British Property Federation chief executive Melanie Leech is calling on the government to use Angela Rayner's departure as an opportunity to rethink its plans to scrap upward-only rent reviews.
Rayner resigned from her role as housing, communities and local government secretary and deputy prime minister at Friday lunchtime after an independent ethics advisor found she broke the ministerial code through her "failure to settle her [stamp duty land tax] liability at the correct level" when buying a house in Brighton. She was replaced by Steve Reed, the former environment secretary.
The resignation has triggered a mini Cabinet reshuffle, with UK investment minister Poppy Gustafsson also leaving her role after less than a year.
Following Rayner's departure, the BPF stressed that a change at the top of government would "do little to reassure" those looking to invest and deliver property in the UK, calling for Whitehall to provide the stability needed to boost business confidence.
Leech said in a statement: "We hope the next Secretary of State will continue Angela Rayner’s robust support for the builders not the blockers but will also take the opportunity to rethink policies which are damaging confidence such as the surprise ban on upward-only rent reviews and the delayed homes penalty.
"Most urgently, however, the new Secretary of State must work with the sector to tackle viability issues and ensure barriers to delivery are addressed. This includes a laser focus on resolving delays at the Building Safety Regulator, which are having a chilling effect on new development across the country."
The call comes after the English Devolution & Community Empowerment Bill, which includes the government's plans to scrap upward-only rent reviews, had its second reading earlier this week.
Unplanned exit
Rayner was housing secretary for 427 days after being given the role by Keir Starmer when Labour won a landslide victory in the general election in July last year. During her time as housing secretary Rayner led the government's work to boost housing construction and accelerate planning decisions to speed up the delivery of major infrastructure.
In June she helped to launch the government's National Housing Bank that it said would deliver hundreds of thousands of additional homes across the UK and attract £53 billion of additional private funding.
Rayner resigned fter admitting to paying the incorrect rate for SDLT on the Brighton property and referring herself to the standards watchdog, which provided its report today.
"I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as housing secretary and my complex family arrangements. I take fully responsibility for this error," Rayner said in her resignation letter.
Lawrence Turner, director of planning consultancy Boyer, said in a statement that Rayner's resignation must not "become an excuse" for delaying to deliver on housing targets, with the government pledging to build 1.5 million homes by the end of the Parliament.
He added: "The new Secretary of State now bears the responsibility to continue to unlock delivery and work to win the support of local authorities to provide the homes and infrastructure communities desperately need.
"For plan-making, continuity here is critical. Local authorities must receive clear assurance from government that the 30-month local plan timetable remains in place and better guidance on when and how to prepare their new Plans. Without this, plan-making risks stalling at the precise moment when momentum is most needed.
"Secondly, the new [Secretary] must act swiftly to remove two major barriers to housing delivery: nutrient neutrality and water scarcity. While the Nature Restoration Fund announcements were a welcome start, they must be accelerated to provide certainty for developers and local authorities and to have any real impact.
"Thirdly, planning departments need proper resourcing. Councils should be allowed to retain 100% of planning fees, enabling investment in staffing and the recruitment of new planners to speed up decision-making. In addition, greater urgency is needed behind the delivery of new towns and major growth areas.
"These strategic projects offer the scale of housing and infrastructure that piecemeal development cannot achieve, but they require more work to increase momentum through direct government support, infrastructure investment, and clear direction to unlock land quickly.
"The new Secretary will be judged not by words, but by outcomes. If they can build consensus across local authorities and drive real progress on housing delivery, there remains a genuine opportunity to 'turbo-charge' house building within this Parliament."
Continuity choice
William Nichols, regional director of town planning specialist Lanpro, argued that Matthew Pennycook "would be a logical choice" to replace Rayner as housing secretary because he "would offer continuity". Pennycook is minister of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Nichols said: "This moment could be an opportunity to rethink aspects of policy that have been less successful, particularly the emphasis on local government reorganisation.
"Local government reorganisation may be necessary, but it has distracted attention from housing delivery. In many councils, members and officers facing upheaval have been reluctant to press ahead with local plans when the future geography of their areas is so uncertain.
"A pause here might free ministers to concentrate on what really matters: the growth agenda or local government reorganisation."
Colin Brown, head of planning and development at Carter Jonas, said: "I think the industry will want to know that the changes the Government has made to the planning system will remain the focus for the incoming Secretary of State, and that there will be no rowing back.
"There is no doubt that publication of the revised NPPF in December 2024 and the introduction of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill have been important moments, pointing to a clear change in direction to build the homes the country needs.
"The resignation letter from the former Secretary of State and the response from the Prime Minister indicate this is still central to the Government’s thinking so reassurance can be derived from that.
"What we would still like to see is the use of more tools to support the demand side for new housing especially with affordability remaining challenging and we hope the new Secretary of State will focus on that, together with continuing better resourcing for local planning authorities.
"Finally, there is a need to ensure that infrastructure provision to support new housing is tackled earlier and at a more regional and national level to ensure that projects are not unnecessarily delayed."
