George Osborne lit the fuse, but Labour is about to detonate the PRS

It’s hard to believe, but in six weeks we’ll have the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act and with it the biggest regulatory earthquake to hit PRS landlords in a generation.

On 1 May, Section 21 goes, every tenancy becomes rolling, landlords face a national database, stronger pet rights, capped rent reviews and £40,000 fines.

As this week’s devastating Telegraph analysis laid bare, George Osborne pressed the detonator in 2015.

First, he axed full mortgage-interest relief (Section 24), then slapped a 3% stamp-duty surcharge on every buy to let purchase.

He claimed he was creating ‘a level playing field’ for first-time buyers, but his undeclared intention was to squeeze landlords out.

However, the result was carnage as landlord purchases of new homes crashed from 16.4% in 2015 to just 10.8% today.

Hamptons data shows there are 25% fewer homes available to rent than in 2016.

Tenants have seen rents rise faster, not slower so the debate now is about imposing rent controls.

We’ve also seen first-time buyers in the South face less competition when buying a home – but in the North East they face more, because yield-hungry landlords fled there.

Why target the PRS?

But here’s the uncomfortable question that the article didn’t quite ask: if Osborne lit the fuse, why has every government since, of both colours, been so determined to keep pouring petrol on the fire?

Rachel Reeves hiked the surcharge to 5% and now the Renters’ Rights Act looks set to finish the job.

The private rented sector, once a retirement nest-egg engine, is being regulated into oblivion under the banner of ‘tenant rights’.

The irony that many landlords have noticed is brutal: the very people the policies were meant to help are the biggest losers.

Five million households rent privately today; experts say we should have seven million if pre-2016 trends had continued.

The ‘missing’ homes didn’t magically become owner-occupied castles for young families – many simply vanished from the market.

The deeper scandal is that none of it has delivered the promised housing utopia.

In addition, bad tenants will game the system while good ones will lose landlords willing to take the risk.

And still Westminster insists on doubling down.

Landlords portrayed as villains

There is a maddening paradox after a decade of landlord policy: every measure designed to help renters has, without doubt, made life worse for them.

But the real story isn’t about one bad Budget in 2015.

It’s about a political class of all stripes deciding that landlords are the pantomime villain in Britain’s housing story and has spent a decade acting accordingly.

And years of compounding tax rises, regulatory change and now the Renters’ Rights Act have achieved something remarkable — a housing crisis inside a housing crisis.

Rents are higher, supply is lower, and the landlords who remain are one more ludicrous Budget away from the exit.

If this is what success looks like, I really don’t want to know what failure would be.

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader