London's builders of rental flats welcome move towards longer tenancies

The bosses of some of London’s largest rental flats builders on Monday shrugged off concerns that new longer tenancies could be bad for business.

Communities secretary James Brokenshire today published proposals that could see landlords forced to give renters three-year contracts in a move to help them “put down roots”.

Some small property owners warned the plan could make it harder to manage difficulties with problem tenants, while the National Landlords Association slammed a shift to “a more rigid system”.

However, listed Telford Homes and developer Quintain, which are currently constructing 3700 rental homes in the capital, welcomed the update.

Jon Di-Stefano, chief executive of Telford Homes, said: “I believe most landlords welcome stability in terms of their tenants.”

He added: “I imagine the potential loss of any interim rent increases is going to be offset by having less voids and not incurring the cost of finding new tenants.”

Quintain’s Angus Dodd said his company is already offering three-year leases with a tenant break at six months at its Wembley development.

He thinks the proposals “provide investors with better predictability on longer-term income”.

Johnny Caddick, managing director at Moda, which is creating a £2 billion portfolio of build-to-rent schemes across England and Scotland, said: “We need a customer-centric rental market if people are to grow confidence in the property sector.”