British Property Federation responds to the Liberal Democrats’ General Election Manifesto

Melanie Leech, Chief Executive at the British Property Federation, said: “It is good to see the Liberal Democrats support an ambitious housing target. In taking that target to another level, however, it is important that they harness the ability of emerging sectors such as Build-to-Rent and older people’s housing to bring forward new housing supply, and to enable faster build out rates, especially in development such as new towns, which the party explicitly commits to.

While proposals like more financial support for social housing and brownfield development align with the BPF’s own manifesto, ‘Building our Future’, we have concerns that politicians of all hues think that the abolition of leasehold, and of no fault evictions, will work simply at the stroke of a pen, when both require investment in workable alternatives.

Giving local councils certainty through long term funding settlements would be welcome in terms of being able to plan for regeneration investment, and particularly so if that long term certainty were extended to social housing rent settlements which would in turn unlock pension fund investment into new social homes, as we call for in our manifesto”

The BPF’s 2024 Election Manifesto, Building our Future, is available here, and calls for a new partnership between the property industry and the next Government to tackle four key policy areas:

Building for Growth and Productivity

Building More Homes

Building Stronger Town Centres

Building the Green Economy

If you would like to speak to the BPF’s policy experts on real estate policy issues, please do not hesitate to get in touch: bpf@fticonsulting.com

About the British Property Federation

The British Property Federation is the membership organisation for, and the voice of, the UK real estate industry. We represent and promote the interests of all those with a stake in real estate in the UK – owners, developers, funders (equity and debt), agents and advisers. We work with government and regulatory bodies to help the real estate industry grow and thrive, to the benefit of our members and the economy as a whole. Because our membership is industry wide, we can provide government and regulators with the knowledge they need to make decisions.