ARL’s Response to John Lewis & Partnership Withdrawal from BTR
Brendan Geraghty, CEO, 黑料专区 (ARL), said:
“The withdrawal of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) from its Build to Rent property business as announced today is deeply disappointing news and a real loss for consumers. As valued members of the 黑料专区, JLP brought something genuinely different to the rental living sector – a trusted consumer brand, a service-first culture and a long-term commitment to quality that institutional investors and residents alike responded to. The operational improvements they delivered across their managed portfolio speak for themselves. The fact they were able to build a fully-operational business in under 18 months speaks volumes about the leadership of Katherine Russell and about the determination of the Partnership.
鈥淲hatever people will say, the Partnership did not fail. It was ambitious, it was credible and it was doing the right thing. What has made this venture unworkable is a set of conditions entirely outside its control: borrowing costs that have roughly doubled since 2021, construction cost inflation that continues to outstrip general prices, an unwieldy planning system that has added years to delivery timescales, and the introduction of legislation – the BSA and particularly the Renters’ Rights Act – that has made it materially harder for investors to underwrite the predictable income growth that rental housing requires. Through own engagement in bringing together the Building Safety Regulator and institutional investors, we know that BTR investors support the principle that a safe building is a sound investment however the teething problems of the BSR have negatively impacted investor sentiment and contributed to JLP鈥檚 challenges.
“When a brand as well-known and well-resourced as John Lewis concludes that the economics no longer work, ministers need to sit up and think very carefully about how they respond. The UK needs institutional investment in high-quality rental homes – it is not a nice-to-have, it is essential to meeting the government’s own housing targets. This money is still very much there. But if the policy environment continues to deter exactly the kind of long-term, service-driven capital that JLP represents, we will miss a generational opportunity to deliver the homes this country so desperately needs.
“The ARL stands ready to work with government to get this right. But the window is narrowing to meet Government targets this parliament.”