2015 General Election Landlords Survey - Rentify · 2015 General Election Landlords Survey 2...

2015 General Election Landlords SurveyAttitudes towards party, leadership and housing policy

2015 General Election Landlords Survey 2

Introduction

From the CEO

We founded Rentify to shake up the lettings industry and prove that landlords and tenants needn’t be beholden to traditional estate agents, whose exorbitant fees, incompetence and endless red tape make property management unnecessarily complicated and expensive.

We are excited to present the largest survey on the political attitude of residential landlords in the run-up to the 2015 General Election, consisting of 1,205 participants from our customer base of 175,000 British landlords. We also include in-depth analysis on the property-related commitments taken on by each major party, conducted by our in-house experts.

These findings should hopefully inform party policy as we approach May 7th, with the aim of making life easier for both landlords and tenants alike.

George Spencer CEO, Rentify


Executive summary

Nearly half the landlords we asked intend to vote Conservative in the upcoming election. That’s more than twice as many as Labour.

Steady Conservative vote share across age groups suggests that Labour-voting landlords are switching to UKIP. Support for Labour wanes as landlord age rises, with UKIP receiving an increasing share of votes among young landlords.

David Cameron is by far the most popular party leader among landlords. Labour leader Ed Miliband is only slightly better-liked than UKIP’s Nigel Farage.

Conservatives take a liberal approach on rental market by not interfering on rent prices and tenancy lengths - although this goes against some analyses, including The Economist’s recommendation for longer tenancies.

While some landlords remain dubious over Conservative housing policy, they are even less impressed by Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP policies.

The North-South divide is clearly evident among landlords, with Conservative voters dominating the South, including London.

In the Northeast, Northwest and Yorkshire, Labour and UKIP have received overwhelming support.

Only the Conservatives and Greens have a clear affordable housing target.

Labour is focused on renters, but it is also promising to speed up planning process for smaller unit schemes.

With less than two months to go until the General Election, the Liberal Democrats have said virtually nothing about housing, one of the most pressing infrastructural problems facing the country.

UKIP policies are broadly landlord-friendly and also include longer three-year tenancies and some environmental regulation.

UKIP is also looking to encourage more landlords to rent to tenants on benefits.

“ The Liberal Democrats have said virtually nothing about housing, one of the most pressing infrastructural problems facing the country.”

“ UKIP policies are broadly landlord-friendly and also include longer three-year tenancies and some environmental regulation.”


Survey results

Landlords intend to overwhelmingly vote Conservative in the upcoming General Election, with 47 per cent of the preference – more than double Labour’s share of the landlord vote, which is 20 per cent. The more controversial UKIP now represents the choice of 18 per cent of landlords in Britain, almost at parity with Labour.

When it comes to respective party leaders’ popularity among voting landlords, David Cameron is the clear winner. 56 per cent cited him as their preferred leader. He is followed by Ed Miliband on 17 per cent and Nigel Farage on 16 per cent. Unusually for Farage, who normally polls strongly on personal popularity, UKIP’s leader is less popular than his party with landlords.

Although landlords seem comfortable with the current Prime Minister representing them, they’re less enthusiastic about Conservative housing policy, giving it an average evaluation of 5.8 on a scale of 0 to 10. This suggests that if the Tories are counting on the votes of Britain’s landlords, they need to propose additional pro-landlord initiatives ahead of the General Election.

Landlords responded even less positively to other parties’ respective housing policies, ranking Lib Dem at a woeful 3.3 and Labour at 3.9. UKIP came the closest to positive, with 4.9. But no party was particularly warmly embraced by landlords, who have perhaps been left cold by over-regulation and a lack of support from the political class generally.

A clear pattern emerges when we examine the age of landlords in our survey. UKIP acquires a larger share of the votes as landlords become older: only 9 per cent of landlords in the 25 to 34 bracket support UKIP, but that grows to an impressive 33 per cent for ages 75 and above.

Inversely, Labour loses a portion of its share of landlords as they get older. 27 per cent of landlord votes in the 25 to 34 age bracket supported Labour, but that figure slides to 13 per cent for the 75+ bracket. This suggests that older landlords are shifting their vote from Labour to UKIP, since the share of voters for Conservative is relatively consistent between 50 per cent and 60 per cent.

Location also played a role in the survey results. 55 per cent of landlords in the South (including London) plan to vote Conservative, while Labour and UKIP share the majority of votes across the North East, North West and Yorkshire.

“ Unusually for Farage, who normally polls strongly on personal popularity, UKIP’s leader is less popular than his party with landlords.”

“ Although landlords seem comfortable with the current Prime Minister representing them, they’re less enthusiastic about Conservative housing policy.”


