Labour Leader Keir Starmer’s recent pledge to put an end to rental property bidding wars has been labelled as impractical and unenforceable by a prominent property lawyer.
David Smith, a partner at the law firm JMW, criticized Starmer’s proposal, arguing that attempts to outlaw competitive bidding rounds for rental properties would be easily circumvented. He pointed to New Zealand’s similar measure introduced three years ago, noting there is no evidence of its effectiveness.
“We need a system to prevent rent from continually escalating,” Smith stated. Starmer, during last week’s BBC Question Time election debate, emphasized his intent to stop landlords from exploiting tenants by encouraging higher rent offers.
“We can legislate against it because it’s inflating rents unfairly,” Starmer asserted. “We have to have a scheme in place to stop rents from being driven up and up.”
Labour had proposed amendments to the Renters (Reform) Bill, which included a requirement for landlords and letting agents to state the rent amount in property advertisements. These amendments were not accepted by the Government, and the bill was subsequently dropped when the General Election was called.
Smith contended that enforcing such legislation would be highly challenging. “Landlords can easily sidestep it by setting an asking price higher than they expect and encouraging tenants to bid up to that amount,” he explained. “Conveying to a tenant the need to bid higher without explicitly asking for it is not difficult.”
Smith concluded, “I do not believe this legislative change would have a significant impact.”