Spring statement missed opportunity for renters

The Chancellor’s Spring Statement has failed to address the urgent challenges facing the private rented sector. Despite repeated warnings from industry experts, today’s announcement did nothing to boost rental supply, support investment in energy efficiency, or provide much-needed relief for tenants reliant on housing benefits.

With demand for rental homes at an all-time high—an average of 12 renters now chasing every available property—this was a key moment for the Government to act. Instead, it has chosen to overlook the rapidly worsening crisis.

Responding to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said:

“Today’s statement was a missed opportunity to support renters across the country.

“It has done nothing to tackle the chronic shortage of rental housing to meet demand. 

“It has done nothing to reform a broken tax system which is failing to encourage and support investment in energy efficiency improvements.  

“And it has done nothing to address the unjust freeze on housing benefit which is leaving so many renters fearful of how they will afford their rents.” 

-ENDS-
 
Notes:

•    According to the property portal Zoopla, there are now an average of 12 renters chasing every available home to rent. 

•    Responding to a recent parliamentary written question, the Treasury Minister, Emma Reynolds MP, has said: “Rental prices are ultimately determined by the total supply of housing, relative to demand. Affordability of housing has fallen drastically, particularly in major cities, as too few homes have been built.”

•    In April last year, the Committee on Fuel Poverty wrote to the then Government in relation to the energy efficiency of rented housing. The letter included concerns about the lack of a bespoke financial package to support investments in energy efficiency measures in the sector. It noted:

“Currently the major energy efficiency programmes are targeted at the owner occupier sector (e.g. Energy Company Obligation, Home Upgrade Grant, Great British Insulation Scheme) or the SRS (Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund). Previously the Committee on Fuel Poverty argued that the PRS be treated as a commercial sector as landlords are effectively managing a business that should meet required standards. Landlords could be helped to meet these standards through tax offsets for improvements, loans or potentially grants for landlords with a low profit margin in areas of low rental value.” 

•    The now disbanded Office for Tax Simplification noted in 2022, current tax rules create no incentive for landlords to invest in energy efficiency improvements. For instance, whilst replacing a broken boiler is considered a deductible expense against rental profits, upgrading a boiler to a more energy efficient system or installing insulation where none previously existed is not.

•    Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are due to be frozen from next month. According to an analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, if the LHA remains frozen for the duration of this Parliament, 50,000 renters will be pulled into poverty, 60,000 will be pushed into deep poverty and 80,000 (including 30,000 children) will be pushed into very deep poverty.

•    Further information about the NRLA can be found at www.nrla.org.uk.  It posts on X @NRLAssociation. 

•    The NRLA’s press office can be contacted by emailing [email protected] or by calling 0300 131 6363.