Grainger chief executive Helen Gordon said this morning she was “so disappointed at the London Plan.”
Speaking at the Movers & Shakers London Build to Rent Forum, she added: “I don’t know if it was Momentum or whoever that got to the mayor, but the 35% affordable housing policy as opposed to the 20% we were hoping for and promised is a massive step backwards.”
Hitting back, David Lunts, executive director of housing and land at the Greater London Authority, said “the build-to-rent sector will have to fight its corner in an increasingly politicised debate.”
He was keen to point out that 35% was not a policy requirement, but was where the viability threshold and assessments kick in, adding: “Yes, if you’re below the 35% mark, it will be slower to get planning.”
Gordon said she was “hoping the upcoming update to the NPPF would understand the difference between build-to-rent and the private sale model”, due to the professionalised rental sector not being able to compete when buying land.
She said local authorities needed to see the social value of what affordable build-to-rent products could bring, rather than selling land to the highest bidder.
She also demonstrated how the quality of product in build-to-rent is greater than market sale.
“BTR developers don’t have to sell once like housebuilders. We have to sell year in, year out.”
“Grainger doesn’t do the luxury end. We’re right in the mid-market, trying to appeal to the maximum number of people, where tenants are paying less than one-third of their income.
“It would be easy to go up-market and compete with the early adopters, but it’s just not us.”
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