Renters must not be forgotten when it comes to access to good housing - Rob Gill
Despite the significant political upheaval we’ve seen in the past few weeks, one element of former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous ‘Mini Budget’ appears to have survived: stamp duty cuts.
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Hide AdMr Kwarteng announced back in September that the tax, which is levied on personal property or land purchases, will now have a higher threshold before it has to be paid – beginning at £250,000 rather than £125,000.
It’s perhaps not entirely surprising that the government would seek to salvage a part of its original ‘Mini Budget’ that is related to promoting homeownership, a core tenant of modern conservatism.
That these cuts have so far remained indicates the government still sees them as a lever through which it can supercharge housing demand and help generate economic growth.
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Hide AdIt’s well recognised that Yorkshire and the wider country faces a housing crisis.
But to truly tackle the issue of sub-standard housing stock in Yorkshire and across the UK, policies to stimulate the private sale market will not be enough.
According to the latest annual English Housing Survey, Yorkshire and the Humber saw the number of households in the private rented sector increase by five percentage points between 2010 and 2020.
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Hide AdThe report also showed the highest growth experienced by any UK region during that period.
The same report also found that at 37 per cent, the region has the highest proportion of non-decent dwellings in England.
Clearly, Yorkshire faces a significant housing challenge.
It is crucial that the government tackle nationwide issues around affordability, while providing much better housing stock for the growing share of people who rent their homes.
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Hide AdIt is only by addressing both these challenges that the region can begin to deliver the homes it needs.
At Casa by Moda, we are squarely focused on meeting these needs through our single family rental offering.
As part of inclusive rental communities in the suburbs across Yorkshire, we are committed to building high-quality, sustainable and energy efficient homes that use technology such as air source heat pumps to completely remove the need to rely on gas and the associated increased costs.
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Hide AdWith 2,000 new homes already in our Yorkshire pipeline, we provide our residents with certainty, long-term security and comfort.
With industry-leading technology, we will give residents access to their energy usage in real time via our MyCasa app, so they can understand their carbon emissions and make decisions which help them run a more energy efficient home.
We believe that to deliver high quality homes and create thriving communities people want to be part of, we need to do things differently.
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Hide AdWith our tech enabled, deposit free neighbourhoods – two of which will be on-site in West Yorkshire in the coming months – that’s exactly what we’re doing.
It’s time to shut sub-par homes out in the cold and pave the way to create a better rental experience for everybody.
Rob Gill is Head of Acquisitions at family homes platform Casa by Moda.