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Published by Andrew Asaam- Lloyds Banking GroupHomes Director, Lloyds Banking GroupPublished on: 22 January 20256 min read "Deposit raising and affordability remains difficult, to the point that we could probably call it the collapse of youth home ownership."   2024 was a year of change around the world. A new government came into power in the UK, while numerous international elections and conflicts caused geopolitical uncertainty. We’re ent...

31st December 2024- By PA News AgencyThe year ahead will be a ‘buyer’s market’ with sales increasing, experts predict (Steve Parsons/PA) The year ahead will be a “buyer’s market” with house hunters having more negotiating power and sales picking up, experts have predicted. But more bullish expectations for 2025 are also tinged with caution, with a key stamp duty discount set to end in the spring, and uncertainty hanging over the wider economy and...

PUBLISHED BY CITIZENS ADVICE - ON LINE  This advice applies to England. See advice for See advice forNorthern Ireland, See advice forScotland, See advice forWales If you sublet your home when you’re not allowed to, your landlord is likely to take action to evict you. If you’re a social housing tenant, the consequences are more serious because you might also be committing a criminal offence. You can check if you’re allowed to sublet your home...

The Oxford Mail on line- Published 8th January 2025 A woman has been ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service after illegally subletting her council house. Deborah Cox-Walker, 46, was provided with the home in Wellington Street, Oxford, in June 2023, but almost immediately began renting it out for profit. Oxford City Council, which supplied the property, said Cox-Walker lived with her husband in Cheshire whilst earning £3,600 in illici...

Rollits Solicitors Article online -October 25, 2024   In broad terms, Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 allows landlords to evict residential tenants, who occupy a property under an assured shorthold tenancy in England on 2 months’ notice. The Section 21 procedure is often referred to as a “no-fault eviction”, as landlords do not need to give a reason for the eviction. However, this may be set to change in the near future. “If you live in r...

Posted by Alan Bunce | Dec 16, 2024- UK Property Forums Optimism was in the air when we asked our sponsors and partners for their thoughts on life in the property world in 2024 and their hopes for 2025. Our request came just as the latest NPPF revisions were announced and our experts, largely from our Editorial Board, were generally upbeat while a hint of cynicism could be detected around progress of improving the planning system. David Bainbridg...

Scott Fraser  on line 6th November 2024 With its Renters’ Rights Bill that’s recently been introduced to Parliament, Labour is going further than the Conservatives did in their Renters (Reform) Bill when it comes to strengthening and improving tenants’ rights in England. So, what are the key proposals in the Bill that will affect tenants, and how will things change for you if you’re renting privately? Section 21 will be scrappedThis is the c...

Rate softens to 2.4% in October as Nationwide expects more transactions before budget's nil rate band move The growth in UK house prices slowed unexpectedly last month, Nationwide said, as it warned buyers to expect a rush in transactions early next year sparked by changes to stamp duty rules in the budget.The building society's monthly index showe...

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by Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118. 13:44 PM, 30th October 2024The 2024/25 Budget could have been the government's chance to stop the landlord exodus that is tearing apart the UK's rental market. Instead, it has done the opposite. At a time when landlords are leaving in droves and tenants are struggling to find affordable housing, the ...

Unison Online- Posted on 14 October 2024 The Renters’ Rights Bill is the Labour government’s first step toward reforming the housing sector and aims to rebalance the power between private renters and their landlordsThe Renters’ Rights Bill had its second reading in Westminster last Wednesday (9 October) and will now move on to the committee stage in its journey through parliament. It represents the new Labour government’s first step toward reform...

Rightmove HubAs 2023 drew to a close, our team of lettings experts looked at the three most prominent trends expected in the rental market during 2024. 1. Landlords will have to balance priorities to get the price right Landlords have faced the challenge of higher buy-to-let mortgage rates in 2023, contributing to rising rents. In the final months of 2023, the number of rental properties seeing a reduction in asking rent during marketing has tick...

National Residential Landlords Association 29/07/2024 If you're a landlord, or thinking about becoming one, you may be wondering: 'Is being a landlord worth it in 2024?' It's undoubtedly a time of uncertainty for landlords across the UK. The new Labour government promised to 'overhaul' the regulation of the private sector in their election manifesto, but it's not yet fully clear what this will mean for landlords. That said, the benefits of being ...

Helen Davis ◦ 13 min readLast updated on 12 September 2024   Autumn Statement 2023 houses of parliamentBig changes are on the horizon for the rental market, with the Renters’ Rights Bill, introduced by the Labour Government on 11th September 2024. This is a public bill that was formally presented to Parliament and given its First Reading in the House of Commons. While this stage involves no debate, it marks the beginning of a significant shi...

20 September 2024 / By Suzanne Smith   How can landlords handle rent increases in a fair way that balances their needs with those of their renters, as well as complying with the law in England? This is the approach of a good landlord, which recognises that private landlords are running a business, and not providing social housing. In writing this post, I draw on both my experience as a lawyer, and as a self-managing landlord w...

