Wales: Resources for landlords to respond to rent control consultation

NRLA Wales Operations Manager Steven Bletsoe on why the NRLA is urging all private landlords and letting agents in Wales to ensure their views on rent controls are heard.

The Welsh Government consultation on the matter closes in just a few weeks, and the NRLA has launched a new toolkit to assist members with responding directly. 

Has there ever been a more important time to make your voices heard? Probably not if you have an interest in protecting the long-term viability of the private rented sector in Wales.  

Whilst we are still waiting for the “settling in” period of the piece of legislation that the Welsh Government itself has called the largest changes to the renting homes sector for generations with implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act there are even more proposals on the horizon that threaten the sustainability of the PRS in Wales. 

The Welsh PRS is seeing unprecedented numbers of accelerated possession notices, up over 300% on previous quarters, far in excess of any other part of the United Kingdom. 

NRLA data, published in the Spring, shows there is also rising demand for homes to rent across Wales, against a backdrop of falling supply. The gulf between the demand for private homes to rent and the supply is getting bigger. 

At this crucial point in time the politicians in charge of devolved housing are using the working agreement between the Labour Government and Plaid Cymru to undertake a Green Paper consultation on “Fair Rents and a Right to Adequate Housing”. 

Rent control consultation 

The NRLA has used its position within the working group for this Green Paper to ensure that “Fair” means fair for all, and this cannot and must not be the implementation of rent control on the PRS in Wales.   

Research shows that landlords in Wales are the most reasonable when it comes to rises to rental amounts.

With our detailed research showing that Wales has the lowest increases in rent rises over the last 15 years of any area of the UK, and well below the CPI for the same period. 

The facts are there and whilst rents have risen higher than at any time over that period, it reinforces the point, the vast majority of landlords put rent up when costs to provide a safe and secure properties rise.   

Welsh Government MUST allow landlords to reflect increased costs with increased charges to ensure the stability that is needed to provide much-needed homes to rent in Wales. 

The message to the politicians who have driven this consultation needs to be loud and clear, rent controls will force even more good landlords out of the sector, on top of those who already saw RH(W)A as the final straw.  

The Welsh Government needs private landlords due to a lack of social homes available.

Make your views heard 

We at the NRLA have made our representations and will shortly submit our formal, detailed submission to the consultation, but that needs to be amplified by you, the good and responsible landlords that make up the PRS in Wales. 

Now is the most important time in recent memory to make sure that your voice is heard, and loudly. 

We strongly encourage you to complete the Welsh Government consultation on “Fair Rent and a Right to Adequate Housing” before the 15th September 2023 deadline. 

It is imperative that we ensure that landlords have the ability to raise rents in a non-controlled manner when they need to, as evidence from the last 15 years has shown has been the case. We also encourage you to spread the word across your own networks, and on your own social media channels.

To help you with writing your own response to the consultation, you can take a look at our new toolkit here.