26th
Nov 2019
The Liberal Democrats have just launched their 2019 election manifesto and the document contains details of its housing policy which will affect buy to let investors if the party gets into power.
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The party will tackle the housing crisis head-on with government-backed loans, tax changes and an extremely aggressive house building programme of 300,000 new homes each year, just for England alone.
The party is going to help first time renters under 30 by introducing a 'Help to Rent' upfront loan to help with deposits.
A spokesperson for a trade body, said: “We welcome the Liberal Democrats’ plans to support younger tenants in accessing rented housing with a deposit loan scheme. This is a policy we have long been calling for and believe it could considerably improve prospects for younger people.”
The trade body is fully supportive of the party's promise to end the Local Housing Allowance Cap as well as tackling the negative attitude towards immigration with the spokesperson describing it as “welcome steps”.
However as with all of the parties, the manifesto contains a number of promises both good and bad for landlords that include rent increases linked only to inflation and minimum three year tenancies.
The spokesperson continued: “It is bizarre to be proposing this when the average length tenants have been in their properties is over four years and when private rents are increasing by less than inflation according to the Office for National Statistics.”
He feels that the Lib Dems plan for a national blanket landlord licensing scheme needs “further thought”.
He added: “The crooks will simply not come forward, leaving the good landlords to pick up the tab for what would be a costly waste of time."
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