Britain’s new breed of landlords should prepare for a political backlash

Resentment at landlords is growing by the day, says Matthew Lynn. Would-be investors in buy-to-let could well get their fingers burnt.

There may never have been a better time to be a landlord in Britain. Interest rates on mortgage debt are at all-time lows. The government is making plenty of cheap money available. Rents are rising, yet there is no shortage of tenants. It's all good news for buy-to-let landlords.

But there is trouble ahead. The biggest worry for most investors is probably the threat of house prices falling, or interest rates going up, both of which would batter their returns. But in fact, there's a far bigger threat that should be bothering them. A political backlash is brewing against Britain's new breed of landlords. They are going to get the blame for everything from rising prices to unaffordable rents and fair or not, that is the real threat to their portfolios.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.