Labour Housing Policy is 'blatant last minute electioneering'

[WiseOwl]

UKIP Housing Spokesman, Andrew Charalambous, has slammed Labour's housing announcement today saying that it will create huge instability in the housing market

"This is uncosted blatant last minute electioneering.
Any help for first time buyers is of course welcome, but there is a significant risk that all this measure will do is lead to further house price inflation as it changes neither the number of would-be buyers nor the number of properties available for sale.
That nobody is actually dealing with the demand element of housing shows that the political class want to simply coax voters with flawed short term sweeteners rather than address the overall problem of a housing crisis in the UK."

He added: "Combining these superficially attractive ideas with a three year rent cap will create huge instability in the housing market. Falsifying a market rent will in itself stifle housebuilding and create spikes in rents as private landlords need to price in the normal increases of costs for servicing rental properties.
This will put small landlords at significant extra risk and will make matters worse. Driving away investment from the housing market at a time when we need it most to prevent a housing and homelessness crisis of epic proportions.
The result will be to limit competition in the rental market, choice for tenants and lead to lower standards of housing. Housing should be about choice not chance.

"The answer to spiralling rents and the affordable housing deficit is to produce more affordable housing, and all the establishment parties have failed to achieve this.
We have seen our social housing levels depleted by 120,000 just in the past 3 years.
UKIP policy to develop a brownfield revolution whilst reducing demand by controlling immigration.
This is the most head on approach to managing housing for everybody.
A property has to be built every seven minutes in order to satisfy the demands of rising inward migration alone.
The bottom line is building 200,000 houses a year when there are 250-300,00 people arriving a year just will not work and is a recipe for the destruction of the Green belt.
Moreover, UKIP will remove energy performance certificates and other unnecessary 'red tape' regulations from the letting process, reducing the costs of letting to both landlords and tenants".