The Residential Landlords Association is first off the blocks in issuing what have become statutory Budget wish lists.
While these routine demands for U-turns usually fall on deaf ears, among other things the RLA is calling for:
- The Chancellor to scrap the phasing out of mortgage interest relief or, at the very least, apply it only to new buy-to-let mortgages.
- An exemption of the 3% Stamp Duty when a landlord is investing in a new property, refurbishing an empty home, or converting a property that is adding to the housing stock.
- The encouragement of landlords to sell properties to sitting tenants via the use of tax breaks.
- Local authorities and public bodies, such as the MoD and the NHS, to identify and sell off small plots suitable for building up to five units of private rented sector accommodation.
- Philip Hammond to give landlords the opportunity to meet new energy efficiency targets by making EPC recommended improvements tax deductible.
- The Chancellor to provide modest funding to improve access to the PRS for the homeless.
Alan Ward, RLA chairman, said: “This is not just a wish list that will benefit landlords and tenants, but one that will benefit the economy as a whole.
“The Treasury Select Committee warned a year ago that measures taken to curb buy-to-let would come at a cost to the wider economy, and we would ask the Government to take heed of this.
“The time for change is now and we hope the Government will take the opportunity to grasp the nettle and rethink some of the unfair tax changes set to have devastating impact on PRS landlords.”
The Budget is on March 8, giving plenty of time for more alternative budgets, wish lists, and general advice for Mr Hammond.
Well done RLA. Where are you ARLA?
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Brilliant … landlords are complaining that its harder to make money off of those that can’t afford to buy their own home because of a broken market and want the market “fixed” to allow them to continue to exploit the poor.
Oh the irony!
Surely a fairer solution would be to ban renting property altogether and make the barriers to entry in the property market way lower so we have culture of home security instead of market that promotes making money from others less fortunate than yourself.
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I trust these comments are extreme sarcasm? I hope so, as they are unbelievable, and irreconcilable.
If they were written ‘seriously’, then one could challenge every word and phrase as fatuous ‘Right-wing Communism’! But they weren’t written seriously, so I won’t.
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