Ahead of the upcoming General Election, the Liberal Democrats have promised to increase the building of new homes to 380,000 a year across the UK.
This proposed policy includes the construction of 150,000 social homes a year, through new garden cities and community-led development of cities and towns.
The party also vowed to provide a fair deal for renters by immediately banning no-fault evictions, making three-year tenancies the default, and creating a national register of licensed landlords.
In addition, the manifesto set out a plan to give local authorities, including National Park Authorities, the powers to end Right to Buy in their areas, while promising to end rough sleeping within the next Parliament.
Finally, should the the party come into power, it also aims to abolish residential leaseholds and cap ground rents to a nominal fee, so that everyone has control over their property.
Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, said: “It is encouraging to see housebuilding targets being taken seriously within the first manifesto released, especially a realisation that more social homes are required so that people have access to a greater provision of housing.
“Propertymark has always believed that ground rents should be capped, so it is good to see that similar proposals are being referenced in the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto.
“It will be interesting to see what mechanism they intend to use should they succeed in ending no-fault evictions.”
Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief executive of Generation Rent, said: “The Liberal Democrats’ manifesto recognises many of the difficulties facing renters, but some of its solutions are unclear.
“A commitment to ‘immediately’ ban no-fault evictions is a good first step. However, the commitment to three-year tenancies by default is confusing – it is not clear whether tenants could move home within the three years if their circumstances change, or if landlords would need a reason to evict at the end of the period.
“The abolition of no-fault evictions must be paired with open-ended tenancies to provide tenants with both security and flexibility.”
He added: “A national register of landlords is essential, with England the only UK nation without one. But by specifying ‘licensed landlords’ begs the question of whether the party would require all landlords to be licensed as well, or just apply the register to the roughly 7% of landlords who currently need a licence.
“Giving powers to local authorities to end Right to Buy schemes and to implement 500% council tax rates on second homes and short term lets both correctly identify that homes are being haemorrhaged out of reach of renters who need them, both from the social sector and from long-term private let, and we welcome these proposals.
“Building more homes is also desperately needed and an emphasis on social homes within that will give renters the access to more affordable homes, which Generation Rent is calling for.
“The Liberal Democrats are also correct to right a wrong of the previous parliament by raising minimum energy efficiency standards for private rented homes, which is essential to eradicate fuel poverty and bring down energy bills for renters.
“The manifesto contains positive proposals with the potential to improve the affordability and quality of rented homes. However, without a more comprehensive offer of reform to renting, including limits to rent increases, renters will continue to suffer from the same imbalance of power with our landlords that has undermined our security for so long, and this must be addressed by the next government.”
