We want to make landlords ‘squeal’, says Treasury minister

Landlords should be made to “squeal” under the new tax clampdowns on buy-to-let, a Treasury minister has said.

The minister made the remark in a private meeting with the Residential Landlords Association, which said it was shocked by it.

Alan Ward, chairman of the RLA, said: “We went to raise landlord’s concerns with specific reference to . . . the Government’s taxation policies towards private landlords.

“We wanted to make the case that we have a history of a significant contribution to housing and that this crackdown is unfair and prejudiced.

“The minister’s comment was that if landlords are squealing, then the Government will take the view that the medicine is working.

“The minister made the point that the Government is determined to increase the number of home owners, and then reiterated the issue about first-time buyers.

“We were all a bit taken aback by the comment. We could hardly believe our ears.”

Ward declined to name the minister concerned.

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13 Comments

  1. surreyagent

    err, anyone in the government thought through the fact that the next generation might not care about homeownership and might want the flexibility of renting. Also if they want housing to be affordable for the next generation let alone the current one we need a massive crash to get property affordable….not the best idea for the economy.

    private buy to let landlords on the whole are professional and well run. they add to the economy and if

     

     

     

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    1. jad

      Name and Shame the Parasite – the only people who are going to ‘Squeal’ will in the short term be the poor tenants that I have served notice on prior to selling and getting out of being a punch bag for Cameron & Osborne !!

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  2. surreyagent

    err, anyone in the government thought through the fact that the next generation might not care about homeownership and might want the flexibility of renting. Also if they want housing to be affordable for the next generation let alone the current one we need a massive crash to get property affordable….not the best idea for the economy!!!

     

     

     

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    1. Chri Wood

      Do you have a stutter?

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  3. grumpyoldman83

    …and this government – which appears more stupid by the day – expects to get re-elected?

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    1. LandlordsandLetting

      Yes, the lying posh boy Cameron knows that his party probably will almost certainly be re-elected. He knows this because the labour party is in melt-down, the LibDems have imploded and our corrupt first-past-the-post system means that even though nearly 4 million voted UKIP it resulted in ONE seat.

      The Tories now know they can pick and choose their friends – and they have chosen big business and The City.

      I wrote about exactly this last year: http://www.landlordsandletting.co.uk/Blog/osborne-bashing-buy-to-let-to-help-his-city-friends/

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  4. Mark Connelly

    If any treasury minister actually believes this was about putting FTBs on the property ladder. Then they are even dumber than I thought.

    This is and always has been, about clearing the way for institutional build to rent.

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    1. LandlordsandLetting

      You are spot on. They don’t give a **** about FTBs, but being an essentially PR led government, Cameron and Osborne know it plays well to the gallery.

      In fact I saw this coming last year: http://www.landlordsandletting.co.uk/Blog/osborne-bashing-buy-to-let-to-help-his-city-friends/

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  5. Robert May

    Which Minister exactly said this?

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  6. Woodentop

    When you have a PM who says he’s standing down well in advance does raise the spectre of not being to bothered for he won’t be around when the XXXX hits the fan.

     

    As for George Osborne ….. become blinkered, naïve and sat in an ivory tower. He should have been replaced and hasn’t a hope of becoming leader or the Conservatives will loose from people not bothering to vote. Bring on Boris.

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    1. Robert May

      I have done a quick test on a bit of kit that could decide the outcome.

      A terraced house in SW7 is currently £3.9 m, it could easily drop (another) £100,000 in value due to Brexit. If the average mortgage is 50% LTV £1600 per month added to mortgage interest  per 1% of  interest rate rise.  Anyone  who has bought since 2013 could be stuck in serious negative equity (average £550,000 if prices return to trend, more is they drop below) with mortgage interest increases they can’t afford.

      Voting to exit will hand control over property prices to the City, giving them the ability to massively increase profits with very slight  but uncontrolled rises in interest rates. With no-one to audit or reconcile what is going on we would be putting an awful lot of faith in the honesty and integrity of a set of MPs who as a house don’t have the greatest track record of self control.

       

       

       

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  7. AgencyInsider

    Unfortunately, and whilst I don’t doubt what Alan Ward says took place, without the comment being attributable it is nothing more than unsupported hearsay.

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  8. Will

    Come Mr Ward,  LET THIS MINISTER SQUEAL name the and sham him/her.  It is this type of rubbish put out by Government because of their own systemic failure to address the housing crisis they have caused.

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