NRLA Wales campaigning update: July 2024
NRLA Wales Operations Manager Steven Bletsoe provides an update on Wales' private rented sector, and NRLA campaigning this month.
The last two blogs relating to the Welsh private rented sector have started with references to the term “a week is a long time in Politics” and quite remarkably it would be remiss not to make this observation after everything that has happened in July.
We have a new Labour Government in Westminster (which is not necessarily unexpected) but we also now have a new First Minister looking to be appointed to the Senedd after the resignation of Vaughan Gething MS.
Let’s first look at the implications this will have for the publication of the White Paper on “Fair Rents and a Right to Adequate Housing”, a process has been ongoing now for an extended period of time.
We now have the timelines that the White Paper will be produced in October which fits the “Autumn” schedule we were given a few months ago. The production of the Paper will of course be under the supervision of a new First Minister, who may or may not decide on a new Housing Minister, or even decide the remit of a Minister portfolio who will cover Housing.
What we can say as the voice of good Landlords in Wales, is that the Private Rented Sector needs certainty and a prolonged period of stability and the recent results on the “Landlord Confidence” survey backs this up.
Landlord confidence in Wales has now risen above that of our counterparts in England.
We have lived through the implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act and England will now be working nervously towards the newly named Renters’ Rights Bill. Uncertainty drives down confidence of those who provide the service of good rental properties, and we must ensure that landlords feel confident in their investments and the sector as a whole.
This comes from stability of legislation and the legislators.
We need stability and we need a progressive legislative programme that encourages investment from good landlords and tackles the bad ones. We have engaged with the process of consultation over “rent controls” and we need the Welsh Government to confirm through their White Paper that it will not be bringing any form of controls, but will commit to the moves from the UK Government to address the dire housing supply shortage that we face.
We continue to call for better housing data in Wales and will be watching closely the recommendations of the Welsh Government committee report into the Private Rental Sector, a process that we provided written and oral evidence to.
The NRLA takes our place as your voice, representing your views with the professionalism that you would expect from the country’s leading landlord representative body and you can keep up to date with our work in this area here.
You can remain assured that we will continue to work tirelessly for our members and the PRS as a whole in Wales and there are many benefits to remaining an NRLA member, staying compliant in an ever-changing legal landscape is just one of those essential services that we offer.
For a full list of everything that we do for you in Wales, please click here.
