Propertymark warns Welsh Government of its potential future damage to private rented sector

Propertymark has responded to the Welsh Governments consultation on its White Paper and expressed its support for many of the measures. However, the industry body is urging the Welsh Government to consider the impact that placing more demands and legislation could have on both the supply of new homes and on investment in the private rented sector.

This Welsh Government’s White Paper consultation highlights their proposals which include possible interventions to enhance the affordability and quality of the private rental sector in the shorter term, and longer-term proposals around how they intend to progress towards securing housing adequacy throughout all tenures in Wales.

The Welsh Government said it has sought to guarantee a balanced and evidence-based approach which recognises the possible factors that guide what is achievable, like resources and devolution.

The Welsh Government states how they intend to work towards achieving housing adequacy, explores how local factors might be included in any future framework and its overall vision for housing in Wales.

Propertymark expressed its disappointment that the White Paper failed to outline how the Welsh Government intend to achieve housing adequacy, but says it is supportive of making housing adequacy a human right enshrined in Welsh law. With affordability being one of the seven United Nations’ criteria for housing adequacy, the professional body believes that this should be achieved by pro-growth policies rather than rent controls.

The Welsh Government also considered evidence on rent controls from a Green Paper consultation, which states there is not a sufficient evidence base for the measure.

Propertymark is pleased that the Welsh Government is not contemplating introducing rent controls, and they will continue to warn them of the dangers they pose to the private rental sector while supporting tenants being able to challenge unfair rent increases. The professional body has instead advised of the need for improved, more localised data, to enhance their comprehension of market rents and the affordability challenges in the private rental sector, recognising that affordability is a central component in delivering housing adequacy.

That is why the chapter on fair rents consists of measures intended to strengthen their data to enhance this comprehension and allow for better targeted policy interventions.

Propertymark is supportive of agents and landlords being asked to submit rent to improve rental data and this could be collected by Rent Smart Wales, while both they and the Welsh Government make it obvious why they are gathering the data. It must also be supportive of agents’ CMS systems to make it as simple as possible to provide. This will provide the Welsh Government with a better understanding of rent levels in Wales and feed into accurate data for Local Housing Allowance levels and benefit calculations.

According to the professional body, data collection can also be improved by landlords and agents completing Annual Property Check Records. These documents will enhance data on how many participating landlords there are in the private rental market and boost standards, but this can only be achieved by extra resources from Rent Smart Wales.

Finally, as part of the Welsh Government’s proposals on fair rents, it also consists of measures to remove barriers for tenants with pets who are trying to enter the private rental market and how to tackle affordability.

Propertymark is supportive of proposals to enable landlords to take out deposits while questioning whether there are adequate insurance products. Therefore, the professional body has called for keeping the deposit cap for pets, alongside better guidance on when it is acceptable to reject a pet and promote references and pet CVs.

Tim Thomas, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Propertymark, said:

“The White Paper comes at the same time as the publication of the Local Government and Housing Committee’s recommendations into their inquiry into the private rented sector. While there is some duplication, both reports have some good proposals that will improve the private rental sector in Wales. Our key message that we will continue to convey to the Welsh Government is that they must consider the impact proposals will have on supply in the private rental sector. Given the potential impact, we are pleased that the Welsh Government has ruled out rent controls until rental data is improved in Wales. We will continue to make the case on more positive methods to increase supply and achieve affordability.”