The current scramble by the Mayor of London and the Housing Minister to “accelerate” housing construction is an attempt to address a problem fundamentally of their own making. For decades, the small, private landlord sector was the quiet engine of Britain’s housing market, reliably providing homes for working families, young professionals, and key workers. Before the recent wave of policy intervention, data showed lower homelessness and higher renter satisfaction.

This market was not broken; it has been systematically dismantled by a hostile policy environment.

The Retreat of the Small Landlord

Today, a mass exodus of private landlords is underway, collapsing rental supply and driving up costs. This retreat is a direct response to a sustained assault characterised by three key policy areas:

Punitive Taxation: The removal of vital tax relief through Section 24 dramatically increased operating costs, turning stable investments into financial liabilities.

Over-Regulation and Red Tape: The introduction of complex, constant regulatory changes has made compliance burdensome and costly for individual investors.

A Broken Eviction Process: The proposed Renters’ Rights Bill and crippling court delays have made the repossession of property virtually impossible, even in cases of severe rent arrears. Landlords now face waiting periods of years simply to regain control of their assets.

This confluence of factors has pushed responsible landlords to sell up, leading to the predictable outcome: a shrinking private rental sector (PRS) supply and resulting rent inflation, making genuine “affordable housing” increasingly unattainable.

The Path to Restoration

The solution to the housing crisis does not lie in multi-year, large-scale construction projects alone, but in stabilising and supporting the existing housing stock. The government must be brave enough to reverse course and offer meaningful incentives to retain small landlords:

Targeted Tax Incentives: Immediately restore a 50% tax credit or Section 24 relief for landlords who actively support social housing goals, such as those renting at Local Housing Allowance rates or leasing directly to local councils.

Focus on Retention: The policy priority must shift from penalising current providers to rewarding those who contribute to the stable supply of housing.

Maintaining the homes we already have is the fastest and most efficient way to address the supply crisis. We need a practical solution, and that begins with acknowledging that the private landlord was an essential provider, not a market villain.

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