Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the stock of private homes available to rent following changes to regulations regarding buy-to-let accommodation.

Since 2010, there have been a range of policy changes affecting private landlords. These include tax changes for buy-to-let landlords, changes to the Stamp Duty Land Tax, tightening lending criteria on buy-to-let mortgages and the growing role of the build-to-rent sector.

The Private Rented Sector remains an important part of the housing market, with 4.4 million households currently in the Private Rented Sector. The proportion of PRS households has remained relatively stable for nearly a decade, as evidenced through the English Housing Survey. According to the English Private Landlord Survey (2021) over half (57%) of landlords had a buy-to-let mortgage, representing 68% of tenancies, indicating that buy-to-let landlords continue to invest.