← Back to News
Lifetime Rental Deposits backed by Tories as Labour revamps council housing
On the day that Labour launches its proposals to reform the private rental sector, the Tories have announced so-called Lifetime Rental Deposits.
Details are still loose but a briefing to the media overnight quotes Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying: “The costs of deposits make it harder to move. We are going to fix that. We will end no-fault evictions, so that landlords can’t remove tenants without good reason, and introduce lifetime rental deposits so renters don’t have to save up for a new deposit while their money is tied up in an old one.”
The new scheme would enable tenants to produce a digital certificate stating that their deposit is still tied up, with the money transferring to the new landlord only once the previous one has returned it.
No details have been released as to how this system would operate when deposits are retained by landlords or agents against damage.
The Tories’ announcement comes as Labour reveals its housing manifesto today.
Details of its private rental proposals have yet to emerge but the main focus of the party’s housing proposals will be 150,000 affordable homes to rent being built each year.
These would be built by councils and housing associations.
Shadow housing secretary John Healey told HuffPost UK that young people on “ordinary” incomes would be eligible for the wave of new homes.
“Nye Bevan [the 1940s former Labour cabinet minister] talked of council housing as having ‘the living tapestry of mixed communities’ and he was right,” he said.
“We will build social homes not just for the poorest but for those on ordinary incomes, trapped young renters and young families that just want a start in life while they save for a deposit for their own home.”
This would be funded by spending around half of the party’s so-called Social Transformation Fund, based on borrowing £150 billion.
……………………………………………………..
Original Source: Letting Agent Today.
Original Author: Graham Norwood.
………………………………………………………
https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2019/11/lifetime-rental-deposits-proposed-by-tories
