Labour attacks Tories over claims Renters’ Rights Act “has to go”

Reply to the comment left by Landlord Phil at 12/10/2026 – 18:51
In respect of the main parties I agree with “They’re all as bad as each other, they just come in different colours”.: I have never actually been affiliated to any party or a member of any party. The politicians who make it to the top seem to be either the most self-serving or the most dishonest…either they lie or they withhold the truth. At the moment one of the parties that’s really bad is the green party, and what a shame that is when historically you could at at least have voted green as a protest vote.

Thank heavens though that we still have free speech and can call their lies out.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 14/10/2026 – 10:27

Well said Beaver.

Regrettably there is no party that can be relied upon to actually follow through on what is said during campaigns. When more than one gets away with the lie, then it’s natural that others will jump on the band waggon.

I have a really good option for our political masters, not that it’ll ever be taken up by the system, it’s far too sensible, or maybe controversial. On every ballot paper, of every type, I’d suggest there should be a check box for “No confidence in any representation listed on this ballot paper”. The results would bring about the opportunity to send a message to the wider political masses, that many of us want to vote, but what we’re being offered simply isn’t considered suitable. It would be a no vote that actually counts for something. Simply not voting is dishonouring the men & women that fought hard to bring our society to the democratic position that we currently inhabit. Being given the democratic right to register our disillusionment with what we’re offered seems a logical method of gauging public satisfaction, or lack of it.

Considering the way the system works though, I doubt that anyone in a position to make difference to our system of voting, would ever have the bravery to get behind the idea.

We can all dream.

Absolutely agree with the suggestions:
Allow rent in advance
Bring back section 21 with a compensation of 2 months rent to the tenant if a landlord uses it. That seems very fair.
Allow bidding for properties – because it is a market!
Allow an annual rent rise linked to inflation – So both parties know what to expect.
Abolish the selective licensing schemes.
Any party who proposed sensible changes like this will get my vote.

Reply to the comment left by Gently distressed at 11:37
I think that I would have to add to your list and say allow the landlord to take more than the advertised rent as well in order to be able to accommodate specific requirements e.g. pets (although there could be some other specific requirement that a tenant needs you to make allowances for). And whilst you suggest bringing back section 21 with a compensation of 2 months rent to the tenant I would also suggest bring back section 21 but with no compensation and a slightly longer notice period for no-fault eviction compared to non-payment of rent, failing to look after the property, moving family members back in, or needing to develop the property.

Reply to the comment left by Landlord Phil at 14/10/2026 – 11:16
Many years ago, if I wanted to vote but say “none of the above” I used to vote Monster Raving Loony Party. And so I was delighted to see Count Binface on the ballot recently….very funny indeed when what most people want the council to do is fix the potholes, collect the bins and stop creating non-jobs for the council tax payer to pay for. If you knew the North West then you would recall that years ago you used to be able to vote Ratepayers in a local election if you wanted your bins collected….and this meant that you had a genuine democratic choice and did not have to vote Monster Raving Loony.

Until recently if you wanted to vote for “none-of-the-above” you could vote for the Green party, and I have done in the past. Unfortunately they then lurched to the Ultra-left-wing, started attacking landlords, abandoned any pretence of doing anything sustainable and decided that it was their job to focus on the Middle East instead…Gaza?…what’s that got to do with the Green Party? A vote for the Green Party today is actually voting monster raving loony but doing some real damage when previously it was just a ridiculous bloke with a top hat, frock-coat and sense of humour.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 14/10/2026 – 12:26

Ah greens, blues, reds, orangutans, whatever. It makes no difference. The public are misled daily by all of them in some way. Regrettably enough people still cling to the notion that, despite the lies being peddled by politicians, honesty, truth & their best hopes will prevail. It’s sad that we’re in a position where we’re left to vote for the least bad option, or to abstain. At least with Lord Such, we had a voting option that blew a raspberry at the establishment. Even if tongue in cheek, it still showed that enough people felt under represented.

Regrettably, being in the business of providing homes, we’ve been made into a political football. What few seem to appreciate is that there are more than 2 teams playing on a pitch that has multiple goal lines, & that’s apparently acceptable. The rules have become muddied to the point that, whoever seems to be winning can simply rewrite them.

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a body that has a higher authority than government, looking after housing? Any silly ideas could be vetted & reworked to be fair for all concerned. I propose the formation of The Department For Reasonable Behaviour In Housing & Property Matters, unregulated by, independent from & answerable to no specified political party.

Again, no politician would ever consider this a good idea though. It may be good for the people, not so good for their own ends.

We live in an age of political madness I tell you. Utter madness.

Reply to the comment left by Landlord Phil at 14/10/2026 – 13:25
If they gave us back section 21 with a longer notice period, changed the law so that we are clearly not eligible to assess whether tenants are eligible for benefits or not (so the housing benefits people can’t claw the money back from us), allowed us to take more than advertised rent for specific tenant requests, or rent in advance if the tenant needed it, then a political party could still make things better.

But the maddest thing of all from a political point of view is not reversing the policy that stopped us offsetting interest costs against rents; that’s particularly mad politically because labour could have changed that and blamed this particular U-turn on George Osborne and the Conservatives….it would be a U-turn they could actually be proud of.

Yes, the tax on income rather than profit is rather a stupid policy to adopt or continue with. Technically, we can be taxed when we make a loss. I suspect that there is no other situation where a tax is applied to a situation where an individual is losing money. My accountant used to always say, never complain about paying too much tax, it shows you’re making plenty of money. She’s stopped saying that now.

There’s a load of policy decisions that are absolute tosh, but that one really takes the biscuit. There’s nothing like like kicking someone when they’re down. I’m sure it gives the politicians & HMRC a lovely warm & fuzzy feeling when they compound a landlords losses.

You make a mistake in thinking that political pride is worth more than pounds in the coffers. It’s all about the money, political pride & doing the right thing is way, way down the list of priorities for politicians in the year 2026.

Reply to the comment left by Landlord Phil at 14/10/2026 – 13:41
On being taxed when you make a loss, unfortunately, today the same is true for government plans for Making Tax Digital. These plans are particularly stupid if you have recognised that you need to keep unemployment down to keep the benefits bill down, avoid long-term unemployment, and need to grow the economy such that people don’t mind so much about paying tax because, as you say, they are making a profit.

But hardly any labour MP has ever run a business.

Reply to the comment left by Landlord Phil at 14/10/2026 – 13:41
Do you know where else in the world they tax landlords on every property – not on the income?
CUBA!!!
And what a great thriving successful economy they have!