Lauren Davidson Personal Account

Denying help to landlords during this crisis will be disastrous for property owners – and tenants

It has long been fashionable to vilify landlords. But now it seems our politicians and policymakers, who have been warming up to make this leap for some time, have jumped on the bandwagon.

While the Government has been quick in the Covid crisis to offer financial respite to most sections of society, there is one large group that has been overlooked: landlords. Homeowners have been granted mortgage holidays and a break from their bills. Tenants have been given protection from eviction. But buy-to-let owners who provide accommodation for 4.5 million households? Zilch.

They have been asked to offer their tenants rent breaks and in turn advised to ask their banks for a mortgage holiday, which can backfire with higher interest rates or outright denial when it comes to refinancing. Plus, many landlords don’t have mortgages and rely on rental income for their pension.

So the Government, which has paid out billions to shore up the rest of the economy, has decided that property investors aren’t worthy of support. It is asking landlords to subsidise struggling renters out of their own pockets, which are already emptier after years of profit squeezes such as the tightening of tax relief on mortgage interest payments and higher stamp duty costs.

This week the Government dealt another blow to landlords. At the 11th hour it extended for another month the ban on evicting tenants through the courts and said repossession cases on the grounds of rent arrears would not be treated as a priority until tenants had missed a year of payments. Landlords must also give tenants six months’ notice of eviction.

As there are lengthy backlogs in the courts, the National Residential Landlords Association has calculated that a landlord whose tenants stop paying rent could lose two years of income, or an average of £20,800, before regaining their property.

All this to “protect” tenants. But it is no help for renters if landlords are left in the lurch. To pit landlord against tenant is to misunderstand the market. One cannot exist without the other. The fewer landlords there are, and the harder it is for them to make a living, the less competitive prices will be.

Our politicians now have a few weeks to come up with a suitable alternative solution. The NRLA has proposed the provision of interest-free, governmentguaranteed loans for tenants to pay off Covid-related arrears.

Whatever happens, a further extension of the eviction ban must not be tolerated. As our Property Editor, Isabelle Fraser, pointed out this week, the later it is lifted, the more explosive the result will be, as it will coincide with the winding down of the furlough scheme and a rise in unemployment.

Tenants’ protections, like employees’ rights, are crucial. But just as we have rules to give bosses a fair and legal process to dismiss subpar staff, we must allow landlords to remove problematic tenants. For the Government to continue to overlook this group would be disastrous – not just for property owners but for the tenants it aims to protect.

A further extension of the eviction ban must not be tolerated