For politics nerds, autumn means one thing: conference season. With housing top of the agenda for the Conservatives and Labour, this year provided much for conveyancers to chew on.
However, for anyone with a healthier interest in politics wading through fringe speeches and policy seminars is a daunting – if not downright sleep-inducing – task. To spare you the trouble, we’ve pulled together some of the key takeaways for conveyancers from both conferences.
First up, is the government.
1. Labour Still Wants to Build a Lot of Houses
We’ve mentioned Labour’s manifesto commitment to build 1.5 million homes in its first parliament before. And, judging by the rhetoric coming out of its conference in Liverpool, that hasn’t changed.
However, the party has been characteristically vague on how it’ll achieve the lofty goal of ‘saving the dream of home ownership’. Building on the ‘grey belt’ has been mentioned regularly. This idea – building on the ‘poor quality and ugly areas’ of the green belt – is a good one in principle. Nevertheless, there are some doubts that it could deliver the number of homes Labour promises.
This research from the BBC cites Knight Frank’s analysis which reveals that just 100,000- 200,000 new family homes could be built on grey belt sites. Of course, Brownfield sites could pick up some of the slack, but it still appears Labour needs to get very creative to meet its headline figure of 1.5 million new homes.
2. Social Housing Is Top of the List
Unsurprisingly, given its social democratic history, Labour is focusing on social housing. Indeed, Secretary of State Angela Rayner was crystalline on the subject: social housing is the key to solving the housing crisis.
There’s no doubt social housing in this country is an underfunded, underutilised mess. And, we’re a long way from its peak in 1981 when some 5.49 million homes were socially owned. So for sheer ambition alone, Labour should be applauded. However, once again, there is a caveat.
If we’re being generous, Labour has proved fiscally conservative in its first few months of government. This approach has been applauded by some sections of the media, but it does run into problems when you consider the scale of investment it would take to revamp our social housing. One estimate suggests that replacing just 1% of privately rented property with social housing would cost £16 billion. So, you can imagine the scale of investment needed to enact meaningful change.
Ambitious, yes. Needed? Absolutely. Possible within Labour’s current spending plans and the current economic climate? The jury’s out.
3. The End of Shared Ownership?
Shared ownership was originally envisioned to help more first-time buyers get on the property ladder. Unfortunately, it’s come in for a lot of criticism since its inception, not least from homeowners themselves who’ve often been subject to rent hikes, unexpected maintenance costs and crippling service charges.
With that in mind, it was unsurprising to see it at the forefront of discussions at the conference. However, while many were expecting reform proposals, it was surprising to hear the former chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee say government grants could be switched from shared ownership to social rent.
This position was reflected across the conference, with widespread scepticism about shared ownership’s future. It’s certainly true that very little ‘staircasing’ (where tenants gradually buy the whole property) has happened since the unveiling of the scheme – largely due to all the other costs associated with shared ownership. And it’s hard to argue this represents anything other than a real failure of the ultimate aims of shared ownership.
It’ll be interesting to see where Labour takes this idea. How will it help those already trapped in shared ownership schemes? What replaces it? Hopefully, things will become clearer as Labour’s administration matures.
4. Labour Doubles Down on Planning Reform
One of the most lauded and controversial commitments Labour made during the election campaign was to reform planning. While there was little new beyond election pledges at the conference, Labour did double down on its commitment to hire hundreds more council planners and cut bureaucratic red tape.
Admittedly, light on content but reassuring at least for those in the property sector who’d like to see homebuilding pick up the pace.
What about the Conservatives?
We’ve tackled what happened at the Labour conference. What about the Tories 100 miles down the M6 in Birmingham?
Well, during a conference dominated but jostling for the next leader of the party, the Conservatives also talked a lot about housing.
- Social Housing is High on the Tories’ Agenda Too
It might sound shocking given the Tories’ traditional antipathy to social housing, but there was a consensus that more is needed. Former Housing Secretary Michael Gove was strident in a speech on the issue of housing affordability and its effects on wealth inequality, calling for an increase in the supply of social property, surprising everyone.
However, before we get too carried away, it’s worth noting that Gove also stressed the importance of a ‘’thriving private rented sector’ to the economy. The most sensible conclusion on this is that while the Tories might support a limited upgrade of our social housing stock, it’s the private rental market where the party is placing most of its eggs.
- Renters’ Reform Is No Longer a Flagship Policy
It feels like we’ve been talking about the Renters Reform Bill forever. Revision after revision later, it’s still passing through parliament and is slated to appear at some point this autumn.
It seems the Conservatives are sick of talking about it too and the bill, once the party’s flagship housing policy, is no longer at the centre of its plans. What’s taking its place, you ask? Building faster and in greater numbers.
Much like Labour, both in the level of detail and content, the Conservative focus is on building more homes. We don’t have much on how they propose to do this, but there was a broad agreement that future housing policy will focus on long-term, sustainable growth and ensuring that new developments are supported with new infrastructure.
- Quality Over Quantity
The final point of note is about housing quality. During the snappily titled panel ‘’Build or Block? The Future of Conservative Housing Policy’ the former Housing Minister Racheal Maclean outlined the need for better quality homes.
A common theme throughout the conference was the acknowledgement that much of Britain’s housing stock is either dated to the point of falling down or shoddily built. Again, there was little in the way of detail on how a future Conservative government would regulate quality. Nevertheless, it’s hopeful to see this on both major parties’ agendas.
What Can We Conclude?
Admittedly, neither conference was particularly heavy on details of housing plans. It’s probably best to view both the Tories and Labour’s proposals as broad brushstrokes and our conclusions are going to be similar. Nevertheless, it is possible to form a couple of takeaways.
First of all, while they might disagree on how to fix it, it’s clear that both parties have belatedly woken up to the huge housing problem the UK faces. For those of us in the industry, it’s been clear for a long time that UK housing is scarce, expensive and, in many cases, low quality. So it’s heartening to see both parties realise the scale of the problem.
However, we have to talk about the scale of the problem. Despite both parties’ attempts to put forward bold proposals, it’s obvious that this isn’t going to be a quick fix. To solve the housing crisis, we’re going to need a level of investment not seen since the post-war years. Is either party up to the task?
