Gonsalves said that Labour’s proposals were “flawed” and likely to result in landlords quitting the private rental sector en masse, making thousands of tenants homeless.
He said: “The Labour party is blatantly targeting the private rented sector to try and win votes from the UK’s nine million tenants.
“However, in my opinion their proposals are not only anti-letting agents, they are also anti-business and will in fact harm tenants – the very people that Labour say they want to help.
“The most recent figures released by the Office of National Statistics estimate that for the year ending September 2014, net long-term migration to the UK was 298,000 and yet the number of new homes built last year was only 118,760.
“A combination of high migration figures, low new-builds, plus the difficulties that people face in obtaining mortgages and changes in lifestyle choices, such as increasing numbers of single parent families, means that many more rental homes are needed in this country.”
He went on: “The majority of letting agents work extremely hard on behalf of tenants as well as landlords and it is completely appropriate that tenants bear the cost of this work rather than landlords.
“Outlawing tenant fees will simply mean that tenants will suffer, with letting agents unable to provide them with the standards of service and levels of protection they deserve.
“Tenants could easily become vulnerable to rogue private landlords who may try to take advantage of them by illegally charging for maintenance issues, failing to carry out regular property checks and leaving them without redress to an ombudsman.
“If landlords are forced to bear the brunt of increasing costs, but are unable to increase rents to help cover them, many are likely to sell up or put their property to different use, further reducing the level of good-quality rental properties in this country. As a result, thousands of tenants could become homeless, because there will be nowhere for them to go.
“I am encouraging all Belvoir franchise owners to write to their tenant and landlord clients to make it very clear to them that if Labour get into power they will implement proposals that will result in increased landlord fees.
“This will either force landlords to increase rents to help cover their costs or cause them to sell up, which could put thousands of tenants at risk of losing their homes.”
As an extension to Gonsalves' thoughts, I have also included the findings of a survey from Rentify who state:
Support for Labour among Britain’s 2 million landlords is at just 19% ahead of the General Election. Polling of the general population has Labour and the Conservatives neck-and-neck, with YouGov currently predicting 35% of the vote for Labour and 33% for the Tories.
But Rentify’s survey of more than 1,200 British landlords across all ages and locations shows that nearly half of are planning to back the Tories, with a whopping 45% pledging their support to David Cameron’s party – more than double Labour’s share – and 51% expressing their support for Cameron personally.
Rentify’s survey results suggest that landlords who previously voted for Labour and the Lib Dems are switching to Ukip, with one survey respondent referring to Miliband as “kryptonite.” While the Conservative vote share has remained steady, Labour’s drop in supporters has been almost entirely hoovered up by the insurgent Ukip.
I did write a blog about the subject a while ago which makes my thoughts clear!:
Rent Controls in Burton? - That’s one way to destroy a city says economist.
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