"Budget Support for Privated Rented Sector Welcomed"

One of the country’s leading landlord organisations is today welcoming Government measures to support growth in the private rented sector which it says will help encourage greater investment to meet increased demand.

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) particularly welcomes changes to stamp duty which will in future allow buyers to opt to pay the rate determined by the average value of multiple dwellings purchased at the same time rather than on individual properties. This will encourage more transactions, boosting supply, standards and construction jobs as it is usually the case that renovations take place when properties are acquired.

The RLA also keenly anticipates the detail of changes to be made to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) designed to make them easier to establish and more accessible to investors and so attract investment in larger private sector holdings.

Commenting on the Chancellor’s announcements, Alan Ward, Chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, said:

“We welcome the Government’s efforts to support growth in the private rented sector which the RLA have long been calling for. However, further work is needed to address the inequitable tax treatment of the sector which is preventing the market operating effectively to boost supply at a time of increasing demand and consequential rising rents.”

The RLA represents over 15,000 private sector residential landlords in England and Wales. At a time when supply should be increasing to meet growing demand and take advantage of higher rents, available stock levels in the sector fell by 14.5% in the third quarter of 2010 compared with the second quarter. This led to rent increases over the same period of 1.4%. (Findaproperty.com Rental Index – September 2010).

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