A petition calling on the government to reverse its Section 24 tax changes for BTL landlords, which removed their ability to claim mortgage interest rate against their tax liability, has failed to reach its 100,000 signatures target.

Landlord Simon Foster, who launched the petition, was hoping to use the petition to persuade the government to reinstate the ability of landlords to set the full amount of mortgage interest against rental income, before tax is calculated.

But it closed this week with just over 40,000 signatures; had it attracted 100,000 signatures it would have triggered a parliamentary debate on the issue.

In 2015, the then chancellor George Osborne replaced landlord tax relief with a basic rate reduction from their income tax liability for their finance costs of 20%.

Mortgage interest relief changes, the scrapping of the ‘wear and tear’ allowance and the introduction of the 3% stamp duty surcharge have hit landlords’ profits over the past few of years, which partly explains why so many people are exiting the buy-to-let market and thus reducing the supply of much needed private rented stock.