Motion #10

Abolish Landlords

Synopsis

The Private Rental Sector has failed, it is a vehicle for wealth extraction, funnelling money from Renters to the Landlord Class. This motion makes it clear Green Party policy is to seek the effective abolition of Private Landlordism and our support for building Council Housing.

Motion

Insert into Record of Policy Statements;

The Green Party believes that secure, affordable Housing is a Human Right, and that a core goal for a Green Government and Green MPs is to create a fairer housing market.

The Green Party believes the existence of Private Landlords adds no positive value to the economy or society, that the relationship between Landlord and Tenant is inherently and intrinsically extractive and exploitative. That the Private Rented Sector exists to transfer wealth from the working classes to Landlords.

The Green Party believes that the Private Sector has fundamentally failed, and is continuing to fail to provide secure and affordable housing fit for working people.

The Green Party believes that the Housing Crisis is a crisis created by the mass expansion of Private Landlordism, started in the 1980s.

The Green Party believes that the decommodification of Housing, and that the effective abolition of Private Landlordism and the Private Rented sector, coupled with the mass expansion of Council Housing is the only way to end the Housing Crisis.

The Green Party would use its existing policies like a Land Value Tax, Rent Controls, Ending Right-to-Buy and Buy-to-Let and giving Councils the powers to borrow, to fund a new Golden Age of quality and affordable Council Housing.

Here follows the Green Party’s Six Step Plan to Abolish Landlords;

1. Introduce Rent Controls and Abolish Right to Buy. (HO401, HO503)
2. Abolish Section 21 Evictions and make all rental agreements secure long-term tenancies that can only be terminated by the tenant. (HO519)
3. Tax the Landlords - move towards a Land Value Tax levied on Owners, not Tenants. No Exceptions. Business Rates on AirBnBs/Short Lets. No Exceptions. Double taxation for empty properties. Put National Insurance on Private Rents. (HO401, EC780-2)
4. Remove finance for Landlords - end Buy to Let mortgages. (HO521)
5. Provide government backed finance to tenants. Give tenants First Right to Buy when Landlords sell, with their total rent paid discounted.
6. Provide finance to Councils. Councils should be given Second Right to Buy when Landlords sell, or property that hasn’t been insulated to EPC rating C or fails to meet the decent homes standard, or any property that is left empty for more than six months, with the total current tenancy discounted, tenants moved to a truly affordable Council tenancy. Government must change prudential borrowing requirements to allow Councils to buy back and build new housing on a massive scale. (2024 Manifesto Pg9).

Insert into PfSS;

HO204 To minimise the number of private landlords in the Housing Market and regain public ownership of the housing lost to the Right to Buy scheme.