Industry warns against Corbyn and Khan policies

Industry figures have expressed fears over the impact on private investment in new rented homes of rent caps planned by the winners of the Labour Party elections.

Ben Derbyshire, director of architect HTA, said rent caps could “stifle supply of private investment in housebuilding,” while a spokesperson for rented housing developer Essential Living said rent caps “would hugely undermine the sector”.

Corbyn (pictured) has spoken about imposing rent controls in expensive areas such as London to stop “social cleansing”, while Labour’s mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan has proposed a London “Living Rent”, a London-wide not-for-profit lettings agency and called for the power to freeze private sector rents.

National Landlords Association chief executive Richard Lambert said: “Their [Corbyn and Khan] calls for rent control, registration and licensing come more from an instinctive antipathy to private landlords than a rational analysis of today’s market.”

Labour leader Corbyn is also opposed to HS2, has called for the scrapping of the UK’s £80bn Trident Programme and set out a “People’s Quantitative Easing” strategy, which would allow the Bank of England to effectively print money to invest in projects, including transport, energy and council housing.

Both Corbyn and Khan have made housing a priority, with Khan setting out proposals for a New Homes Team at City Hall to tackle the capital’s housing shortage. It would act as a developer, developing land controlled by the mayor. Current mayor Boris Johnson has instead prioritised selling public land to private developers to build out.

Tony Pidgley, chairman at housebuilder Berkeley Group said of the plans to increase public sector development: “If the public sector is going to do these things they need to be efficient”, and that “we need a combination of public and private sector to address the issue”.

Construction trade unions, Unite and UCATT, have welcomed the election of Corbyn and Khan and said that the key priority is for the Labour Party and labour movement to unite behind Corbyn’s leadership.
Jeremy Blackburn, head of policy and parliamentary affairs at the RICS, said the sector should be wary of making an “instinctive” knee-jerk reaction against Corbyn, but said Corbyn’s appointment of John McDonnell as Shadow chancellor “signals a very definite approach to the economy and will not help reassure many”.

Ex-Doyle Construction boss and long-time Labour donor Stef Stefanou said he was disappointed by Corbyn’s election but would still support the party. He said: “I feel rhetoric from the left is now too strong and it can damage the party, but it won’t destroy it.”