General Election 2024: Living under the Labour Party

6th July 2024

What can homeowners and renters expect from the new Labour government?

The results are in! Following the UK’s general election on July 4th 2024, Sir Keir Starmer has taken office as the UK’s new prime minister after Labour’s landslide win.

Going from opposition to power, Labour won 412 seats, bringing an end to 14 years of the Conservative Party running the country, losing 250 seats during the election.

What do you need to know about the Labour Party?

The Labour Party is the main centre-left political party in the UK and has historical connections to the trade union movement.

Sir Keir Starmer, a former barrister and ex-director of public prosecutions, was elected as the party leader back in 2020. Speaking at the Labour Party manifesto launch in Manchester, Starmer commented that his key mission is “changing our party to put it back in the service of working people. And now – the next step, the most important step, changing Britain. Rebuilding our country. So that it too serves the interests of working people.”

The new government says: “The Labour Party was formed to give ordinary people a voice and improve lives. Over the last 100 years, Labour has built a proud history of achievements in power, and now Keir Starmer has set out five missions for the next Labour government.”

Speaking at last year’s Labour Party Conference, the new Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, pledged to deliver, “the biggest boost in affordable and social housing for a generation”.

What will the new Labour government mean for the housing market?

In their 2024 manifesto, the Labour Party has promised to:

Build new homes

  • Revising the planning system and reintroducing local targets to facilitate the construction of 1.5 million new homes within five years – delivering the equivalent of 300,000 per year.
  • Giving priority to the construction of social rented homes.
  • Expediting the approval process for brownfield sites, and allocating certain areas of “low quality” green belt for housing purposes.

Help first time buyers

  • Offering first time buyers the opportunity to purchase homes in new developments before international investors.
  • Introducing a mortgage guarantee scheme with smaller deposits and lower mortgage costs to make it easier for first time buyers to get on the property ladder.

Stamp Duty

  • The current Stamp Duty relief for first time buyers covers homes priced up to £425,000 but is set to expire in March 2025. Previously, first time buyers were only exempt from paying Stamp Duty on homes priced up to £300,000. Labour intends to maintain the existing Stamp Duty exemption for first time buyers but has not guaranteed an extension beyond the current expiry date.

Support renters

  • Putting an immediate ban on section 21 no-fault evictions, giving renters the power to challenge “unreasonable” rent increases and extending ‘Awaab’s Law’ to the private sector, requiring landlords to sort dangerous hazards within strict time limits.

Update regulations

  • Simplifying the process and reducing the costs for leaseholders to extend leases, prohibiting the creation of new leasehold flats (ensuring commonhold is the default tenure), and addressing unregulated ground rent charges.
  • Taking action to improve building safety and protecting leaseholders by promising a “renewed focus on ensuring those responsible for the building safety crisis pay to put it right”.

Want to learn more about the Labour Party?

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Labour Party, take a look at the useful links below: