news | 3 months ago | Jon Yarker

Landlords are working people, NRLA challenges PM

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has challenged the prime minister after recent comments of his suggested landlords were not defined as “working people”.


The “working people” term has been popular in the Labour party narrative throughout the election and since coming into power.

In a recent interview with Sky News, prime minister Keir Starmer was pressed on the definition of a “working person”.

He gave this definition as: “Someone who goes out and earns their living… the sorts of people who go out and work hard, maybe save a bit of money but don’t have the wherewithal to sign a cheque to get out of difficulties.”

Accepting the definition was “broad”, when asked if this included people who derived an income from shares and property the prime minister said, “well they wouldn’t come under my definition.”

His comments have since been contested by the NRLA which points to data from the last English Housing Survey that found many private landlords are in full or part time work.

“It is simply not true that landlords are not working people,” said Ben Beadle, CEO of NRLA.

“Official data shows that 30% of landlords are employed full time, with a further 10% working part time - 28% are self-employed in some way, while 35% are retired and are likely to rely on their rental income for their pension.”

This, said the NRLA, shows the average landlord is very far from the “historic stereotype” of a wealthy property tycoon.

Ben added: “Rather than stoking misconceptions, the government needs to focus instead on the key challenge in the rental market, namely a lack of homes to rent to meet every growing demand.”

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