{"id":372,"date":"2026-03-26T19:30:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikesmithproperty.co.uk\/beta\/?p=372"},"modified":"2026-04-04T18:11:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T18:11:42","slug":"nigel-farrage-landlords-best-friend-or-ally-of-tenants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikesmithproperty.co.uk\/beta\/nigel-farrage-landlords-best-friend-or-ally-of-tenants\/","title":{"rendered":"Should tenants all vote for Reform UK?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nigel Farrage: Landlord’s best friend or secret ally of tenants?<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mike Smith 10th Oct 2025, Medellin, Colombia<\/em><\/h6>\n

After years of suffocating regulation and tax raids, Britain\u2019s landlords have been treated like public enemy number one. Successive Conservative and Labour governments have bled the sector dry for tax, while blaming it for a housing crisis they created. Then along comes Nigel Farage, the pint-swilling disruptor promising to blow the whole thing wide open.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Reform UK has pledged to tear up the rules that hit landlords hardest. They would reverse Section 24, restoring full mortgage interest relief, abolish stamp duty on most property purchases below \u00a3750,000, and scrap the fantasy-land EPC C energy targets that have forced landlords to spend thousands on box-ticking upgrades. Anyone who\u2019s fought with an EPC climate rules assessor knows the points system is hot air (excuse the pun!) Farage has also called the Renters (Reform) Bill \u201ca huge mistake,\u201d warning it will drive small landlords to sell and shrink rental supply even further.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a return to unapologetic free-market thinking, reward risk, cut bureaucracy, and let competition drive value. Many landlords see it as a refreshing break from the endless erosion of increasing tax and regulation. Finally a bit of hope is back in the sector after years of use being demonised by politicians playing to the crowd.<\/p>\n

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But Farage\u2019s plan comes with a sting in the tail. His signature issue immigration could change the rental market overnight. Reform\u2019s proposal to freeze \u201cnon-essential\u201d immigration and tighten \u201cindefinite leave to remain\u201d would hit the very tenants who keep urban markets afloat. In my own portfolio, a good share of renters are foreign nationals with long-term visas or on Indefinite leave to remain. I didn\u2019t back Farage in the 2016 referendum for that reason, my European tenants were good for business and good for Britain.<\/p>\n

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Yet there\u2019s no denying the link between immigration and rents. Capital Economics estimates that net migration created roughly 430,000 extra renting households between 2021 and 2023<\/strong>, <\/b>pushing rents about 11% higher<\/strong> <\/b>than they would have been. Cut that flow sharply and demand will dip fast. We saw what that looks like in 2020. During lockdown I was doing viewings in rubber gloves, offering a free month\u2019s rent just to fill rooms. Then, as immigration surged post-Covid, a room in Nottingham jumped from \u00a3395pcm to \u00a3495pcm<\/strong> within months. When you see the reality of who new tenancies are being issued to the link between immigration and soaring rents cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n

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If Farage truly cuts immigration, rents will fall. It\u2019s as simple as supply and demand. For tenants, that means more choice and more bargaining power, a rare win in a market where there is a scarcity of new landlords. For landlords, it will test efficiency. The lazy operators who\u2019ve coasted on endless demand will go under; the good ones will thrive through quality, pricing and service.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s what real capitalism looks like, not the government-built circus of endless \u201ctenant protection\u201d laws that do the exact opposite. Every new rule and tax end up backfiring, pushing landlords out, costs rise and then rents go up. Which then causes the tenant to blame the \u2018greedy landlords\u2019 for what essentially is government greed for tax. Farage\u2019s deregulation and tax cuts could finally break that doom loop. Most tenants, if asked, would rather have \u00a3100 off their rent<\/strong> than another \u201cgreen initiative\u201d demanding they rip out a boiler that still works. Faux moral virtues don\u2019t pay the bills after all\u2026<\/p>\n

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For once, Farage might be right: fewer taxes, fewer gimmicks, more competition. That\u2019s how prices in a market fall. The irony is delicious, the man branded as the landlords\u2019 champion might be the one who finally gives tenants cheaper rents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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