Answer %

Conservative 45%

Labour 19%

UKIP 17%

Liberal Democrat 6%

Green 6%

SNP 2%

Other 5%

Answer %

David Cameron 51%

Ed Miliband 16%

Nigel Farage 15%

Nick Clegg 6%

Natalie Bennett 5%

Other 8%

“For which political party are you planning to vote in the election?”

“Which party leader do you feel best represents your interests as a landlord?”

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

0 100 200 300 400 500

Landlord voting intentions & leadership preferences


Annual total house-building targetFor councils to determine housing targets.

PlanningContinuing current policies. Further support roll out of neighbourhood planning.

Garden CitiesYes, where locally supported.

Private Rented SectorComplete delivery of 10,000 new homes below market rent.

Rent CapNo

Length of tenancySupport voluntary model tenancies agreement.

Development land taxNo

Mansion TaxNo

Conservative Party

Party housing policy Score

Conservative 5.75

UKIP 4.88

Labour 3.93

Liberal Democrat 3.27

Green 3.04

Views on a party’s entire set of proposals

Party housing policy

Answer %

0 (totally negative) 5.3%

1 1.5%

2 5.3%

3 6.1%

4 4.9%

5 22.5%

6 12.7%

7 16.8%

8 13.4%

9 3.6%

10 (totally positive) 7.9%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6


Annual total house-building target300,000

PlanningLocal Authorities to identify 15 years’ housing supply.

Garden CitiesYes

Private Rented SectorMore shared-ownership, rent-to-buy.

Rent CapTBC

Length of tenancyTBC

Development land taxPilot for Local Authorities to capture value uplift.

Mansion TaxYes

Liberal Democrats


PlanningSpeed up planning <10 unit schemes. Local Authorities use land as equity rather than selling.

Garden CitiesYes & Garden Suburbs.

Private Rented SectorNo lettings agents fees for tenants. Introduce national register of landlords.

Rent CapMarket rent followed by ceiling on rent increases over 3 year tenancies.

Length of tenancy3 years will be default.

Development land taxTBC

Mansion TaxYes

Labour Party

Answer %


1 7.9%

2 11.5%

3 13.2%

4 10.6%

5 15.3%

6 8.1%

7 8.6%

8 6.1%

9 2.0%


Answer %


1 10.8%

2 12.8%

3 16.6%

4 14.0%

5 18.6%

6 5.8%

7 3.7%

8 2.6%

9 0.6%



Annual total house-building targetLet Local Authorities determine.

PlanningConstrain power of national planning inspectorate. Councils to have more proactive role.

Garden CitiesTBC

Private Rented SectorCompulsory licensing for all landlords. No lettings agent fees for tenants.

Rent CapCap rent rises to inflation initially. Living Rent Commission to examine more stringent proposals.

Length of tenancy5 years with the tenant’s right to renew unless the landlord sells or moves in.

Development land taxYes

Mansion TaxWould support, prefer Land Value Tax.

Green Party


PlanningCut costs of applications by merging planning and building more control depts.

Garden CitiesYes, not on greenbelt.

Private Rented SectorEncourage more landlords to rent to tenants on housing benefits.

Rent CapNo

Length of tenancyNew 3-10 year tenancies – as well as ASTs (Assured Shorthold Tenancies).

Development land taxNo

Mansion TaxNo

UKIP Party

Answer %


1 3.2%

2 6.1%

3 8.4%

4 10.5%

5 18.9%

6 12.7%

7 12.8%

8 9.0%

9 3.0%


Answer %


1 11.6%

2 11.0%

3 14.8%

4 11.7%

5 12.8%

6 6.5%

7 5.0%

8 2.8%

9 0.5%



Party housing policy analysis

Conservatives

As expected, Conservatives take a liberal approach to the rental market, opting not to interfere with rent prices and tenancy lengths. This is good news for landlords should the Tories remain in government, though it does contradict a small but growing number of experts – including The Economist – who advocate for longer tenancy periods.

First Buyer Support (FTB) schemes, formerly known as Help to Buy, are to remain during the next four years if the Conservatives stay in power. Although this helps younger voters get on to the property ladder, it might lead to further pressure in London where supply is scarce.

So far only Conservatives (and the Greens) have a clear, affordable housing target: 275,000 – of those, 200,000 with 20 per cent discounts for First Buyer Support purchasers under 40, and a price cap of £250,000 outside London and £450,000 in London, as well as 10,000 new houses below market rent.

Although this is welcome news for FTBs and tenants alike, it lacks a lot of detail, including a percentage for London and the South East where scarcity is higher. Regardless, landlords seem to broadly support Tory proposals. Roughly half of them plan to vote Conservative in the General Election.

