Property Natter - They do it with mirrors...

Sleight of hand, optical illusion, card up the sleeve – we all love a good conjuring trick, don’t we?

And they say politics is a bit of a tricky business, too. It must be, because this week, Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, Michael Gove, made an entire Bill disappear.

For months and months and months we’ve been promised that the Renters’ Reform Bill would be introduced ‘soon.’

Then we were promised it would be brought before Parliament ‘during this Parliamentary year.’

Then, just last week, we were told it’s definitely going to happen next week.

So we weren’t all that surprised when on Tuesday, we learned that because of ‘procedural issues’ it would not be going ahead as planned. Instead, the Bill would return ‘very shortly.’

Now you see it; now you don’t.

Four years ago, the Government promised to abolish Section 21 (so-called ‘no-fault’) evictions and this was the Bill that was finally going to deliver it. But not this week.

For comparison, the gestation period of an African elephant is a mere 645 days.

So what happened? What were these procedural issues?

They weren’t going into specifics. But many commentators have wondered whether some of the  Honourable Conservative Members who are landlords or who have links with the lettings sector might have threatened to oppose the Bill unless it was significantly diluted.

To be fair, the Bill is thought to contain a number of controversial measures besides the scrapping of Section 21. There’s the introduction of a Decent Homes Standard for the PRS and the creation of a Housing Ombudsman as well as restrictions on when rents can be raised. But it was the scrapping of Section 21 that worried the landlords.

After all these properties are their…well, property, after all.

Research this week revealed that 65000 homes have been off-loaded by landlords since the beginning of the year. Perhaps the threat of the legislation didn’t help.

And all this at a time when rents have risen to record levels.

 No wonder the Government is thinking twice. Ministers are clearly worried that the entire PRS might disappear.

Points of interest

The Bank of England’s Base Rate stepped up again this week - for the 12^th consecutive time – to 4.5%. The rise, however, was widely expected and most lenders had already factored it into their mortgage rates. Interest rates are now at the highest they’ve been since 2008 – and we all know what happened then!

Nevertheless there were also signs that despite the stubborn inflation and the gloomy predictions at the end of 2022, there is still life in the housing market as buyers and sellers adjust to a ‘new normal.’

Property Data firm TwentyCI greeted their new figures with what they described as ‘cautious optimism’ – a million miles from some of the Doomsday scenarios that populated our media in the New Year. Almost 7000 more properties were sold subject to contract this month than last, with the South East doing particularly well with properties listed as sold.

The UK property market is more resilient than people think.

A home from home

According to Government figures, the average price for a house in the UK is £294,910. But, and this may come as something of a shock, London is not the most expensive European capital in which to buy a house. According to  https://www.youroverseashome.com/ Stockholm is the dearest with Dublin coming in as runner up. London gets the bronze medal position.

But if you want a bit more for your money, they recommend Pristina, in Kosovo (where (£300,000 will get you a 5-bedroom house, with 3 bathrooms and a spacious garden) and Armenia’s Yerevan where a similar sum will cover a fully-furnished, 3-bedroom house, a large garden and a 3-car garage.

Until next time

Or

Minch’ev hajord angam

(as the say in Armenia)