The UK’s private rented sector landlords overwhelmingly favour the Conservatives emerging victorious in the upcoming election, according to the latest research from the prominent property management firm, Young Group.
The company’s latest quarterly survey found that 84% of the around 500 active buy-to-let investors and residential landlords that make up its client base believe that the Conservatives’ policies would benefit them the most. This compares to 13% who feel that a re-elected Labour would be of greatest help to the private rented sector, with only 3% of landlords questioned giving their backing to the Liberal Democrats.
Labour policies for the sector, as announced by Housing Minister, John Healey, include giving tenants greater protection by empowering councils to set up landlord licensing schemes of their own in local “problem areas”, away from central government. Other plans announced by the Government include the introduction of a National Register of landlords and a TripAdvisor-style feedback website on which tenants could submit their views of their landlords and their accommodation, all developments that may go some way to explaining the result of the Young Index poll.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have said that they will offer to council tenants an equity stake in their rented property should they behave well, while the Liberal Democrats have announced plans to impose upon second homes new “use classes” in order to control the number of holiday homes in an area.
Elsewhere in the Young Index survey for April, 100% of polled landlords stated an intention to retain their residential property investments for the next year, with 47% intending to do so for the next decade. Almost one in four intended to keep them for the next 20 years or longer. 78% of the quizzed landlords expected London property prices to either remain stable or rise over the coming twelve months, but only 49% felt the same way about property outside the capital. In all, 22% of those questioned were seeking investment opportunities away from London.
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