Published in Landlord Today- 16th September 2024 The huge imbalance between supply and demand in the private rental sector will continue into 2025, says Zoopla. It says that the demand for rented housing has slowed as one -off pandemic factors start to fade and lower mortgage rates help some renters buy their first home. Changes to visa rules appear likely to reduce migration for study and work. Despite a softening labour market, rental demand is...

Published online by Harry Rodd for Local Goverment Laywers on July 18, 2024 The Government has vowed to end no fault evictions and introduce “new clear and expanded” grounds for possession through a Renters’ Rights Bill announced in yesterday’s King’s Speech. Councils will also be given strengthened enforcement powers, making it easier to “identify and fine unscrupulous landlords and drive bad actors out of the sector”. The background b...

Savilles Residential on Line 04 July 2024House prices remain largely stable as falling inflation paves the way for first base rate cutHouse prices grew by 0.2% in June, taking annual growth to 1.5%, according to Nationwide. Markets in more affordable northern areas showed stronger performance, with the highest annual value growth in the North West (4.1%) and in Yorkshire and Humberside (3.7%). The weakest performance was in the more affordability...

Written By: Tom Bill, Knight Frank
05 Jul 2024
9 minutes to read
The Labour Party has won the 2024 general election with a forecast majority of around 170 seats.

However, while its victory is broad, it is also shallow, as veteran pollster Sir John Curtice explains.

So, what should the property market expect in the first six months of a Labour administration?

One general point to make is that a combination of inexperience and instinctive caution means the new government is unlikely to make big decisions quickly.

There will be no mini-Budget moment, avoiding the type of adverse reaction on financial markets and spike in mortgage rates seen after Liz Truss took power in September 2022. There has been minimal reaction on markets so far, which had expected a Labour victory.

We will get a clearer sense of its plans in the autumn Budget once the Office for Budget Responsibility has examined its numbers. An even fuller picture will emerge at the spring Budget in 2025. Until then, we will have to rely on what Labour says to anticipate what its victory means for the UK housing market.

Stamp Duty, House Prices, and Transaction Volumes
Labour has said the nil rate band for stamp duty will revert to £300,000 from the current temporary level of £425,000 in April next year, which is probably not the news first-time buyers will want to hear. The Tories had planned to make the tax break permanent.

On the other hand, Labour has said it will make it easier to secure a deposit under a so-called Freedom to Buy scheme. It would essentially be an extension or rebrand of a plan started under the Conservatives so unlikely to boost demand in a meaningful way.

The Labour manifesto also said overseas buyers will pay an extra 1% stamp duty surcharge, highlighting the tightrope they will be walking between attracting and deterring overseas capital as it seeks to be a government of wealth creation.

Neither pledge on its own is likely to have a significant impact on transaction volumes or property prices. For a better understanding of what will happen in the UK housing market during the second half of this year, it will be more useful to study the next inflation data on 17 July and whether it signals a rate cut sooner rather than later, as explored here.

Conclusion: What happens next to mortgage rates will have a bigger impact on the UK housing market in 2024 than Labour’s previously announced changes to stamp duty or a rebadged mortgage guarantee scheme.

Non-Doms
The balancing act between attracting and deterring wealth will be equally tricky when it comes to the issue of non-doms – the 68,800 individuals living in the UK who are non-domiciled and don’t pay tax on their worldwide income.

We know the old system will be replaced but not much more.

For example, there was no detail in the Labour manifesto about the number of years individuals would be exempt from paying tax on their worldwide income under the new regime. Nor was there much detail around how inheritance tax (IHT) would be charged on overseas trusts. To backdate any new IHT legislation would be unusually punitive and logistically complex.

“New legislation could appear in the Finance Bill in March 2025 ready to take effect from 6 April 2025,” said James Quarmby, a partner in the private wealth team at law firm Stephenson Harwood who expects Labour’s first Budget to be in October. “However, the inheritance tax position, particularly relating to trusts, is a really difficult nut to crack in such a short time-frame, so there is every chance this will get pushed back until 2026.”

Quarmby believes Labour won’t want to scare wealthy individuals from the country.

“Irrespective of what politicians say during an election campaign, being in government is completely different and I expect a Labour government to proceed with caution. There will be scope to finesse the non-dom legislation so that it broadly meets their campaign promises, but at the same time remains business-friendly," he said.

In relation to the non-dom rules more generally, Nimesh Shah, chief executive of tax advisory specialist Blick Rothenberg, said: “There has been more backlash than expected, and there is a suggestion that Labour may be willing to engage on a new policy approach, which could mean the introduction of the new regime being delayed. However, we don’t know Labour’s appetite on improving the current proposals, which are a real mess and need a lot of work.”

Conclusion: Keep an eye on the small print and timing, new non-dom rules are far from set in stone.