Labour

Labour is directing its housing policies to renters, which is not a surprise considering they comprise a fast-growing voting base. But this has had an impact on the party’s popularity with landlords.

Should Labour get into government in Britain the lettings market can expect dramatic changes: rent controls, minimum tenancies and the introduction of a ‘no lettings fee’ rule for tenants.

If these go ahead we expect an impact across the property market: lower demand for buy-to-let products, from mortgages to developments, higher agency fees for landlords to compensate agencies that traditionally charge tenants with AST and reference fees and obviously a lower yield on landlords’ properties due to rent control.

Beyond the rental market, Labour has ambitious targets for housebuilding with 200,000 new properties every year. As with the Conservatives equivalent, this is nothing more than a promise considering the challenges building around green belts and archaic planning processes - as the insufficient new homes built in the last few years demonstrates.

Labour, however, is promising to speed up that process for smaller unit schemes, which is definitely welcome news to the constrained supply of new homes.


Liberal Democrats

Remarkably little has been said by the Liberal Democrats during their time in coalition government about housing and nothing at all about lettings as of March 2015 (except for high level plans on rent-to-own schemes).

The party has committed to a 300,000 annual building target, which seems ambitious given the aforementioned restrictions on green belt development and the planning process itself.

UKIP

UKIP housing policies seem to be more landlord-friendly, although they include some elements of environmental and social conscience. This explains why some landlords feel Nigel Farage and his party represent their interests (some 18 per cent).

Should UKIP join a coalition government Britain should expect no rent controls but possible longer tenancies, with a minimum period of three years.

UKIP is also looking to encourage more landlords to rent to tenants on benefits. While we’re still waiting for details on this policy, it could be good news for both parties, as it will increase demand in the market generally.

Like other parties UKIP shows bold figures for annual housebuilding – again, not much more than a promise considering the challenges. But UKIP does mention cutting red tape and costs around planning by merging planning and building control departments.


“Where do you live?”

Area %

Greater London 20.1%

Home Counties* 5.4%

South East 12.6%

South West 10.7%

East England** 5.2%

West Midlands 6.8%

East Midlands 5.5%

Yorkshire and the Humber 8.3%

North West England 11.6%

North East England 5.4%

Scotland 3.7%

Wales 4.4%

Northern Ireland 0.4%

“What is your age?”

Age group %

18 to 24 1.0%

25 to 34 13.6%

35 to 44 20.0%

45 to 54 25.9%

55 to 64 26.5%

65 to 74 11.1%

75 or older 1.8%

Appendix: demographic details

* Anglia and Essex ** Herts, Beds, Bucks, Berks


Age group Cons. Green Labour Lib Dem. SNP UKIP

18 to 24 63% 13% 25%

25 to 34 50% 6% 27% 5% 2% 9%

35 to 44 45% 10% 21% 9% 1% 13%

45 to 54 45% 8% 22% 4% 2% 19%

55 to 64 47% 6% 15% 8% 3% 22%

65 to 74 60% 1% 13% 1% 3% 21%

75 or older 40% 7% 13% 7% 0% 33%


Age group Cons. Green Labour Lib Dem. SNP UKIP

East England* 47% 5% 16% 9% 0% 23%

East Midlands 31% 13% 29% 4% 2% 20%

Greater London 56% 10% 19% 7% 2% 5%

Home Counties** 61% 0% 11% 5% 0% 23%

North East England 36% 2% 25% 5% 0% 32%

North West England 40% 5% 26% 4% 1% 23%

Northern Ireland 67% 0% 0% 0% 0% 33%

Scotland 27% 3% 23% 0% 37% 10%

South East 55% 10% 14% 8% 0% 14%

South West 57% 6% 8% 11% 0% 18%

Wales 42% 8% 17% 3% 6% 25%

West Midlands 50% 4% 27% 0% 0% 20%

Yorkshire and the Humber 37% 7% 26% 4% 0% 25%


* Anglia and Essex ** Herts, Beds, Bucks, Berks

Rentify is the UK’s fastest growing letting agent, built and run by ex-Samsung, Google, and Centrica leadership, with an existing customer base of over 175,000 landlords and an average of 10,000 landlords joining each month. Founded in 2011, Rentify operates a nationwide service from two Centres of Excellence, with one based in North Yorkshire and the other in London.

From day one, we’ve blended property and technical expertise to provide landlords with a smarter, faster, and fairer way to let their properties. Our emphases are upon convenience, savings, and top quality customer service, all powered through remarkable technology.

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2015 General Election Landlords Survey - Rentify · 2015 General Election Landlords Survey 2...

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