The unhappy departure of housing minister Rachel Maclean this week brought into focus once again the merry-go-round relating to housing, not least the ongoing plight of renters, who keep being demoted when it comes to a public conversation.
There has been much debate, not least with the renters' reform bill, about providing more security for renters and a path for them, if they wish, to home ownership, but once again there is a new minister supposedly dealing with the issue.
The renting population is on a steady increase with analysis of the English Housing survey suggesting that 36 per cent of the UK population are renters, compared to 35 per cent owning their home outright and 30 per cent owning it with a mortgage.
This is a trend that does not seem to show any indication of slowing down any time soon. With house prices continuing to outstrip wage growth, renting becomes not only attractive for younger workers, but essential under our current system.
With the renting population being so dense it is quite surprising how easily we, as an industry, can forget about them when discussing matters directly related to them, with one such example of this being property demand.
Recent research has shown that for every property that is put up to be rented, 25 prospective renters apply to have it as their residence.
While this could be looked at as an indication of a lack of appropriate supply, it could also be seen as an increase in renters’ demand.
This has been reported as positive news for those involved in buy-to-let as it helps them with what has been a very difficult time for them, but it is rarely discussed from the other perspective, that of the renter.
For example, one just has to take a look at the legal protections for renters in the headlines recently following the King’s Speech and the government’s reaffirmation of the renter’s reform bill.
The announcement is certainly good news for non-homeowners, prohibiting no-fault evictions, but it is far from plain sailing.
Since the policy was initially announced earlier this year, it was delayed in the parliamentary mechanism and has led to uncertainty among landlords and renters alike and, perversely, an increase in no-fault evictions.
It has been estimated that 35,000 households will be thrown out of their accommodation under no-fault evictions rules by the time that the bill comes into force, which could be as late as January 2025.
However, while the bill looks like positive news for those in the renting sector, it might not be as welcome for those who own buy-to-lets: 17 per cent of landlords surveyed told the National Residential Landlords Association they would leave the sector if no-fault evictions were banned.
So what can financial advisers do? Addressing the needs of clients, such as those involved in buy-to-let, is, after all, the job of financial advisers and disregarding their needs to cater to renters is not good practice by any definition.
