8 post-election property takeaways

With the votes counted and a host of new faces milling about Downing Street, we can start to unpick what a Labour Government will mean for buyers, sellers, renters and property investors.   

Here are 8 things that have been spoken about – both before and after the election – by key figures from the new cabinet.   

1. Low deposit mortgages are set to stay: the new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, publicly pledged that the last Government’s mortgage guarantee scheme will become a permanent fixture in the mortgage market. Rebranded as ‘Freedom to Buy’, the offering will give buyers with low-value deposits access to mortgages.

2. Stamp duty changes ahead: we may have to wait until this autumn’s Budget for a full review of stamp duty land tax but there has been confirmation that the special arrangement currently in place for first-time buyers will end as planned. Currently there’s zero stamp duty to pay if a first-time buyers’ purchase is worth £425,000 or less but the discount won’t continue after March 2025 and the threshold will decrease to £300,000.

3. Push for more housebuilding: the new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, quickly stepped into the spotlight to promise the nation 1.5 million new homes while Labour was in Parliament. Mandatory house building targets will force local authorities to get building, made easier by a change to the planning process, a review of greenbelt land and the recruitment of more planning officers.

4. Bidding wars between tenants banned: Labour is worried tenants are paying too much rent due to being pitted against each other. It wants to ban the ‘auctioning’ of available rentals where tenants outbid others, forcing the rent up. Muted wage- or inflation-linked rent controls remains a point of discussion.

5. Minimum EPC standard in rentals reintroduced: the outgoing Conservative Government abandoned its policy to require landlords to meet a stricter EPC standard but this requirement is back on the table with Labour. The party wants all private rentals to have an EPC of at least a C by 2030.

6. Ban of Section 21 evictions: it comes as no surprise that Labour is sticking with one of its main manifesto pledges, although the new Housing Secretary didn’t get her wish to abolish Section 21 notices immediately. Instead, Angela Rayner has admitted the court system will need reform before action is taken. We expect to see a timetable for the ban on 17th July during the King’s Speech.

7. Extension of Awaab’s Law: Awaab’s Law is part of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act and was introduced after the death of two-year old Awaab Ishak, who succumbed to a respiratory condition after prolonged exposure to mould in his family home. Labour will extend Awaab’s Law to the private rental sector, which will require private landlords to investigate and fix health hazards, including damp and mould, within strict time limits. 

8. Amendments to the Renters’ Reform Bill: with the Renters’ Reform Bill under the Conservatives lost at the dissolution of Parliament, Labour will look to change the contents before it is re-enacted. Rumoured changes include giving tenants more power to challenge unreasonable rent increase, capping the amount of upfront rent tenants pay to secure a property, making it easier for renters to keep pets, forcing landlords to give tenants longer notice periods, creating a national, mandatory landlords’ register and introducing a new Decent Homes Standard for private buy-to-lets. 

We expect more announcements and some fine tuning in the coming weeks, of which we will detail in our upcoming blogs. In the meantime, feel free to contact us if you have any questions about owning, renting or investing in property under a Labour Government.