Across England there has been a 3% drop in HMOs between 2020 and 2021, with London being the primary influence having a 13% reduction across the capital seeing places like Barnet declining by 37%.
Property crisis is a consistent term being used by the media and the government trying to solve it, but this new report has suggested it is the government's continued regulation changes that has driven landlords to sell their buy to let properties.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities has been very supportive of tenants during both pandemic times and in general policy creation. This puts Landlords into a tough position where it is unknown if their investments are safe, or if they could find themselves facing difficulties with tenants.
Property possession and consequences for rent arrears have become something more difficult for Landlords to enforce, with changes in legislation restricting collection options and a backed up court system either having mass delays or expensive drawn out processes which can take years to settle.
While HMOs operators have been hit hard, there is now a huge spike in tenants looking for standalone properties including something as simple as self contained studios. Overall rental prices are increasing due to the lack of properties on the market and with the government's current policy direction this isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
Written by Toby Dawson
