The BPF claimed that large-scale property lets, based on the model used in the US and Germany where residential blocks are managed in a similar way to commercial property, would provide greater certainty to the rental market and wean society away from an obsession with private ownership.
It also claimed that with tighter mortgage lending now hitting the market alongside stretched affordability, even if the government managed to meet its target of building 240,000 homes a year, it would be unlikely that all would be filled by buyers.
Rupert Dickinson, chairman of the BPF’s residential committee and chief executive of Grainger plc, said: “Ministers need to wake up to the reality that no matter how many new homes we build, there will continue to be a huge affordability gap between what people earn and can afford to spend on a house.
"Institutions can provide the long-term tenancies and levels of service that tenants benefit from abroad, and it’s time that we took the professional rented sector seriously as a viable alternative to ownership.”
However, the National Landlords Association (NLA) dismissed the BPF’s view, with a spokesperson insisting that private landlords were already providing high quality rental property.
“The NLA has members who own one property right up to career portfolio landlords and everyone manages their properties in a professional way.
"People don’t want to live in office-type blocks and the private rental sector provides individual properties to people to meet their needs.”
