While there has been a severe housing shortage across most of the country for many years, the past few years have seen thousands of landlords move away from the PRS into short-term holiday rentals, which allows them to still claim full mortgage finance interest relief. However, the pandemic, which is already approaching two years in length, with no end as yet in sight, has accelerated this move as millions of UK residents opt for staycations in order to avoid PCR tests, vaccine passports, quarantine and basically a whole load of hassle. This has given the holiday rental sector in the UK a massive boost.
On 7 December, local councils warned of a growing crisis in the private rented sector (PRS), with a sharp rise in landlords selling up or converting their properties into Airbnb’s. At least three out of four (76%) of 71 district councils surveyed by the District Councils Network (DCN) said that this had caused a rise in housing waiting lists, causing more people to lose homes, and making it harder to find permanent accommodation for those in need. Half of these councils (48%) said they were now experiencing a significant pressure on housing services due to this.
One council in a popular tourist destination in the south-west of England has reported a nearly 80% drop in the number of open market, long term rental accommodation available in their local authority area over the last three years, with many landlords leaving the market or providing short term accommodation for holiday makers instead.
Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, chair of the District Councils Network, says: “This survey reveals a perfect storm of problems creating a crisis in the private rented sector across the country. Now the Government’s Eviction Ban has ended, this is a problem that could get worse, with councils also seeing an increase in the numbers of tenants needing housing support due to increased evictions due to rent arrears. We need to urgently tackle this issue by permanently lifting housing benefit for tenants in private rented housing and for Government to invest in a renaissance of council house building to create homes, jobs and growth.”
Supported living in crisis
Lisa Brown at Supported Living Gateway, spent over 20 years working in the NHS. A few years ago she moved to Devon and began refurbishing properties. During that time, a chance encounter led her to discover the supported living sector. Lisa explains: “I was asked to provide a property for a tenant with learning disabilities. However, I had problems securing finance for this type of rental, plus issues like finding the right type of insurance cover etc. But when I sorted it all out the council was very happy and asked me if I could provide two more similar properties. The more I looked into the supported living sector I discovered that the demand was for a whole range of tenants with support needs, not just for those with learning disabilities tenants. There was also demand from organisations supporting survivors of domestic abuse, veterans, children in care etc.”
