Budget 2025: RICS priorities to government – and impact to renters

With the UK Government’s Budget set to be announced this week, RICS is outlining the key measures we believe are essential to unlock growth, improve resilience and support sustainable investment across the built and natural environment. RICS will be analysing what the Budget means not only for markets, infrastructure and housing, but also for surveyors and their day-to-day work.

RICS welcomes the Government’s recognition that the built and natural environment is a major driver of economic growth. This week’s Budget is an opportunity to provide clarity, stability and the policy ambition needed to help industry invest, deliver and innovate.

In the run up to the budget, RICS responded to the HM Treasury Spending Submission, recommending the Chancellor:

• Reform business rates by reducing the overall burden, shortening valuation cycles, strengthening the Valuation Office Agency, and introducing sustainability-linked incentives.
• Empower local economies by allowing councils to retain more locally collected business rates and supporting mixed-use revitalisation through targeted reliefs and tax measures.
• Accelerate green investment with certainty on MEES targets (EPC C for homes and EPC B for non-domestic by 2030), financial support for property owners, professionalised retrofit, and robust compliance mechanisms.
• Make planning fairer and faster by mandating adoption of the RICS Professional Standard on Compulsory Purchase and embedding structured mediation/ADR within planning, including Section 106 negotiations.

Together, these interventions would help create a more modern, efficient and productive built environment sector, while supporting local authorities, businesses, investors and communities.

Private Rented Sector (PRS) impact on renters and landlords

In addition to these core asks, RICS is raising concerns about reports that the Government may introduce an 8% National Insurance charge on landlord rental profits.

New RICS-commissioned research, in conjunction with Opinium, suggests such a measure could exacerbate existing pressures in the private rented sector.

Key findings include:

• 62% of landlords would be more likely to raise rents if NI is applied.
• Almost half (48%) of all landlords own just one property, meaning many small providers could be disproportionately affected.
• Taxation has become the biggest barrier to investment, cited by 42% of landlords.
• 23% have already sold or reduced their portfolios in the past two years, and a third expect to exit or downsize within the next two.
• 40% would scale back repairs and improvements, potentially undermining home quality.

While the government has focused recently on reforms to drive up standards and protections for renters with the Renters Rights Act, with supply already struggling to keep pace with demand, introducing NI risks reducing the number of available homes, increasing competition and placing further upward pressure on rents.

The built and natural environment remains central to the UK’s economic future. RICS will continue to work closely with policymakers to ensure reforms are evidence-based, aligned with professional standards and designed for long-term benefit.

Following the Budget, RICS will publish analysis exploring what the Chancellor’s decisions mean for surveyors, firms and the wider sector—supporting members to navigate changes and understand the practical implications for their work.