Tenants could experience the worst impact from the government’s push to increasingly regulate landlords, according to BTL industry leaders.
Speaking at a recent event held by communications consultancy MRM, the warning was made that this could lead to rent rises, which could also affect first-time buyers.
The government has been pushing the Renters Rights Bill — which aims to raise standards in the PRS — through parliament, but has been widely criticised by landlord groups due to the greater costs it would introduce.
Now, amid reports of potential tax hikes on landlords, industry leaders have stressed that these will impact tenants more than landlords.
“The more you tax landlords, the more you squeeze them out of the market, which means that rents rise and fewer people can afford to rent,” said John Davison, head of product, proposition and distribution at Perenna.
“Ultimately, it’s the tenants that lose out.”
Fellow speaker Elise Coole, managing director at Keystone Property Finance, flagged that such pressure from the government was already forcing the industry to react.
“We are seeing more limited company landlords and, on the whole, they are the younger generation responding to new market conditions,” said Elise.
“The limited company is now firmly the structure of choice for younger investors starting out on their journey.”
Despite these sentiments, the roundtable also revealed feelings of optimism among some speakers.
According to Jeni Browne, sales director at MFB, demographic changes could lead to new generations of landlords entering the market: “I do think we’re going to have a new wave of smaller landlords coming back to the table with a clean slate who have their eyes more open to what being a landlord is now.
“The PRS is a fantastic place to be, it offers social security and provides a really important service as well.”
