Private landlords tell council what they think

They are probably the thoughts of many landlords around the UK, but one council in Wales decided to carry out a survey to find out what the landlord experiences in the city are.

Newport City Council says its aim for the survey ‘was to better understand the private rented sector’.

The council also wanted to identify potential policies to support the PRS in Newport.

The research was supported by Tyfu Tai Cymru, a five-year housing policy project, and Newport has, according to the 2011 census, 8,572 households – or 14% of the total – living in the private rented sector.

More than 5,000 landlords

Data obtained from Rent Smart Wales in 2020 showed that there were 10,551 private rented properties in the city, owned by more than 5,000 landlords.

The council’s survey mirrored questions being asked in a separate study being carried out by Generation Rent.

This was so that results from the two studies could be compared to give a fuller picture of the city’s PRS. The responses showed:

• 74% of respondents had been landlords for five or more years
• 5% had been a landlord for six months or less
• 68% said their properties were managed either by themselves or a family member
• 85% of landlords live in Newport or South Wales.

Landlords said they relied on their rental income

Most landlords who responded said they relied on their rental income, with 59% saying it was either their main or only income or they would find it hard to manage without it.

When asked if they had been, or were likely to be, affected by a range of changes that may impact the financial viability of their letting portfolio, half of Newport’s landlords said that they had already been affected by the ending of mortgage interest rate relief.

And three-quarters are expected to be affected by proposed increases in Capital Gains Tax.

Landlords were also asked how they had been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and just over half said they had lost rental income during that time.

Council asked what landlords were planning to do

Looking to the future, the council asked what landlords were planning to do in respect of their private rented properties. They said:

• 35% are looking to give up letting properties completely
• 21% said they would reduce the number of properties they let.

However, when landlords were questioned further on why they were planning to give up and leave the sector, most said it was because it was too much work being a private landlord and too difficult keeping up with laws and regulations.

What help and support landlords in the city needed

Newport City Council says it is keen to support a private rented sector that works in the interests of both tenants and landlords – so asked what help and support landlords in the city needed. The landlord responses include:

• Remove section 24 of the Finance Act
• Reduce HMO licence costs
• Stop interfering.

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