Disgusting Slur on Landlords by Leftwing Media

News that Britain’s landlords have increasingly moved from holding property in their personal names to limited companies has been slammed by one journalist as ‘widespread tax avoidance’.

Writing on the left-wing website, Novara Media, Harriet Williamson said: “Let’s call this what it is: widespread tax avoidance by a workshy, parasite class – and at a time when the Labour government is set to drive through welfare cuts targeting some of the most severely disabled people in the UK.”

The article, ‘Buy-to-Let Landlords Are Dodging Tax En Masse’, goes on to slam landlords for not creating anything, including housing stock, ‘except perhaps anxiety and anger among tenants’.

The journalist and former editor at Pink News and the Independent warms to her theme and adds: “These so-called investors are leeches, firmly attached to the bare legs of those who haven’t managed to get on the housing ladder.

“And they’re not just skimming off renters’ paychecks: in 2024, the average landlord had 8.6 homes in their portfolio, generating a gross annual rental income of around £8k per property.

“If you live in any London borough bar one, they’re taking an excess of 40% of what you earn each month.”

Boom in buy to let companies

Ms Williamson was responding to a report from Hamptons which highlights a boom in buy to let companies, with figures rocketing to a record 401,744 in February.

Incorporated landlords now outnumber takeaways and hairdressers nearly fourfold.

This surge, driven by landlords shifting properties into limited firms can help mitigate tax burdens and since 2016 there has been a 332% rise in such businesses, Companies House data reveals.

Last year alone, 61,517 new firms emerged – a 23% jump from 2023’s previous high.

Limited company structure

Aneisha Beveridge, the head of research at Hamptons, said: “The limited company is now the structure of choice for the next generation of investors.

“Current tax rules mean that most, although not all, new investors find themselves better off in a company structure than owning an investment property in their own name.

“This means the number of limited companies is likely to continue its upward trajectory for the foreseeable future.”

She added that last year, incorporation numbers might have peaked since higher stamp duty rates will prevent some investors from moving property into a company structure.

Being a landlord ‘is not a job’

Ms Williamson goes on to say that being a landlord ‘is not a job’ because being a BTL landlord means ‘allowing someone who needs a home to pay the mortgage on it’.

She calls this a passive income and says landlords are incorporating because they realise ‘there’s more wealth to be hoarded this way’.

She adds: “We all need to live somewhere.”

Since social housing stock has been decimated, she says that tenants are ‘draining’ their own capital reserves to pay rent to fund more investment in rented property and the landlord’s ‘lifestyle’.

Ms Williamson goes on to say: “But the proliferation of buy to let businesses shows how Britain has become a playground for people who don’t make things or do things but just have things.

“If Starmer means it, then when will Labour crack down on mass tax avoidance by landlords, feeding off their tenants’ labour?”

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