Charities urge Labour to tackle ‘discriminatory’ PRS guarantor rules
1 year ago | 16 comments
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 May 2023 - Comments: 225
4:21 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 19/03/2025 – 11:41
Companies pay Corporation Tax on their profits already.
Osbornes failed market distortion needs to be put out in the interests of fairness and to reduce rent paid.
Member Since October 2022 - Comments: 200
4:59 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Oh dear, yet another entitled parasite who thinks that landlords just sit back and watch the money roll in, and wished they could be doing the same!
Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 1575
5:13 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by PAUL BARTLETT at 19/03/2025 – 16:21
Yes but they can offset their debt against tax without the perils of Section 24.
It’d make more sense to simply charge a percentage of the rent. At least tenants would know how much of the rent they pay is tax and how much the landlord gets to pay the mortgage, do repairs and maintenance, cover voids and so on.
Member Since January 2015 - Comments: 49
5:37 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
None so blind as those that will not see.
Unfortunately this interpretation pervades the entire justice system.
Landlords are the enemy. The fact that they provide housing is irrelevant.
How long will it be before landlords are compelled to compensate tenants, allow them to buy the same property they complain about at a discount perhaps?
Only 1 property left now, waited for them to leave.
Stephen
Member Since August 2019 - Comments: 59
5:56 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Stephen Smith at 19/03/2025 – 17:37
Stephen sums it up.
“Landlords are the enemy. The fact that they provide housing is irrelevant.”
There is never a thank you.
We have almost sold one, others will follow.
Long term, say in 10 years we may not be able to sell any property, I exaggerate, but imagine AI putting people on UBI and now they don’t have to work. Where will renters move to? Will there be enough stock. I’d watch the AI revolution carefully.
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
8:16 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
It was also about corporation- penalising the little guy.
I read somewhere that Blackrock had bought up/was buying 50,000 properties.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 1630 - Articles: 3
10:11 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 19/03/2025 – 20:16
I saw that too, but where from? If there are 50,000 houses sitting around, we don’t have a housing crisis.
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
10:24 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 19/03/2025 – 22:11
There’s about 1m houses change hands annually (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-property-transactions-completed-in-the-uk-with-value-40000-or-above/uk-monthly-property-transactions-commentary)
Blackrock may have acquired properties over a few years so could be buying 1 in 40 or 50 per year, probably acquired some portfolios.
Member Since June 2014 - Comments: 1562
10:55 PM, 19th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 19/03/2025 – 20:16
“I read somewhere that Blackrock had bought up/was buying 50,000 properties.”
Source?
Member Since November 2022 - Comments: 65 - Articles: 1
6:34 AM, 20th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Britain has become a playground for people who don’t make things or do things but just have things”
…like self-declared journalists who *have* an opinion website and ask for people to donate a hour’s wages to fund it.