14th
Sep 2016
A British property investment and development firm's CEO has applauded the housing minister's call for a major increase of new build homes “of every single type” to be built as quickly as possible. There is good news for landlords as the minister recognises that the PRS (private rented sector) plays a significant part in attempting to ease the housing crisis and calls for more new homes to be rented.
The Housing minister, Gavin Barwell, announced his 'call to arms' at the recent RESI conference in Newport. He warned that the housing crisis will remain the same if significant amounts of new builds for the PRS are not funded.
Barwell, the MP for Croydon Central, said that he was astounded by the “impressive” growth in the bespoke rental market. He did issue the warning that despite the recent growth in the PRS, “progress must be expanded” to make sure that a “thriving private rented sector” is continued.
The housing minister certainly appreciates the PRS's role as more and more people are having to rent privately, and new builds to rent will play a pivotal role in reducing the housing crisis.
The Chair of the property investment company Angus Dodd, said: “I welcome Gavin Barwell’s comments made earlier this week at the RESI conference and agree that build to rent can play a critically important role in delivering the high quality and affordable homes which are needed across the country to meet Britain’s housing needs.
He continued: “The sector is still immature in the UK but the focus the industry has on the technical and design aspects of build to rent developments and the appetite of investors and lenders to finance schemes means it is growing up fast."
The developer states that a major barrier in achieving significant amounts of new build homes for both sale and rent, is the long winded planning process that must be painfully negotiated.
Dodd is asking the government to reduce the amount of red tape encountered in the planning process to make it more streamline, particularly with more intuitive rules around the consultation process to significantly decrease the timescale of delivering new homes.
Angus Dodd said: “We believe that build to rent schemes usually contribute directly to the supply of affordable housing and that should be taken into account when S106 affordable housing provisions are agreed.
“We’d also like to see local authorities use their existing powers to give developers greater flexibility to adapt the interiors of their properties for build to rent, such as variable unit sizes and taking account of common amenities.”
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