A New Prime Minister, A Familiar Face and What Could It Mean for Brighton Landlords?

Housing has quickly emerged as one of the priorities of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government, with a renewed push to increase housing supply, expand council housebuilding and make better use of the homes and land we already have.

Burnham became Prime Minister in July and has brought Angela Rayner back as Housing Secretary, a role she previously held between 2024 and 2025.

The early message from the new Cabinet is clear: Britain needs more homes, and councils are expected to play a much bigger part in delivering them.

What are the new government’s priorities?

One of the first major housing announcements from Burnham and Rayner has been the launch of the government’s £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

The first wave will support more than 70,000 homes across England, with around 60% of homes delivered through the initial partnerships expected to be for Social Rent.

Rayner has also written directly to council leaders asking them to “go further and faster” on council housebuilding, backed by additional funding and support.

Burnham’s government has also launched a wider review of the role of public control in housing, alongside energy, water and transport. Exactly what that means for the private rented sector remains to be seen, but it reinforces the sense that housing will remain a major area of government intervention.

But what does that mean for Brighton?

Brighton & Hove desperately needs more housing, but unlike many towns and cities, its ability to simply build outwards is heavily constrained by the sea to the south and the South Downs to the north.

So increasing supply isn’t necessarily just about building large new housing estates.

The city has asked itself Are we making the best possible use of the buildings and homes we already have?

As of March 2026, there were 968 privately owned residential properties in Brighton & Hove that had been empty for more than 12 months.

Since April 2025, the council’s Empty Properties and Council Tax teams have helped bring 264 empty homes back into use.

And the pressure on owners to do something with long-term empty properties is increasing. Homes left empty for more than a year can attract a 100% Council Tax premium, rising to 200% after five years and 300% after ten.

It’s not just empty houses being looked at.

Brighton & Hove’s Hidden Homes programme is turning neglected and redundant spaces within existing council-owned buildings into new homes.

Projects have already included converting a redundant commercial kitchen in Kemp Town into three flats and transforming an unused storeroom into two new council homes.

In April, the council also approved plans allowing a number of its other assets to be repurposed for housing or disposed of to support its wider housing objectives.

This approach could become increasingly important if national planning policy continues to encourage councils to find creative ways of increasing housing supply.

What about existing landlords?

The change in Prime Minister doesn’t mean the reforms already affecting landlords are going away.

The Renters’ Rights reforms continue, while further regulation including the PRS Database, Landlord Ombudsman and future changes to property standards remain on the horizon.

So while the government is looking for ways to create more homes, existing landlords should expect the private rented sector to remain highly regulated.

For Brighton landlords, that creates an interesting combination: higher expectations for the homes we already have, alongside increasing pressure to find creative ways of delivering more of them.

And in a city where space is at a premium, making better use of existing property could prove just as important as building something new.