{
  "id": 17087335,
  "title": "How Labour’s assault on landlords is driving up London rents",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/how-labours-assault-on-landlords-is-driving-up-london-rents",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-29T15:52:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/how-labours-assault-on-landlords-is-driving-up-london-rents/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Labour government's recent tax hike on rental income, coupled with existing legislative changes, is causing significant concern among property industry experts. Chancellor John Healey's two percent increase to tax on rental income, on top of an already scheduled two percent rise, is pushing landlords to consider selling their properties in the UK's rental market. Estate agents and property experts warn that this assault on landlords is already driving up rents and reducing the availability of rental homes, particularly in London, which is already facing a shortage of housing.\n\nThe Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has also warned that these measures will increase rents nationwide by encouraging landlords to pass on additional costs to tenants and dissuading new homeowners from entering the sector. Experts are concerned that the cumulative impact of successive changes to landlords' taxes and regulations is shrinking the rental stock at the same time as the government attempts to eradicate homelessness.\n\nTom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, and Tim Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, both stated that Labour is treating landlords as \"easy targets.\" They believe that these measures are pushing landlords to consider selling their properties, which in turn will shrink the rental stock and increase rents. The stock of housing available for rent is predicted to decline as construction in London becomes increasingly unviable due to the rising burden of red tape and objections in the planning process.",
  "summary": "The government’s crackdown on landlords is set to hammer London’s rental market, push up costs for tenants and shrink the supply of properties, industry figures and estate agents have warned. Property experts and estate agents told City AM that John Healey’s hike to tax on rental income is the latest blow in an assault on [...]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}