As mortgage rates remain high and rent continues to rise, housing policy is a major issue for the 2024 General Election.
The Conservatives have pledged to help more first-time buyers onto the ladder, while Labour wants to build more homes including council housing, and the Liberal Democrats are looking to alleviate homelessness.
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One in ten voters told a recent YouGov poll that housing will be the main issue that will inform their choice, while many more say it ranks highly along other concerns such as the cost of living.
Here’s how the main parties at the election are approaching housing, and what each of the manifestos have pledged.
Conservative Party‘s manifesto policies on housing
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Help to Buy
One of the Tories’ key pledges is to bring back a ‘new and improved’ version of the Help to Buy scheme, which was in place from 2013 to 2023.
Designed to help buyers struggling to get on the property ladder, the scheme provided government contributions toward equity loans. During the scheme’s existence, 387,195 properties were bought with an equity loan – 328,346 of which were purchased by first-time buyers.
The Conservative manifesto says the new Help to Buy will allow buyers to take out an equity loan of up to 20% (40% in London) of the price of a new-build property.
The new iteration of the scheme will also allow people to buy a home with a 5% deposit, and enjoy up to five years interest-free.
Additional housing
Elsewhere, the Tories have pledged to ‘build more houses in the right places,’ committing in their manifesto to delivering 1.6 million homes in England by:
- Abolishing the legacy EU ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules and, in doing so, build 100,000 new homes through local consent laws
- Delivering what the party labels a ‘record number’ of homes by building on brownfield areas in urban regions and regenerating sites like Euston, Old Oak Common and Thamesmead
- Committing to new urban regeneration schemes, supporting the delivery of houses in cities like Leeds, Liverpool and York
- Renewing the Affordable Homes Programme, both to deliver new homes and improve existing housing estates
Abolishing stamp duty
The Tory manifesto has also committed to abolishing stamp duty – which is the land tax paid when buying houses, flats and other land and buildings over a certain price – on properties up to the value of £425,000.
The party has also pledged to cap ground rent at £250 for leaseholders, reducing it to peppercorn rates over time.
Renters Reform Bill
Elsewhere, the Conservative Party has also tried to appeal to renters as well as owners, committing to passing a Renters Reform Bill that would abolish the likes of Section 21 eviction notices (a notice that can be served by landlords should they want tenants to move out at an earlier date than specified in the contract).
Labour Party‘s manifesto policies on housing
Building new homes
Announcing the Labour Party manifesto on June 13, Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said the party would help ‘people saving every penny for a home that’s out of reach’.
Labour has committed to building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament.
To help achieve that, Keir Starmer has vowed to ‘bulldoze’ restrictive planning rules and weaken councils’ powers to block building projects.
However he says he will also give councils more powers to force developers to include a proportion of affordable and social housing in projects.
He also said he will reverse Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap government house-building targets.
Labour has also promised to prioritise brownfield land for house-building, as well as poorer quality green belt land which it calls the ‘grey belt’.
Local authorities will be empowered to plan for housing growth, too. Labour plans on protecting the green belt while building new homes – an urban planning tool designed to protect areas of the countryside from urban sprawl.
Creating more affordable homes
Likewise, Labour has committed to adding to the stock of social homes by building new ones, as well as making changes to the Affordable Homes Programme to ensure that the government can deliver more homes using existing funding.
Speaking to property developers in Leeds on the campaign trail last month, Angela Rayner said Labour would bring back local housing targets and that 40% of homes built must be affordable.
A new task force would make a set of recommendations for locations within six months and have a list of projects within a year if Labour won the General Election, she added. The party claims 1.5 million homes would be built over the course of parliament.
Mortgage guarantee scheme
Ensuring that first-time buyers are able to get on the housing ladder has also proved to be a priority for Labour, with the manifesto further promising ‘a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme to support first-time buyers who struggle to save for a large deposit, with lower mortgage costs.’
Section 21 and renter rights
Similarly to the Tories, Labour’s manifesto pledges the ‘immediate’ scrapping of Section 21 no-fault evictions. Renters will also be given new powers to challenge ‘unreasonable’ rent increases.
The party has additionally pledged to extend Awaab’s Law to renters in the private sector, meaning landlords would be obliged to fix health hazards.
