A very strange morning – we have all woken up to a hung parliament.
How will this affect housing?
Well who knows? The ban against letting agent fees to tenants will almost certainly go ahead no matter what as both Labour and the Tories support it.
Other than that it’s hard to say.
The unpopular right to rent checks will probably stay in England, but mabe the rollout to Scotland and Wales is less likely.
Austerity is clearly unpopular. What will happen with social housing and the right to rent? We will have to see.
Both parties promised more housebuilding. So hopefully that will happen.
What about the tax situation?
Landlords want a fairer treatment. However the tax changes were imposed by the Tories and Labour (were they to form a minority government) will need to increase taxation – so prospects of these being reversed look to me to be slim.
If austerity is going to be cut back, this will have to be paid for somehow.
But I could be wrong. Let’s look at some
Other news items.
Despite the tax issues, it looks as if, at the moment anyway, landlords are adapting to the tax changes and still willing to invest – according to Letting Agent today and Property Industry Eye anyway.
Be careful what you post on Facebook
This is sensible advice generally, but there is a post on Property Industry Eye suggesting that posting that you are looking to move is likely to attract the unwelcome attention of fraudsters.
So take care.
Another scam
DPS have also posted about scams – they have identified a new scam:
Here’s how it works:
The fraudster advertises a fake property or room – often at quite a cheap rental rate to attract interest
To secure the rental, prospective tenants are told to make a deposit payment to The DPS using a set of bank account details that actually belong to the fraudsterHow to spot the scam
First and foremost, we will never ask a tenant to make a payment directly to us.
Find out more on their site here.
So the real story is – the criminals and scammers are always with us.
What made me smile
Several things. First, I was really pleased that our local MP Clive Lewis was elected with an big increased majority. Then I was also very pleased to see Caroline Lucas increase her majority. Finally congratulations to Norman Lamb, a former solicitor in Norwich, who has retained his Lib Dem majority in North Norfolk.
These majorities are big personal tributes to all three.
I’m also pleased to see an increased number of female MPs.