
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