Member Article

Tenants get greater choice of newly-built homes to rent... if they live in London

The government has completely overlooked the North East in a £1bn package of funding for new rented homes.

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins MP has announced a list of projects set for a slice of the £1 billion Build to Rent fund of government loans for developers to use to build properties for private rent.

Not one of the 37 projects on the list is in the North East. 80% of the 6500 homes planned for construction using the fund will be in London.

One bid from Durham was successful in an earlier funding round.

Ajay Jagota of North East lettings company KIS Lettings fears the government risks overlooking both the North East as a region and the increasing importance of rented homes in the UK housing market.

The firm manages properties for 700 landlords from branches in Sunderland, South Shields, North Shields and Welwyn Garden City and was named Lettings Agent of the Year at the 2013 Landlord and Letting Awards.

Ajay said: “The government’s press release announcing this funding was titled ‘tenants to get better choice of newly-built homes to rent’ but they forgot to add ‘as long as they live in London’.

“In fact, the nearest place to the North East to receive Build-to-Rent cash is Kirklees, over 120 miles away. It’s not as if we don’t need the rented homes – the numbers of North Easterners who live in rented homes has actually trebled in ten years as home ownership has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century.

“I’m a big fan of the Help to Buy scheme, but while that scheme sees the government offering £3.7bn to help people buy homes when home ownership is falling, they’re providing four times less to help them rent them when more people than ever before are doing that.

“Any measures designed to accelerate home building are to be welcomed, but private renting is the fastest growing area of the UK housing market and the government must not overlook its growing role in supporting the country’s housing need and wider importance in other areas of our economy.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .