Jeremy Hunt’s 2023 Budget, delivered this week, has failed to address a growing crisis in the availability of private rented accommodation, the National Residential Landlords Association has charged.

With supply issues continuing to have an adverse effect on the market, the Government must take steps to encourage a PRS which works in the interests of landlords and tenants alike, said NRLA.

‘The Chancellor spoke of growth yet did nothing to introduce the pro-growth measures that are necessary if the private rented sector’s supply crisis is to be addressed, said the organisation’s policy director Chris Norris.

‘The current system, under which landlords are penalised for providing new homes to rent, only makes it tougher for many renters to access good quality rental properties. Without a comprehensive review of how the sector is taxed, supply and demand issues will only become more acute as time goes on’.
The homeless charity Shelter was equally unimpressed.

‘The Chancellor could have put an end to spiralling homelessness, but instead he’s stuck his head in the sand’, said chief executive Polly Neate.

‘Homelessness has almost doubled in the last 10 years and yet again we have a Budget that does nothing to help struggling renters who are drowning in debt and rapidly rising rents. It is outrageous that the Government has chosen to keep housing benefit frozen at 2020 levels when its own figures show rents have risen by more than 8 per cent in this time.

‘A massive growth in homelessness is surely not the type of growth the Government wants, so why is it ignoring this crisis?’