Propertymark, the umbrella organisation for property agents, valuers and auctioneers, has said it is continuing to back a campaign for launch of a Welsh Housing Survey.
The National Residential Landlords Association has been leading the campaign which is now also backed by the Welsh shadow housing minister Laura Jones.
And, said Propertymark, Labour chairman of the Welsh cross party group for housing, Mike Hedges, has said that ‘a Welsh Housing Survey is needed as evidence-based policymaking should be taken as standard’.
The recently passed Renting Homes (Amendment) (Wales) Bill, is the sixth Welsh Bill affecting the private rented sector in seven years. ‘These legislative changes have been implemented without any comprehensive, government-commissioned data set for housing to support good policymaking’, said Propertymark.
‘Wales currently builds data on housing through the National Survey for Wales and the Housing Conditions Evidence Programme. NRLA says this falls far short of what a Welsh Housing Survey would deliver. It would collect a wealth of information such as data on the proportion of private rented sector tenancies ended by the tenant, the levels of satisfaction among social renters, and the percentage of owner-occupied homes that are under-occupied.
‘Since NRLA launched its campaign for a Welsh Housing Survey last autumn, Jones and Hedges have both been happy to sign up for what should be a non-partisan no-brainer’.
