According to the latest figures, a number of landlords selling their properties and leaving the market has risen yet again. A total of 550 landlords left the market this autumn alone, an average of 46 a week. So far this year, 2,080 landlords have left the market. In 2020, 1,902 landlords left the market. The new rent restrictions imposed by the Government are part of the blame for pushing landlords out of the market.
RTB data shows that landlords selling their properties, or moving back into the property, accounts for 77% of evictions in the past three years.
John-Mark McCafferty, CEO of Threshold, said they were “concerned” about the impact this was having on tenants.
The lack of rental properties with landlords leaving the market is having a major impact on tenants. The Government needs to consider how best to utilise the tax system in order to retain smaller landlords in the sector, given that they make up the majority of tenancies, especially among the private renters.
Smaller landlords selling their properties have been one of the largest causes of homelessness for over five years.
If smaller landlords are to stay in the rental market the government needs to look at how the restrictions don’t allow anyone with low rents to have a sustainable property. A landlord cannot maintain a property and pay a mortgage off on the property if the rent is too low. More and more landlords are just going to keep leaving the sector if the rent restrictions stay like this.