Housebuilding
Politicians from all sides routinely over-estimate their ability to influence the numbers of houses built in the UK, and this election campaign was no exception. Labour has said it plans to deliver 1.5 million over the course of the next Parliament.

Housebuilding is largely demand-led, which is driven by economic cycles not the bandwidth in the planning system. Despite the rhetoric, the government doesn’t build houses.

Labour has indicated it will take early action to change the National Planning Policy Framework and restore housing targets. Such a shift in emphasis will be welcomed by developers but it doesn’t alter the fact private housebuilders deliver homes according to demand and at a price set by the second-hand market.

Myy colleague Oliver Knight thinks delivering 1.5 million homes is unlikely.

Conclusion: Political ambition and economic reality will clash, with only one winner.

Renter’s Reform
This is another area with the potential for a clash between what is politically desirable and economically possible.

The risk for the lettings market is the introduction of policies that make it too financially punitive to become or remain a landlord, which could result in more owners selling up and higher rents.

The Labour Party will revive the abandoned Renter’s Reform Bill in some form and had previously said it would end no-fault evictions “on its first day in power”.

In an encouraging sign the party understands the picture is more nuanced, Angela Rayner recently told LBC: “That’s a simplistic way of looking at it. We also need to ensure the courts system is working and that we’ve got a fair balance between landlords and renters.”

Labour has also pledged to end so-called bidding wars, a policy based on the assumption that high demand and low supply is a permanent feature of the lettings market. As we are currently seeing at the higher-value end of the London market, rising supply means asking rents are rarely met at the moment.

Labour also appears to be adopting a more pragmatic approach to leasehold reform, rowing back on earlier plans to abolish the leasehold system in its first 100 days. How far and fast it goes will be dictated by how much of a priority the issue is.

Conclusion: Landlords and tenants will be hoping for new legislation that is as balanced as Angela Rayner’s recent comments. Unambiguously ruling out measures such as rent controls would help.

Other Taxes
While Labour has ruled out a formal “Wealth Tax”, revenue will be raised in other ways. We know private schools will be charged VAT (probably from September 2025), with the election campaign having turned into a game of Labour ruling out or refusing to rule out a list of other tax rises.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is one they have not ruled out increasing, in a potential further deterrent for landlords. However, they have said they will not apply CGT to primary residences.

Some expect to see CGT changes in the first Labour Budget, but others don’t.

“I'm not expecting a CGT rise this Autumn or anytime soon,” said James Quarmby. “Mainly because Labour front benchers have been saying 'there are no plans to raise CGT' in dozens of interviews. If the first thing they do when elected is to raise CGT, then it will look like they have been dishonest when campaigning. That would not be wise, even with a big majority.”

He also believes the final shape of new rules on private equity profits will be less punitive than originally expected.

Changes to inheritance tax have not been ruled out.

Conclusion: Nobody knows what Labour will do in its first Budget, but the party could lose credibility by going too far, too fast given what it has said about tax rises and the importance of wealth creation.

The Bigger Picture
The Labour Party has come into power at a fortunate moment in some ways, says Savvas Savouri, chief economist at QuantMetriks.

“Labour is inheriting an economy with building momentum. One not justifying a base rate cut but allowing the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to cut its deficit forecasts and so warrant looser fiscal policy,” he said.

In other words, an improving economy might temper the need for tax rises.

While stubborn services inflation means the scope for a rate cut is more limited than thought at the start of the year, we are likely to see at least one cut of 0.25% before December, which will increase downwards pressure on mortgage rates after the summer. This would have provided a boost to the housing market irrespective of who won the election.

Labour’s victory also needs to be seen in the context of what is taking place in France and the US, said Savouri.

For example, elections in those two countries could strengthen the pound, which has implications for overseas investors in UK property, as we explore here.

Another outcome, particularly in light of the election result in France, is that a new UK government could agree improved relations with the EU.

“The EU has desperately needed a reason to get on better trade and travel terms with the UK,” said Savouri, pointing to a deal that could see a smoother relationship without the need to rejoin.

“If the Brexit deal that exists was the cause of the pound going down, just imagine what Sterling will do after such a renegotiation.”

Conclusion: An improving UK economic outlook and political change overseas could be a case of good timing for the Labour government.

Article by Graham Norwood- LandlordToday Rightmove says that while much of the housing market is carrying on regardless, some higher end potential vendors are now sitting on their hands. In the weeks since the surprise election announcement, the number of top-end sellers coming to market is 3% lower than a year ago, versus being 11% higher in the previous two-week period. “Some potential sellers appear to be watching and waiting rather than takin...

Blog posted 5th June 2024 by Benham and Reeves’ Director Marc von Grundherr  Property investors have every right to feel downtrodden but argues being a landlord is still lucrative in spite of Whitehall’s attempts to dampen the sector.In recent years landlording has been heavily ‘bashed’ by the Government which has seen landlords as ‘fair game’ in a political war that seeks to attract tenants as voters at the expense of those investing i...