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INDUSTRY NEWS

Wales: NRLA provide evidence to Local Government and Housing Committee Inquiries

Josh Lovell 12 December 2022

Our NRLA Wales team have given evidence to several important inquiries this month. 

Inquiry into homelessness

Wales Operations Manager Steve Bletsoe provided evidence on behalf of the NRLA to the Local Government and Housing Committee’s homelessness inquiry on 24 November.

Mr Bletsoe discussed an array of issues which are aggravating the issue of homelessness;

  • Landlords leaving the market.
  • Further assurances on the leasing scheme to encourage take up by landlords.
  • Supply and Demand.
  • Rental demand.

Mr Bletsoe said, “Our stance at the NRLA is that it's a supply-and-demand issue. We commissioned a research document by Capital Economics, which showed that Wales needs to create 9,000 new private rented properties per year to meet the demand...Our quarter three stats showed that the results of the confidence of landlords in Wales is the worst that the UK has ever had.

The full session can be watched here - http://www.senedd.tv/Meeting/Clip/bff32710-0e28-4236-90b7-7b32828f0a00?inPoint=00:00:00&outPoint=03:47:03 .

Inquiry into council tax

Policy Manager James Wood also gave evidence to the committee’s inquiry into council tax on 1 December.

Mr Wood raised the following concerns;

  • Disaggregation of properties and the need to formalise when the Valuation Office Agency can disaggregate properties.
  • Reiterated the NRLA’s calls for a Welsh Housing Survey to help inform better policy making decisions around council tax.
  • Supply and demand.
  • Increased measures taken to increase support for people on low incomes.

On the issue of disaggregation of properties, Mr Wood said, “there needs to be something really clear that you can't split the property into separate council tax bills for just the room because at that point, you're talking about making each contract holder pay £1,000 to £1,500 a year additionally, compared to what they would normally be paying, and it's obviously an unfair tax burden on those contract holders, and there needs to be some measure that addresses this and removes this unfair practice.”

The full session can be watched here - http://www.senedd.tv/Meeting/Clip/aea44fbe-494f-402f-9dbc-0ce1938329d4?inPoint=02:21:20&outPoint=03:23:50

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