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Landlords continue to exit the private rented sector with many actively looking to reduce their buy-to-let portfolios, leaving thousands of renters facing potential homelessness.
Official figures show that more than 2,000 households a month are facing homelessness in England because private landlords say they are selling up, with some blaming uncertainty caused by government delays to renting reforms.
The data also reveals that of those facing eviction because the landlord is selling up, more than four in 10 families have asked councils for temporary housing.
Meanwhile, almost a third of landlords plan to reduce their rental portfolios and only 9% say they likely to grow them, a survey by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) found.
High interest rates have also deterred many landlords from investing in the buy-to-let sector, according to teh NRLA.
The homelessness charity Riverside said this was evidence of a “humanitarian crisis unfolding behind closed doors in towns and cities across England”. This follows recent data revealing that the number of children living in temporary accommodation in England had hit 145,800, a record high and up 12% year-on-year.
The supply-demand imbalance in the PRS has not been helped by the uncertainty caused by delays to the renters (reform) bill, which returned to parliament for debate in the House of Lords yesterday.
“Landlords selling up is the single biggest challenge renters face,” said Ben Beadle, the NRLA chief executive. “The only answer is to ensure responsible landlords have the confidence to stay in the market and sustain tenancies.”
The campaign group Generation Rent accused the NRLA of trying to “hold parliament hostage to the idea that they will sell up over even the smallest strengthening of tenants’ rights”.
Ben Twomey, its chief executive, said: “Long term, if landlords sell up it makes little difference to the housing market. Bricks and mortar do not sink into the ground, and the home could be bought by another landlord, a first-time buyer or even repurposed for social housing … The short-term issue is that tenants have an appalling lack of protection when landlords choose to sell up.”
Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, added: “Rental reforms are not driving homelessness, no-fault evictions are. Five years on from the government’s promise to ban no-fault evictions, renters continue to face homelessness in their thousands. With just two months’ notice and no need to give a reason, landlords can throw tenants’ lives into chaos at the drop of a hat.
“That’s why it’s essential that the renters reform bill is overhauled so tenants have a longer protected period from eviction after moving in and longer notice periods to help them find a new home if a landlord wants to sell or move into the property.”
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