Research blog

The NRLA’s quarter 1 consultation asked landlords questions on what we envisaged being “early thoughts” on voting intentions.  

The data collected fed into a wider study led by our partners at Goodlord. 

The research was presented by NRLA CEO Ben Beadle and Goodlord CEO William Reeve in the House of Lords this month, with the General Election being announced for the 4 July only a few hours later. 

In terms of NRLA landlords, the study shows that: 

• A high proportion of landlords had either yet to decide or were open to having their minds changed about the party to vote for. 
• Fewer than 5% of landlords would vote on the basis of party loyalty. 

The differences between landlords on policy priorities (see the chart for a look at the all-survey results) tend to be a product of landlord age.  

Factors such as portfolio size, whether they were buying or selling, or current confidence in the PRS market are not so important in determining policy priorities. 

When compared to the wider population, they policy priorities are broadly the same – but with a few differences. For example, fewer landlords cited immigration as a key issue than similar wider surveys of the public undertaken at the same time. 

Many landlords stated that PRS policies would be “extremely” or “very” influential in determining their vote:  

Among those landlords who had firmly decided how to vote - 50% stated PRS policies were “extremely” or “very” influential factors in their decision. 

Among those completely undecided, this proportion rises to 58%. 

Maintaining landlord confidence may not necessarily be decisive this election, but it will be vital in the period beyond when housing policy returns to the fore.  

A more complete analysis of the data can be found here.