The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has warned that the Government must do more to encourage investment in the private rental sector (PRS), or risk deepening the country’s housing crisis.
The warning followed reports that the Home Office plans to offer private landlords five-year guaranteed rent deals to house asylum seekers.
In response, Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, said that while the Government’s reliance on private landlords is not a new development, the latest move exposes deeper problems within housing policy.
However, he stressed that the Home Office’s action underlines “the growing shortage of available homes and the lack of consistency between government departments.”
Beadle criticised what he described as a split approach within Whitehall.
He said: “Whilst half of Whitehall is scrabbling to hit housing targets and find accommodation for potentially homeless households, the other half seems hell-bent on devising ways to dissuade investment in homes.”
Beadle added: “If the Government is serious about meeting housing need, and growing our way out of the current crisis, then it needs to incentivise investment.”
He warned that without reforms to the regulatory and tax frameworks, the private rented sector would continue to stagnate.
He concluded: “Landlords need the confidence that both the regulatory and tax regime will allow them to plan and to flourish.
“Without this the market will continue to stagnate, and demand will further outstrip the limited supply of housing available.”
