As we approach a year of Labour being in power, we thought it would be an ideal time to look at their housing and property commitments.
The Labour government has pledged to deliver 1.5 million homes during their five-year term in office. To put this into perspective, this equates to 300,000 homes per year, or 821 homes per day. It’s a significant mountain to climb.
What stands in their way, you ask?
Well, to start with, as part of their pledge, they intend to address the current shortage of affordable, social and council housing.
A key driver behind this shortage has been, and continues to be, the Right to Buy scheme. The scheme began in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government.
It gives local authority tenants the right to purchase their property at a discount of between 35% and 70% of the market value, depending on their circumstances.
While the scheme has enabled around 4.5 million tenants to buy their homes, one of the biggest resulting issues is that the government has not been replenishing the sold housing stock at a sustainable rate.
This has exacerbated the current housing crisis, with over a million applicants currently waiting for social housing. Labour’s plan is to tackle this through the construction and delivery of tens of thousands of homes by 2026.
Won’t planning stand in their way?
While well-intentioned, the planning process is often hindered by red tape, costs, and delays. Labour plans to address this through planning reform, making it easier to obtain planning consent.
What about privately owned rental properties?
By 2030, Labour will require all landlords to raise the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of their rental properties to a minimum of category ‘C’.
A key motivation behind this is to ensure that rising energy prices do not further worsen the cost of living.
To put this into context, the average UK home currently has an EPC rating of category ‘D’. While this is only one step up the EPC scale, achieving it will be far from easy or cost-effective, especially considering that much of the UK’s housing stock dates back to the 1900s or 1930s which are generally thermally poor.
Estimates suggest that landlords may incur costs of around £6,000 to upgrade a property from category ‘D’ to ‘C’. For those with properties in categories ‘E’ to ‘G’, the cost could be more than double.
Landlords, those waiting for social housing, homeowners planning extensions, and property developers alike are facing notable changes on the horizon.
If these changes are implemented effectively, many of the long-standing issues in the housing sector could become a thing of the past.
If you’re planning your own property purchase, ensure you don’t overlook the need for a Level 2 or Level 3 survey. Equally, if you’re planning on extending your home, or building a new property, be sure to consider whether Party Wall Surveying procedures are applicable.
