The major five parties have all now published their manifestos ahead of the General Election on 4 July 2024. In this insight we summarise the key pledges made in relation to property as well as the response of the property market including those of the British Property Federation (BPF) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

In general, the property market is welcoming of pledges to reform the planning system, a development of brownfield land, energy efficiencies, ending the assured shorthold tenancy agreements and most of all a substantial commitment from all parties to build new homes. The biggest challenge will be finding the appropriate mechanism to increase affordable housing and its balance in the market.

If VAT is changed then this could have a significant impact on the property market as could some of the ideas around devolution.

The RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) comments that renters will welcome plans to remove s21 no fault evictions, but made the point that this must be supported by reforms to the court process and stronger guidance for landlords who should be able to evict anti-social tenants and those in long term arrears.

With regard to environmental and energy, the RICS welcomes the various pledges, but again comments this needs to be supported by adequate funding. With regard to reforming the National Policy Planning Framework, the RICS were hoping to see the setting of mandatory targets. There needs to be additional funding to combined authorities and metropolitan mayors to grow their housing and at present working with multiple planning systems, which are often unaligned in policies, means that the system cannot operate efficiently and quickly to achieve its objectives.

While our experts have summarised the main manifesto points from all of the major UK political parties for our social housing clients here and local government clients here, unfortunately neither BPF or BRC have issued a detailed analysis on policy pledges released by The Green Party or Reform UK. 

The Conservative Party

The Conservative Party has pledged the following in relation to property:

• simplify the planning system to make it easier to build faster
• provide 105 towns with £20million fund for local people to revive the high street or bring new housing to town centres
• change planning laws to support places to bring back local market days and regenerate defunct shopping centres
• abolish SDLT for houses up to £424,000 for first time buyers
• unlock new urban regeneration schemes – new quarters in Leeds, Liverpool and York
• require councils to set aside land for local and smaller builders and lifting section 106 burdens on smaller sites
• make sure local authorities use the new Infrastructure Levy to deliver GP surgeries, roads and other local infrastructure to support homes
• protect Right to Buy
• complete the process of leasehold reform. Cap ground rent at £250 and reducing them to peppercorn over time. End the misuse of forfeiture
• abolish s21 of the Housing Act 1988
• build or modernise 250 GP surgeries and 50 more Community Diagnostic Centres
• continue to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030  
• re-build 500 schools through the School Re-building Programme.

Responses to the manifesto

Melanie Leech, the Chief Executive of the BPF praised the Conservative Party’s commitment to 1.6m new homes over the new parliament.

The BPF recognises how abolishing Stamp Duty for houses up to £425,000 and the introduction of a New Help to Buy Scheme will help some afford houses, but note that a clear plan needs to be set out by the Conservative Party on how supply will be increased in practice across all tenures and within the entirety of the country.

The BPF also supports the abolishment of s21 but emphasise the importance that this is done ‘thoughtfully’.

On leasehold reforms, Melanie Leech is concerned that the ‘broad political statements [on lease reform] do not match the practicalities of delivery’. She argues that ‘you can only move away from leasehold if there is a working alternative’. She fears that capping the ground rents in such a manner will be fraught with consequences on both leaseholders and freeholders.

Responses from Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the BRC, on the conservative manifesto include:

“After 14 years in Government, the Conservative party are aware of the major issues facing the retail industry. Unfortunately, this manifesto fails to take the bull by the horns, leaving many ongoing challenges, from business rates to apprenticeships, without clear solutions. On a brighter note, the Conservatives commitment to tackling retail crime remains firm in the manifesto, with a pledge to toughen sentences for those who assault retail workers.”

Other parts of the Property market have thought that the help to buy scheme will gain traction with house builders who would part fund it. The capital gains tax break is time limited to two years so its effectiveness will depend on the financial circumstances of the occupier.  

