While all eyes are on Keir Starmer as he squirms on a fish-hook of his own making, another ill-thought-out, slapdash and poorly judged piece of Labour claptrappery looms, one which arguably will affect more people’s lives than whether Peter Mandelson should have been handed a plum diplomatic posting in Washington.
The Renters’ Rights Act comes into force at the end of this month, and the repercussions are already being felt up and down the country, with tenants such as myself caught up in the scramble by spooked landlords to secure their own rights before the hard deadline of May 1.
Last week, in anticipation of the introduction of the new rules (and on my birthday: nice touch), my landlord served notice on me – despite the fact that I have been an uncomplaining tenant and have never missed a rental payment.
The reason? If he doesn’t give me my marching orders before the end of April, he will then be subject to a whole new set of restrictions, which include (among other changes) longer notice periods, the abolition of Section 21 notices and shorthold tenancies (which effectively makes it much harder for landlords to evict nuisance tenants), caps on rent rises, strict rules to ensure landlords can’t refuse benefits claimants or families with children – and the legal right to have a pet on the property.
He just can’t take the risk. He is far from a ‘bad’ landlord – indeed my dealings with him have always been more than satisfactory; he just doesn’t want to find all his options cut off. And frankly I don’t blame him. I would probably do the same in his position.
And he’s not alone. Since the Act received royal assent almost six months ago, 11 per cent of tenants in England have been evicted or received notice, rising to 12 per cent in London. Meanwhile, three in ten have had their rent increased in anticipation of the new restrictions.
Up and down the country, landlords are turfing out tenants and putting their properties up for sale. Whole rental portfolios are in the process of being liquidated, flooding the sales market. One study suggests that as many as 220,000 rental homes could disappear this year.
Last week, in anticipation of the introduction of the new rules (and on my birthday: nice touch), my landlord served notice on me, writes Sarah Vine
The Renters’ Rights Act comes into force at the end of this month, meaning landlords will be subject to new restrictions, including longer notice periods and caps on rent rises
Meanwhile, tenants like me who are out on their ear are experiencing a rising sense of panic since, inevitably, owing to the basic rules of supply and demand, this will mean higher costs and a dwindling pool of properties.
As dumb pieces of legislation go, this one is almost unmatched in its idiocy, and perfectly illustrates Labour’s total inability (or unwillingness) to comprehend the fundamental functioning of markets, as well as basic human nature.
It is also uniquely designed to engineer precisely the opposite outcome of what was (presumably) intended, that is to say making rented accommodation more accessible and more affordable and protecting tenants from unscrupulous or exploitative landlords.
As an experienced renter, I’m not saying the system didn’t need some reform – which is what my ex-husband Michael Gove tried to deliver as Housing Secretary in the last Tory government. But there is a difference between creating a fairer environment for tenants and clamping down so aggressively you kill the market – as Labour’s beefed-up act is already doing.
But then that’s what Labour does at every turn: with private schools, with small businesses, with the new employment rules that mean companies simply stop hiring.
The reason most people rent in this country is because they can’t afford to buy. And that’s not because they don’t work hard, it’s because banks demand large deposits, which are very hard to obtain unless you are lucky enough to have help from family, or are in receipt of some sort of financial windfall.
Labour might well argue that in engineering the sell-off of rental properties, house price inflation will fall, and it will become easier for people to get on the property ladder. But it won’t work like that. People who bought at the top of the market aren’t going to sell at a huge loss – they’ll just find a different way of sweating the asset, such as turning them into Airbnbs, or only accepting company lets, which are not subject to the new rules – meaning that only people with swish corporate jobs will be able to rent.
Since the Act received royal assent almost six months ago, 11 per cent of tenants in England have been evicted or received notice, rising to 12 per cent in London
But in any case, mortgage lenders are making it ever harder for people to borrow, as I know to my detriment. After years of renting, I was finally ready to buy my own place again. I found an affordable place in a not-too-hairy postcode (not easy in London), and secured a mortgage. Then – can you believe it? – I was gazumped. So I lost that one, but was lucky enough to find another, almost identical and in the same road. Happily, they accepted my offer. It was simply a matter of transferring the mortgage to the new property.
Then Donald Trump decided to have his big, beautiful war, and everything went pear-shaped. My new application got caught up in the whole rising rates hoo-ha. Suddenly the mortgage company – which had happily rubber-stamped me a few weeks earlier – began to stall. They asked for more documentation, some of it really quite obscure. Each day would bring a new hurdle.
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Now I’m in limbo. The mortgage company is playing silly buggers, possibly because they want my offer to expire so they can force me onto a higher rate. In the meantime, who’s to say my vendors (who have been very patient so far) won’t get fed up and put the place back on the market? Either way, now that I’m on notice if I don’t get it sorted in the next few weeks I’m going to have to take on another rental lease (assuming I can find somewhere) or exercise squatters’ rights. Neither is particularly appealing – or especially good for my blood pressure.
And so we have a perfect storm: Labour force through poorly thought-out legislation, landlords panic, tenants get chucked out, rental market shrinks, rates rocket, banks panic – and the whole thing is one giant headache for thousands of people like me who just want to keep a roof over their heads.
To add insult to injury, the whole thing was engineered and overseen by Angela ‘two homes’ Rayner, who had to resign over her failure to pay the correct stamp duty on her second home.
If the worst comes to the worst, do you think she might put me up?
