Every promise Labour has made to homeowners and renters in the general election

The results of the general election have now been announced, with the Labour party winning by a huge majority. Millions of voters took to their local polling station on Thursday (July 4) to cast their votes in the first nationwide election since 2019.

After a landslide victory, Sir Keir Starmer is now set to become the new prime minister, Labour’s first since Gordon Brown in 2010, ending the Conservative Party's 14 years in Downing Street, with Rishi Sunak conceding defeat and now stepping down.

During their campaigning ahead of the election, Labour released its manifesto which laid out its future plans in a bid to convince undecided voters. Amongst these were a number of housing policies that the new government are set to introduce.

READ MORE: What is now costs to rent across Britain as prices hit 'record-high'

Ahead of the election, Keir Starmer told Rightmove: “Only Labour has a serious plan to tackle the housing crisis. After fourteen years of the Tories, the idea of owning your own home has become a pipe dream for many.

"If we have the privilege of being elected on the 4th of July, we’ll take the action needed to get Britain building again, delivering 1.5 million new homes and reforming the planning system.”

Here are all the promises that Labour have made to improve the market for homeowners and renters in the UK:

New homes

Labour says it will deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament. Labour’s Matthew Pennycook told Rightmove: “Our immediate focus would be to reform the planning system, starting with updating the National Planning Policy Framework.

“Other measures include finally getting serious about boosting Local Plan coverage, building a series of large-scale new communities, including a new generation of new towns; further reforming outdated compulsory purchase compensation rules that inflate the cost of land to the benefit of speculators, reintroducing cross-boundary strategic planning, and adopting a strategic approach to greenbelt land designation and release to build more homes in the right places.

“We are confident that the targeted series of interventions we have outlined will enable us to ramp up supply, tackle the housing crisis and boost economic growth.”

Social housing

Keir Starmer has promised a significant increase in social and affordable housing, focusing on social rented homes.

Help for first-time buyers

Labour are set to introduce a 'comprehensive' mortgage guarantee scheme and offer a first chance for first-time buyers on new-builds.

Matthew Pennycook told Rightmove: “Rishi Sunak has admitted during this election campaign that owning your own home has got harder after 14 years of Conservative Government.

“Yet despite homeownership rates flatlining, the Prime Minister decided to put the dream of owning a home further out of reach for working families by caving in to his own anti-housebuilding backbenchers over mandatory housing targets and torpedoing housing supply.

“Labour’s plan to get Britain building will unlock the dream of home ownership. Our new Freedom to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme will support first-time buyers who don’t have access to the ‘bank of Mum and Dad’, so those who can afford mortgage repayments but struggle to save for a large deposit.

“We’ll also work with developers to give local people ‘first dibs’ on new developments, ending the farce of entire developments sold off to international investors before local people get a look in."

Help for renters

Labour say they will ban no-fault evictions, extend Awaab’s Law and empower renters to challenge unreasonable rent increases.

"We will act where the Tories have failed and make renting fairer, more secure, and more affordable," says Matthew. "We will legislate to immediately abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against, empower them to challenge unreasonable rent increases, and take steps to decisively raise standards, including extending ‘Awaab’s Law’ to the private sector.

“In the long-term, the only real way to take the heat out of the private rented sector is to build more homes to buy and rent, including a far greater number of genuinely affordable social rented homes. That’s precisely why we have a plan to build 1.5 million homes over five years and to oversee the biggest boost to social, affordable and council housing in a generation.”

Landlords

Addressing landlords, Labour’s Matthew Pennycook told Rightmove: “There is some evidence to suggest that a proportion of smaller landlords have exited the sector since 2018 – largely as a result of tax changes introduced by George Osborne and rising interest rates in the wake of Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-budget – but no robust evidence for a mass exodus as some have purported.

“Good landlords have nothing to fear from Labour’s plan to overhaul the regulation of the private rented sector. We value the contribution that good landlords make, and we will of course consult with them every step of the way about our legislative intentions.

"We want to establish a better regulated and thriving lettings market but we are calling time on unscrupulous landlords who exploit tenants and jeopardise their security of tenure, with all the implications that has for national productivity and growth.”

Making homes greener

"Labour will deliver a national Warm Homes Plan to upgrade every home that needs it over a decade," says Matthew. "We will invest over the course of the Parliament to deliver up to 5 million home upgrades, saving families on low-incomes hundreds of pounds per year, eliminating fuel poverty by 2030, and getting Britain back on track to meeting our climate targets.

“Our investment will be split between energy efficiency grants, delivered hand-in-glove with local authorities to target the areas and families in most need and government-backed zero-interest loans for green home upgrades like solar panels; and grants to make sure heat pumps are affordable for people who want them.”

Leasehold reform

The Labour party have set out to reform the leasehold system, ensuring commonhold becomes the default tenure.

Homelessness

Keir Starmer says he will develop a new 'cross-government strategy' to end homelessness.