The Labour Party

The Labour Party has pledged the following in relation to property:

• planning reform to build 1.5 million new homes
• restore mandatory housing targets
• support local authorities by funding additional planning officers
• give combined authorities new planning powers along with new freedoms and flexibilities to make better use of grant funding
• immediately abolish s21 of Housing Act 1988, no fault evictions
• bring the leasehold system to an end. Banning new leasehold flats and ensure commonhold is the default tenure
• committed to delivering the New Hospitals Programme.

Responses to the manifesto

Melanie Leech, the Chief Executive of the BPF, has spoken favourably of Labour’s commitment to ‘an industrial strategy and to working closely with businesses to deliver its ambitions’. Melanie Leech has recognised the ‘property industry has the desire, skills and capital to invest in the UK’s built environment’ and realises that Labour is right to focus on improving the planning system in order to meet this growth.

The BPF has said that by ‘introducing effective strategic planning means that decisions are made at the appropriate national or regional level, rather than just locally, which will allow the BPF to deliver more homes against a clear target’.

Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the BRC, responded to the Labour manifesto:

“The Labour manifesto includes many of the right policies to help retail invest for the future, upskill its workforce, and play its part in growing the UK economy. From replacing the broken business rates system, to reforming the rigid Apprenticeship Levy, Labour are promising to make changes that will have a meaningful impact to retailers and their customers.”

CRBE have noted that “Labour has set out a range of policies that are pertinent to and broadly supportive of the real estate market. We welcome the commitment made to boost housing delivery – Get Britain Building Again – reform planning and exploring the potential for “new towns”. The latter is not without challenges, particularly; identifying and consolidating the optimum sites, large upfront infrastructure cost, incentivising and resourcing the housebuilding sector to deliver new homes (including affordable housing), and supply chain and skills challenges. Substantial government intervention and investment would be needed to achieve this ambition. However, the manifesto presents significant opportunities for clients operating in the large-scale development and living sectors across England”.

The Liberal Democrat Party

The Liberal Democrat has pledged the following in relation to property:

• abolish business rates and replacing them with a Commercial Landowner Levy to help high streets
• require LL to have an EPC of C or above by 2028
• increase the building of social homes by 150,000 a year
• ban no-fault evictions and making three year tenancies the default
• give local authorities the right to end Right to Buy in their areas
• abolish residential leaseholds and capping ground rents to a nominal fee
• allow councils to buy land for housing based on current use value rather than on a hope-value basis by reforming the Land Compensation Act 1961
• fund local planning departments to improve planning outcomes and ensure housing is not built in areas of high flood risk without adequate mitigation, by allowing local authorities to set their own fees
• encourage development of existing brownfield sites with financial incentives and ensuring that affordable and social housing is included in these projects
• introduce ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ planning permission for developers who refuse to build
• put the construction sector on a sustainable footing by investing in skills, training and new technologies such as modern methods of construction
• remove dangerous cladding from all buildings, while ensuring that leaseholders do not have to pay a penny towards it
• help people who cannot afford a deposit to own their own homes by introducing a new Rent to Own model for social housing where rent payments give tenants an increasing stake in the property, owning it outright after 30 years.

Responses to the manifesto

Melanie Leech from the BPF has shown support for the Liberal Democrats’ ambitious housing targets, but recognises that they ‘harness the ability of emerging sectors such as the Build to Rent and older people’s housing to bring forward new housing supply’.

BPT is, however, concerned by the Party’s plans to abolish leasehold and no fault evictions and wonders how this ‘will work simply at the stroke of a pen, when both require investment in workable alternatives’.

The plans of Liberal Democrats to award local authorities with long term funding is welcomed to allow them to plan for regeneration projects and particularly so if this is extended to social housing rent settlements ‘which would in turn unlock pension fund investment into new social homes’.

Responses from Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the BRC to the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto include:

“We welcome the ambition of the Liberal Democrats to address some of the major issues in our economy, including the broken business rates system and inflexible Apprenticeship Levy.”

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