Renting price crisis warning as third of landlords want to sell next year

A THIRD of landlords want to sell their properties next year, meaning renters may struggle to find a suitable home, a landlord association warns.

The 34 per cent figure of landlords looking to sell up has increased from 22 per cent two years ago.

Homeowners blame this on the recent tax changes which have added to increasing costs, according to the Residential Landlords Association's (RLA) latest confidence index.

In the survey of roughly 2,000 landlords, 55.1 per cent also said they were less confident about the UK rental market.

The tax breaks introduced by the government include a 3 per cent increase in stamp duty on second homes in each band.

It's currently also phasing out buy-to-let mortgage relief, which has previously allowed landlords to deduct their mortgage interest payments from their rental income before they pay tax.

David Smith, policy director for the RLA, said: "We warned the government that the tax increases they have imposed on landlords would be counter-productive and these figures show how right we were.

"All they are achieving is driving landlords to leave the market, damage investment and so making it more difficult for tenants to find somewhere suitable to live.

"Whoever is in government following the election needs to completely change the approach and start to support good landlords to encourage them to invest to meet the rising demand for rented housing."

Yet a couple of experts The Sun has spoken to don't agree that landlords selling up could spark a renting crisis.

Henry Pryor, independent property expert, said: "More wailing and gnashing of teeth from landlords, we’ve heard these kind of scare stories before.

"The reality is that those landlords who do sell up are likely to sell either to owner occupiers who won’t therefore have to rent or to other landlord investors who will continue to offer the properties to tenants."

While Paula Higgins, founder and chief executive of consumer group HomeOwners Alliance, added: "The upside with landlords selling up is that there will be more properties for first-time buyers to purchase.

"The government should use the extra money gained from landlords taxes to support the housing market by helping to build more affordable housing for those to rent or buy."

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It comes as housing costs have almost trebled for the poorest Brits over the past 40 years.

Meanwhile, first-time buyers fork out more than £63,000 in rent payments before they get onto the property ladder.