National Landlords Association chief executive Richard Lambert has accused the Government of “directly insulting” the body’s members through its buy-to-let crackdown.
Speaking at the Instinctif Partners Great Housing market debate, Richard Lambert questioned the Chancellor’s crackdown on the buy-to-let sector, claiming he had made a mistake by introducing extra Stamp Duty charges and scaling back mortgage interest relief.
He said: “(The Government) is now talking of discouraging amateur landlords in favour of institutions, in effect directly insulting my members.”
Lambert warned that many landlords would be unaware of the incoming changes to mortgage interest relief and would be shocked when they start receiving bills from the taxman in the coming years.
Nigel Terrington, chief executive of the Paragon Group, said the changes don’t level the playing field, as intended, with buyers, as landlords don’t benefit from schemes such as Help to Buy and will have to eventually pay Capital Gains Tax on accumulated housing wealth, unlike residential owners.
Nick Leeming, property internet pioneer and now chairman of Jackson-Stops & Staff, said there should be a free market for owners and renters.
I very much like the idea of a housing ministry free of any political party, as outlined in an earlier story here on Eye today.
I well remember the early days of buy-to-let and for a long time government couldn’t get enough of it. They wanted it to succeed and wholeheartedly encouraged people to invest.
In my opinion, successive governments have created the current crisis by not building anywhere near enough new housing to cope with the nation’s needs. And they still aren’t…
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Wait till the members are required to be licensed. I understand Wales has seen a big turn off and many private landlords there are still unaware they have to be licensed.
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