London local authorities say there’s been a surge in landlords withdrawing from the sector providing temporary accommodation for homeless households.
A survey by the umbrella organisation called London Councils reveals that between September 2022 and April 2023, 15 boroughs received a Notice to Quit - that’s a legal notice requesting the return of a property - from landlords for 3,531 properties used for temporary accommodation.
This represents a 120 per cent increase on the 1,601 notices received over the same period in 2021-22 and is equivalent to a loss of six per cent of London’s total temporary accommodation stock.
Councils have a duty to secure accommodation for homeless households who qualify for support under housing law and rely heavily on private landlords to fulfil this duty.
‘Temporary accommodation’ is arranged by the council until long-term housing can be found. This accommodation can take the form of a private, council, or housing association property, or a room in a hostel, bed & breakfast, or hotel.
London Councils says some 170,000 people are homeless in the capital and the number of households entitled to homelessness support from a London local authority increased 15.2 per cent between April 2022 and April 2023.
There has also been a dramatic 781 per cent increase in homeless families placed in bed and breakfast accommodation beyond the legal six-week limit. This means 1,287 London families were stuck in B&B accommodation in April 2023 compared to 146 the same month last year.
A spokesperson for London Councils says: “Turbulence in the private rented sector is a key factor behind the capital’s skyrocketing rates of homelessness.
“The combination of fast-rising private rents and a dramatic fall in the availability of rental properties is driving housing pressures in the capital to new extremes.
“Boroughs are seriously struggling to secure temporary accommodation for homeless families.
“Across London we see landlords withdrawing their properties from use as temporary accommodation, with the result that boroughs run out of alternatives and end up placing more and more families with children in unsuitable B&Bs.
“Nobody wants this happening, but boroughs face a complete lack of other options for keeping a roof over an increasing number of homeless families’ heads.
“The homelessness situation in London is becoming unmanageable. We need the government to treat this as the emergency it is and work with us in reversing the numbers relying on temporary accommodation.”
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So the chickens are coming home to roost eh, Gove? What does he expect when his govt has almost destroyed the rental market?
Al part of the grand plan
Destroy the market
Bring his buddies in to save the market
Claim the credit
Agreed KB and what's the betting gove's buddies will give him a nice well paid job in return, the man is a back stabbing snake
What did they expect would happen with full scale attack on Private landlords. Council’s are part of it with multiple licensing Schemes, all sorts of costly Regulatory Requirements, Fines, Penalties, Confiscation Orders, Banning Orders, Re-payment Order’s. Then attacked by all the Anti- landlord brigade that doesn’t supply any housing like Shelter, Generation Rent, Acorn, so called Safer Renting etc, if that’s not enough to sink us bring on Rachel Maclean Housing Minister only 5/6 an MP and jumped to the top of the Class hiding behind her so called Housing Secretary Mr Gove with so called THE RENTERS REFORM BILL and Removal of Section 21. Please tell me which part of this wasn’t deliberately and obviously designed to destroy the Private Renting Sector landlords, hence the consequences being driving out landlords Auction Housing never busier, an increase in Rents 20/30% and switching to AirBnB.
This is all apart from introduction of Section 24 and so many Interest Rate Rises I have lost track. Goodness me how could any Business survive that and the proposed return of Sitting Tenants and removal of ownership. Did someone say there’s a Housing Crisis and a huge increase in Homelessness, surely not I wonder why ?.
Michael, this is an excellent summary of the current situation that we find ourselves in. Superb contributor to this forum, which is appreciated. Keep up the good work!
Great post, says it all.
And instead of our lovely London Mayor (🤮) doing something to help us LLs, he's too busy fooking us over with ULEZ.
Anyway, let me stop complaining and take myself to Trafalgar Square to celebrate the "Black on the Square" festivity that he's arranged for us. 🙄
Scrap the RENTERS REFORM LEGISLATION and supply of accommodation will improve dramatically.
Scrap Section 24 and reinstate taper relief on CGT to encourage existing landlords to remain and new ones to enter the industry.
S24 here to stay - not a problem if you know how. Likewise capital gains
@Chris - I think the point that Jo is making is that we shouldn't have to do financial gymnastics (which can be challenged by HMRC) just to avoid these pointless and damaging taxes. A simple scrapping of S24 and CGT taper relief would be a clear signal to the community
Chris
Please explain how?
Chris - obviously steps can be taken if you're willing to jump through enough hoops.
The fact is it used to be simple. Section 21 had been invented so people had the confidence to buy rental properties. Landlords bought houses, paid tax on the same basis of profit as everyone else and had taper relief to encourage long term stability in the rental market. We didn't have a housing crisis.
Now someone has to decide if they want to be incorporated or hold personally. How are they supposed to make that decision without a fully functional crystal ball? Will they like being a landlord? How many properties are they planning to buy? How are they going to fund the deposits, SDLT and fees? Will the financial climate be conducive to their hypothetical plans? Something that was a fully functional cottage industry, accessible to people from all walks of life, has now become incredibly complicated and we have a housing crisis.
When I started out I bought one small renovation project. At the time that was a really big deal. Until the year before I'd been on income support for several years. In the space of 16 months I'd got a part time job, got my taxi licence and bought a BTL. As far as I was concerned at that point I'd exceeded my wildest dreams. The idea of owning any more was preposterous. The rest just evolved in a fairly haphazard fashion.
