Housing a pawn in Tory Brexit leadership scrap
April 16, 2019
Former Housing Minister Dominic Raab has called for “radical” housing reforms in an attempt to help renters get on the housing ladder and increase the rate of home building.
Attacking the Conservative failure to stand up to developers and ensure the construction of enough homes to tackle the housing shortage, Raab advocated a new Help to Buy scheme that would exempt landlords from capital gains tax when they sell their property to existing tenants.
The leadership hopeful also identified the following solutions:
- More government land to be released, with councils given more power to sell sites to smaller developers
- Design by tender after outline planning permissions are received
- Fewer impositions on councils who fail to get enough homes built
- Scrapping stamp duty on homes worth less than £500,000
- Digitise land registry records and support more modular housing
The National Federation of Builders (NFB) does not recall Dominic Raab voicing such policy proposals during his tenure as housing minister. This idea would have been worth hearing when he had a role shaping housing policy in the national interest, rather than when revealing his leadership ambitions on the back of embarrassingly drawn-out Brexit negotiations.
Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB, said: “I don’t remember Dominic Raab having any of these ideas when he was housing minister. The revolving door used to usher in a steady stream of housing ministers is unlikely to get any rest, so how likely is it that these ideas will be implemented?”
The House Builders Association (HBA), the house building division of the NFB, has criticised Help to Buy because it fuels demand far more than it provides a supply of homes.
Rico Wojtulewicz, head of housing and planning policy for the HBA, said: “While there is no silver bullet to the housing crisis, it will also not be solved with just the floating of a few ideas. We need consistency, detail and the inclusion of SME house builders at the beginning of policy discussions.”
You May Also Enjoy
Breaking Property News 3/6/26
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X. Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor launches shared vision to become a top-10 global innovation cluster Later today, at a major science and innovation conference hosted by Bidwells at Westminster’s QEII Centre, the Chancellor, Science Minister Lord Vallance and Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook will set out a…
Read More 
Refurbishment budget requirements approach £86,000
Jonathan Samuels, CEO of specialist lender, Octane Capital, believes that whilst refurbishment projects continue to offer some of the strongest value-add opportunities within the property market, investors must ensure they budget appropriately from the outset, with contingency planning often proving the difference between a successful project and one that stalls before completion. Octane Capital analysed average…
Read More 
Renting for Life: Six in Ten Tenants are Staying Longer Than They Ever Planned
Six in ten tenants across England and Wales are renting for longer than they ever planned to, according to new research from LRG. The Spring 2026 Lettings Report, which draws on responses from 650 landlords and tenants, found that 40% say they have been in the rental market for much longer than they expected, with…
Read More 
Keep Your Move on Track: Reducing the Risk of a Fall Through
Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial commitments most people will ever make. Unfortunately, not every agreed sale reaches completion. When a transaction collapses before contracts are exchanged, it is known as a “fall through”. Fall-throughs can be costly, causing delays, financial losses, and significant stress for everyone involved. Buyers may…
Read More 
London rents up just 0.7% since RRA became law
The latest research from London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has revealed that rental growth across London has remained consistent since the Renters’ Rights Act received Royal Assent, with rents increasing by just 0.7% since, the same rate of growth seen during the equivalent period prior to October of last year. In fact,…
Read More 
Will RRA mean almost 50% of renters need a guarantor?
A surge in tenants who require a rent guarantor is coming to the post-RRA rental market New analysis by Zero Deposit reveals that the proportion of local authority districts in which the average tenant is likely to need a rent guarantor to secure pass tenancy affordability checks could increase from one-in-five to almost one-in-two…
Read More