The activist group Generation Rent, long critical of buy to let landlords, is now turning the spotlight on institutional Build To Rent.
In a long piece about London’s private rental landscape on the activist group’s website, Generation Rent deputy chief executive Dan Wilson Craw says
He says: “As long as home ownership is out of reach for a majority of London’s renters, much private sector investment in new homes will come from landlords. It is important that these investors have the right motivations and are committed to providing long term homes to their tenants.”
He goes on to say that while BTR was originally pitched “as a professional alternative to buy to let” he has heard “concerning stories of Build to Rent operators seeking to maximise rents and pulling the rug from under their tenants’ feet.”
He cites a mainstream media article saying that in one BTR scheme – from a developer backed by private equity investment – some tenants were served section 21 eviction notices while others were expected to pay what he calls ”above-inflation rent increases.”
Wilson Craw adds: “We are concerned if this type of investor is behind a lot of BTR development in London.
“Under the current London plan, BTR projects are encouraged to offer longer tenancies and index-linked rents. It is important that the Greater London Authority has a clear sense of how common it is for these projects to make such commitments, how closely developers/operators stick to them, and whether oversight of Build to Rent should be strengthened.”
He also now realises that Build To Rent homes “typically fetch a higher rent” and do not necessarily appear in locations with the highest housing need.
He writes on the website: “Because the homes are newer, they typically fetch a higher rent. This can reduce pressure on the local area, so wealthier tenants move into the new flats rather than the older homes nearby, which is what otherwise happens, and encourages landlords to raise the rent on existing tenants (or evict them while Section 21 still exists). But without providing a contribution to social housing, BTR won’t directly reduce waiting lists or take families out of temporary accommodation.”
The activist leader then repeats a long-standing demand of Generation Rent, that rent control powers should be given to city region mayors – in the case of London, Labour’s Sadiq Khan.
You can read the full piece here: https://www.generationrent.org/2025/08/11/what-it-will-take-to-fix-londons-housing-crisis/
This article is taken from Landlord Today