Angela Rayner’s reletting ban on rental properties will leave 100,000 landlords unable to sell or rent, data suggests.
Under Labour’s Renters’ Rights Act, which took effect on May 1, if a landlord regains possession of a rental property in order to sell, they cannot relet it for 12 months.
But analysis has revealed that more than half of rental properties (51pc) put on the market last year failed to sell.
Estate agency Hamptons found that if the rental reforms had been in place last year, an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 unsold properties would have been barred from taking on tenants.
Hamptons said the 12-month reletting ban risked leaving landlords “in limbo” with rental properties that cannot be sold or rented out.
The ban is one element of wide-ranging rental reforms introduced by Ms Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, which also abolished Section 21 “no fault” evictions, limited rent rises to once a year, and increased the period that tenants can be in rent arrears.
Experts warned that the 12-month ban also risked “wiping out” much-needed – and minimal – growth in the rental market by squeezing supply and pushing up costs for tenants.