Member

I ask noble Lords to note data from Zoopla, which shows that within six months of putting a property on the market it is clear whether it will sell, so it could simply be made available to rent after that six-month period. I remind the House that the amendment requires a landlord to produce evidence of genuine attempts to sell at a sensible price. However, I was told in a meeting with the Minister and her team that if a property does not sell at a proven sensible price, the landlord would be forced to keep reducing the price until a sale was achieved at any price, otherwise they would face a period of 12 months when their property must, by law, stand empty, unrentable, cutting off the income of a landlord for a full 12 months. I question the right and morality of a state to use so casually such measures to threaten all landlords with 12 months’ loss of income if they do not sell their property at a discounted level to a sensible price.