Michael Gove is demanding a crackdown on the secret foreign owners of billions of pounds of UK property, blaming them for slum homes and urban decay.
The former housing secretary condemned overseas investors who have used “opaque trusts” to snap up homes “for speculative reasons and then have left them to decline”.
He called for legislation to “establish the ultimate ownership of significant parts of the private rented sector” – warning that efforts to revive struggling towns such as Blackpool and Grimsby are undermined.
“Irresponsible actions by people who are not thinking about the consequences of their investment, which blight the community and those of us who want to see urban regeneration – we need to make sure that those people are held accountable,” Mr Gove said.
Speaking at the Conservative conference, the minister exiled by Liz Truss also urged the government not to stall on his promise of new powers for tenants to challenge rogue landlords.
Housing campaigners are warning of a “deafening silence” from ministers about the fate of the Renters Reform Bill, to give “a powerful voice” to renters and end no-fault evictions.
Instead, during the Tory leadership campaign, Ms Truss told landlords they had been too “harshly treated”, while some senior Tories have attacked a “war on landlords”.
But Mr Gove said the vow to end Section 21 no-fault evictions was placed in the 2019 Conservative manifesto “at Boris Johnson’s explicit insistence”.
He told the meeting, hosted by Shelter: “We’ve got to keep faith with what Boris wanted. We’ve got to make sure that manifesto commitment is honoured.”
Natalie Elphicke, a Conservative backbench MP and author of housing reports, also called on the government to “get our skates on” and pass the legislation.
The landmark 2021 “Pandora Papers” investigation exposed what anti-corruption groups called the “UK’s dirty money problem” with foreign property investors.
The number of foreign landlords is estimated to be at a five-year high of 184,000, fuelled by a weak pound making investment more attractive and ever-rising property prices.
With houses in short supply in the UK, the increased demand further inflates – regardless of the concerns about the quality of the accommodation.
Mr Gove said: “There are some parts of the country where you have significant number of properties that are owned by private landlords, where the renter is getting a raw deal.
“The quality of the accommodation is scandalously poor and blights the chance for regeneration and redevelopment.”
He also urged his party that the dream of home ownership could only be achieved through more cheaper social homes for rent, so tenants can “build up capital, if the rents they are paying are fair”.
“There is a direct relationship between extending the number of homes for social rent that we have and ensuring that you have more home ownership in the future,” Mr Gove said.
