15th
Nov 2023
The Office for National Statistics says it studies, assesses and forecasts whether landlords in England and Wales will and have raised rents.
Its checks take held every nine months in Wales and every twelve months in England.
The most recent check suggests that rents were more likely to have been increased in England - 63 per cent and in Wales – 44 per cent, when compared to twelve months ago
The amount of increases have been higher as in Wales they were 11.3 per cent and 9.7 per cent in England whereas twelve months ago it was 10,5 per cent in Wales and 8.4 per in England.
Rents in England have most probably risen in London – 77 per cent, and least likely in the North West at 42 per cent, but where rents did increase in the NW they were higher than any other region with an average of 12.3 per cent.
A spokesperson for a trade association, says: “The rental market is clearly in the depths of a crisis, and it is under immense pressure from multiple fronts. The main issue, however, is that the Treasury seems to be overlooking the fact that it is eating the golden goose with the current tax structure imposed on private landlords.
“Section 24 of the Finance Act has forced landlords to pay taxes on turnover rather than just profit, meaning they are being taxed on interest payments, which have gone up from 0.1 to 5.25 per cent. Whilst it will come as some relief to private landlords that the Bank of England kept the base interest rate frozen, rates are still high, forcing landlords to increase rents and ultimately pass on these costs to tenants. But the ranks of landlords who are staying is dwindling, with many opting to sell up and leave altogether, further reducing supply of rental properties and forcing rents up even higher.
“We need to urgently review the tax regime for private landlords and reintroduce mortgage interest relief by scrapping Section 24.
“Simply put, I suspect the Treasury would be raising considerably more revenue from the buy-to-let sector if it hadn’t forced this mass exodus of private landlords, resulting in fewer paying taxes. We need to be bringing landlords back to the market, not forcing them out, so that we have a competitive market that keeps rents low. It is encouraging to see the government apparently taking note of this by recently rejecting rent caps, but the root causes of the rental crisis are still firmly gripping the sector, and they will continue to do so until the government acts.”
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