Liberal Democrats‘ manifesto policies on housing
Planning
According to the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto, it won’t just be committing to building new houses: it has also assured it will build 10 new garden cities to accompany the likes of Letchworth and Welwyn.
The party has also pledged to permit local councils to buy land based on its current value rather than on a hope-value basis, which it will do by reforming the Land Compensation Act.
It’s also committed to managing flood risks, outlining its plans to improve planning and ensure that new housing developments aren’t built on flood plains without ‘adequate mitigation.’
Interestingly, the Lib Dems want to trial Community Land Auctions to make sure that local communities benefit from new developments that pop up in their area. It’ll also be using the funds generated through this scheme to fund local services.
Homelessness
Along with scrapping the ‘archaic’ Vagrancy Act, which makes it a criminal offence to sleep rough or beg, the Lib Dems have pledged to build 150,000 social homes a year.
Energy efficient homes
It’s working on giving back to homeowners too by ensuring homes become warmer and cheaper to heat through a ten-year emergency upgrade programme, as well as making all new homes carbon-zero.
Cladding
In a similar vein, the party has promised to remove all dangerous cladding from buildings – but has outlined that it doesn’t expect leaseholders to pay towards this through the likes of ad-hoc service charges.
Rent to Own
And it’ll be helping those who cannot afford to buy their own homes using a deposit to get on the ladder through a new Rent To Own model for social housing. Rent payments will give tenants an investment in the property – and after 30 years, they’ll own it outright.
Green Party‘s manifesto policies on housing
Greener homes
As expected, the environment is at the heart of the Green Party manifesto – and that ethos has been extended to housing. As such, the party has pledged to provide ‘fairer, greener homes for all,’ introducing its Fairer, Greener Homes Guarantee.
The manifesto argues that part of the reason households across the UK are struggling with sky-high energy prices is that we have some of the ‘worst-insulated’ properties in Europe, stating that it would reduce these bills with a retrofit programme that would see homes properly insulated.
As part of this policy, it would invest £29 billion over the next five years to insulate homes to EPC B standard, as well as £4 billion to insulate other buildings to a similar standard, and £9 billion for low-carbon heating systems in both homes and buildings, such as heat pumps.
Social homes
The party has also committed to building new social homes, stating that it will provide 150,000 each year by building new homes and refurbishing existing stock.
Scrapping Right to Buy
It’s also committed to ending the controversial Right To Buy policy that allows renters to purchase their council houses from the local authority, a policy that was introduced in 1980 by Margaret Thatcher.
Rent control
Notably, the Greens have heavily committed to ‘a fair deal for renters’, stating that its MPs will push for rent controls, an end to no-fault evictions, and private residential tenancy boards, to provide a low-cost way of resolving disputes before they reach a tribunal.
Reform UK‘s manifesto policies on housing
Planning and tax
Nigel Farage might’ve only been a campaigner for Reform UK until earlier this month, but as the new leader he’s stated that July 4 ‘is and must be the immigration election.’
The manifesto makes it clear that the party is using immigration to inform its policy on housing, arguing that ‘mass immigration’ has caused the housing crisis.
Most notably, Reform UK has said that in the first 100 days, it will review the planning system, fast-tracking planning and tax incentives for the development of brownfield sites, of which it will prioritise ‘unused offices’ and ‘vacant high street properties.’
Social housing
When it comes to accessing council housing, Reform UK wants to ‘prioritise local people’ and ‘those who have paid into the system,’ arguing that ‘foreign nationals must go to the back of the queue.’
Abolish the Renters Reform Bill
The party is also committed to abolishing the 2023 Renters Reform Bill, which was a bid by the government to address issues within the private rental housing market.
Instead, Reform UK will do the opposite and support landlords by ‘boost[ing] the monitoring, appeals and enforcement process.’
It’ll also support homeowners by ensuring that all potential charges for leaseholders and freeholders are outlined and consented to, as well as ensuring that it becomes cheaper and easier both to extend leases to 990 years and purchase freeholds.
Use new construction technology
After the first 100 days, the party has committed to using new construction technology, including smart infrastructure, when building new homes.
Elsewhere, it wants to prioritise ‘homegrown’ qualified traders, increasing the availability of apprenticeships and vocational courses.
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