Taxing landlords more will not help first-time buyers, say public

Less than 20% of the public believe increasing taxes on landlords will help aspiring first-time buyers.

The figures are from a survey carried out by pollsters YouGov for the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ latest publication ‘Home-ownership or Bust?’

Of those who said that something should be done to make it easier for young people to buy their first home, fewer than 20% said that the Government should tax landlords more.

This, said the Residential Landlords Association, undermines the argument made by the previous Chancellor that tax hikes on landlords will make it easier for aspiring home owners to purchase a property.

Recent changes have included calculating tax on a landlord’s income rather than their profit, restricting mortgage interest relief to the basic rate of income tax and imposing a 3% Stamp Duty surcharge on the purchase of homes to rent out.

RLA policy director David Smith said: “These figures back up all that we have been saying.

“Recent tax hikes on landlords will serve only to drive up rents and reduce supply, making it more difficult for people to save for a home of their own.

“With the wider public now in agreement, we call on the Chancellor to use his Autumn Statement to reverse these counter-productive measures.”

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One Comment

  1. Mark Connelly

    The disingenuous Osborne and his advisors never created the policy for FTB’s. It was created to clear the way for institutional “Build to Rent” It has backfired spectacularly. Which is no surprise to anyone involved with the UK housing market.

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