A landlord says he is being forced to sell 35 of his 65 rental homes as Labour prepares to bring in a new Renters’ Rights Bill in a bid to drive up standards and empower tenants to challenge dangerous conditions.
David Coughlin has been a landlord for two decades, but now aged 54, he has decided it’s time to drastically downsize his portfolio and switch careers.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said the decision to downsize his portfolio of 65 rental homes has been four years in the making.
First it was the introduction of Section 24, which abolished mortgage tax relief, then high interest rates, and now the Renters’ Rights Bill – dubbed the biggest overhaul of rental law in over 30 years.
Mr Coughlin said: “It’s all making people think it’s a good time to get out of the market. Some of my properties have gone up by £10,000 in value over the past year, and Savills expects rents to rise 20 per cent over the next five years – it’s still an attractive market.
“But very few long-standing portfolio landlords are keen to keep all their private rental properties occupied. This is because it is about to become much more difficult to evict a tenant if you want to sell your property.”
Under the new bill, tenants will be able to miss three months’ rent before a landlord can take action to possess their property, a change from the current two-month threshold.
Section 21, otherwise known as “no-fault” evictions, will also be banned completely by next summer.
Coughlin’s plight has garnered little sympathy on social media, with people pointing out that having more houses on the market for people to buy and better conditions for renters is probably a good thing.
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