Lets see how the vile activist groups etc. defend this, no doubt will manipulate and lie as they do! Well done to them, thanks to their obnoxious input and driving by a clueless Gove, as very well stated above, all the anti rhetoric, needless regulations, blatant cash grabs theft in licensing etc, and they didn't see this coming!! Or they don't care...
It's ittle wonder this country is fo0ked, open border policies after 1997, of what has contributed to this crises, immigration has to evolve naturally.
Its scrap the RRB for me - loss of control of assets I have worked over20 years to buy renovate, run as a business and pay off is the real frightener. I envisage the government gradually eroding our rights even further after RRB until we end up with sitting tenants, a property worth 50% ofmarket value? And unable to sell or refurbish….so they can offload theirsocial housing responsibilities and cream off best tenants for BTR corporates
That is exactly how I see the situation Catherine.
Agreed, this is the trajectory and will be the ruination of BTL, a good and needed housing miracle.
They will wake up only when we’re gone.
I will simply ignore it and EPC C as well
Superb analysis! Such a pity that many of us have invested in BLT for our future and our families future!
Yes they will continue even after the RRB
I think we all fear that that will be the case, Nick - and it is that foresight that is making landlords exit.
Turbulence they say 🤷♂️ Well just who could’ve seen this coming ….. 🤷♂️😂😂
What was Gove and his comrades expecting after treating LL’s like cash cows! Their utter greed is starting to ef them over. The old saying goes “He who laughs last will laugh the loudest”. I.e. LL’s
Looks like the down market Hotels are going to be busy over the next ten years.
If the Government and Local Councils think that Private Landlord's have been profiteering with our housing. Just wait until they are presented with the over inflated bills for all of the extra Hotel accomodation that is going to be required.
Unless government do positive common sense measures it will get worse!
It's no good saying parliament and local governments are inept regarding the catastrophic damaging measures they have been implementing, they knew what they were doing! The country is becoming a shambles!
Chris Haley.... I'd like to hear this one... Please explain. 👍
He won’t
Hi we have a video on the subject - would you like the link? If so let me have an email address
Chris - Can you send me the link to johnhal@btinternet(dot)com please.
I have simply accepted that the PRS is fooked here in Scotland and I'm taking the hit with capital gains and selling up.... Will re invest in something where I'm not hated but all and sundry... Not sure what yet though??
A pragmatic approach, I tend not to flog a dead horse 🐴 in anything, so my investment into the PRS is no different, which is why I am doing the same.
As a fellow shafted Scot, I’d recommend coming to Thailand and investing in legalised cannabis. Nice country, nice people, nice weather, nice food, great standard of living and it seems no one is out to get one over on you. Best part is the investment profits.
Agree. Watch Scotland's catastrophe unfold. Scot Gov seems actively targeting (destroying) PRS and also short term letting sector at same time. Yesterday, as short term letting sector was protesting outside, inside the government committing to yet further anti LL legislation. They really don't want a PRS. Reported in an article in The National Newspaper yesterday.
Migrants not homeless only the British people?
Thin end of the wedge. Give it 6 months. Not just about supply though, but that dirty word noone like mentioning for fear of being called xenophobic or inhumane - "immigration". Cant escape the fact though that as a nation we arent capable of welcoming more than a few tens of thousands of migrants each year, perhaps 100,000 tops. The maths doesnt work @ 700,000 whether some landlords are leaving or not and 3531 notices are a drop in a massive ocean. Yes the notices dont help of course but we need an injection of a couple of million of dwellings at least and now, not @ 80 units a year which is typically how many a developer completes on a site per annum and thats after planning consent that takes forever as noone wants new estates near them. It would take 8-10 years to bring that volume on line, by which time another 5,6,7 million people will have arrived.
Thats not the answer though. Even if we could wave a magic wand and 2 millions houses are built overnight, there would be no school places, no dentists, doctors, roads would be gridlocked, we dont have the infrastructure in little old britain, we cant even repair our potholes or existing schools.
Someone needs to be brave and shut the UK door for at least 10 years so we have even the faintest hope of being to help the people who are already here, build what we need to. Democracy and the careers of politicians will get in the way of that though, I fear we are going to be completely overwhelmed however, and sleeping bags in shop doorways will soon become a common feature on every single high street in the UK.
I agree completely with you Matthew. With the latest figures, new build houses around 230,000 per year and slowing down and net migration of 660,000 and rising sharply each year, things are on a downward trend.
Apart from the above I don’t necessarily agree that there is the shortage they would have us believe, there’s a lot more to this and spare capacity as well due to Regulation’s and people are not going let people in they can’t get them out.
The local Authorities are certainly ratcheting up the pressure on Private Landlords as well now going for the jugular.
2 Ealing Landlords fined over £250’000.00 for illegal extensions that were housing people. I know we must comply with Building & Planning Regulation’s. However we know there were loads of illegal extensions and back garden flats built this last 25 years, it was said thousands everyone knows that when you seen the Concrete being pumped down the garden you knew what was happening, so the Council’s seen it and took very little action only the occasional one, which also encouraged others to do it
Strange thing is they let them carry on for years before making a big hit, they give you enough rope to hang yourselves.
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