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Disgusting Slur on Landlords by Leftwing Media
9:23 AM, 19th March 2025, 1 year ago
49
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?”
Tags:
BTL, Buy To Let UK, housing market Britain, Labour welfare cuts, landlord incorporation, landlord tax avoidance, limited companies property, rent prices UK, tenant struggles UK, UK Property Investment
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Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
10:54 AM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by JB at 19/03/2025 – 09:52
Ms Williamson is trying hard to set a low bar level.
But, hey, when have the facts ever got in the way of lefties who want to do a bit of Landlord bashing.
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
10:57 AM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Small Portfolio Landlord at 19/03/2025 – 10:43
.. Unfortunately when she throws this mud around some will always stick.
Member Since June 2017 - Comments: 10
11:12 AM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
I have just looked up Novara to find the head of articles to ask why she has let Harriet Williamson’s article be printed when Harriet, as a previous journalist for the independent and Pink, I assume she is an educated journalist.
To have made these comments she obviously does not understand the first thing about the subject and taxation that she makes vitriolic comments on. Apart from being someone with a very negative attitude to a situation caused by government. Then……I thought do I really want my contact details to go to anyone in this organisation at all……..
Member Since October 2023 - Comments: 201
11:16 AM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
The “Left” instinctively hate landlords, because they have been brainwashed by the writing of Karl Marx.
He absolutely hated landlords, and called them the parasite class (which Ms Williamson just quoted).
But she will not be aware (or indeed care) why he hated them so much.
Marx was an intensely lazy man (20 years writing a book that he never finished) during which time he was financially supported by a wealthy benefactor (Engles).
When Engles got fed up with propping up this sponger, the landlord eventually got fed up of no rent being paid , and had the bailiffs’ remove his furniture and sell it off.
A hero of the left, to this day. Lazy, sponger.
How many families has Ms Williamson put a roof over their heads. I’m guessing none.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 1630 - Articles: 3
11:28 AM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by JB at 19/03/2025 – 09:52
It is Novara Media… more deluded than the Guardian.
Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 1575
11:41 AM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
I don’t think there should be any difference in tax treatment regardless of how a property is owned.
What’s good for a private landlord who owns property is their own name is good for that same landlord who chooses to own property in a company name.
Not that Section 24 is fair.
However, I would support a change in taxation to ensure all rental properties are taxed equally (including social housing). Property income should be taxed at a single rate, in my considered opinion.
Member Since May 2015 - Comments: 2188 - Articles: 2
12:56 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
What does Ms Williamson propose as an alternative to us parasites?
“[A parasite is] an organism that lives and feeds on or in an organism of a different species and causes harm to its host.” So not only are we avoiding tax, but we are harming our tenants (albeit they are usually the same species). I think Ms Williamson urgently needs a dictionary.
Member Since August 2019 - Comments: 59
1:12 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
When you think it’s getting better but it’s actually getting worse. There is constant landlord hate in UK and even a bit of prosperity is frowned upon. This country is it’s own enemy.
Now imagine a landlord with Tesla, my oh my.
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
1:24 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by TheMaluka at 19/03/2025 – 12:56The Government (and especially the current Labour Government) is the biggest parasite of all.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 1630 - Articles: 3
1:52 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by AT at 19/03/2025 – 13:12
I don’t have a Tesla, but I’ve got shares in oil & gas! 🤣