Landlords face an NI bill of up to £885 per property

Since when do you have to pay NI on unearned income? That description normally covers things like income from shares, interest income from the bank etc. So is that also going to fall under NI now?

Reply to the comment left by Marie at 03/09/2025 – 15:33
No, Marie, we only have these extra special rates for special persons; Landlords!

Uncertainty drives good landlords out of the market. But let’s dig deeper. Good landlords aren’t just providers of housing; they’re custodians of community stability. Their departure doesn’t just weaken the system—it erodes trust. Tenants lose reliable housing, and the remaining landlords, often less scrupulous, fill the void. The result? A race to the bottom in housing quality and tenant satisfaction.
London’s rental market is already a pressure cooker. Adding this levy could accelerate a shift toward short-term lets or Airbnb-style rentals, further squeezing long-term tenants. The policy, intended to raise revenue, might inadvertently exacerbate the city’s housing crisis.
The private rental sector thrives on predictability. This levy introduces volatility, and humans hate volatility. Landlords will hedge their bets—raising rents, cutting maintenance, or exiting the market altogether. The ripple effects? Higher rents, poorer housing conditions, and a weakened system that fails both landlords and tenants.

Trusted tenants might need to pay cash 😉

When Labour finish crashing the housing market, where will they turn next to feed their incompetence?

It should read ‘Tenants to face 8% rise’.

When will this government realise that any increase to landlords will lead to increases for tenants. Landlords will pass the cost onto tenants or will sell up and leave, maybe that’s what the government want.

Reply to the comment left by Steve Ticket at 03/09/2025 – 18:19
.. they do. But this way they can blame “greedy’ Landlords and deflect the public ire on us.

Reply to the comment left by Suspicious Steve at 03/09/2025 – 09:07
You are talking legal stuff but govts find a way to bend rules to suit them. Remeber IR35 contractors on inside contracts are now employees but for tax purposes only. They don’t get employee benefits. Small landlords will be the same business for tax, NI and compliance purposes but not where exemptions come in. As you said they will cook up something new.
About passing on the cost what concerns me is there is only so much people can pay where would we find tenants who would pay this kind of rent govt are trying to get to.

Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 03/09/2025 – 11:33
This would indeed be the effect of the policy if it is applied to non-incorporated landlords who are unable to offset their finance cots against rents. Both the NI and the additional finance costs will have to be passed on as higher rents to tenants because the landlord has no other option to recover the additional cost.

And that of course will all be made worse by any need to raise additional finance to pay for properties to be moved from EPC band D to band C or above. Non-incorporated landlords are targeted by the tax system already and as you correctly state that pain is just going to be passed on to tenants.

Anybody who was ‘economically competent’ would understand this.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 04/09/2025 – 10:49The simple economic fact is that all taxes are ultimately paid for by people. Taxing businesses means prices go up.
Taxing people directly (Income Tax, VAT, NI) means that that the Government gets blamed and is the bad guy.
Tax businesses who raise prices, and its companies that are the bad guys for being profiteers, or the “greedy” Landlords, with only a little blame, if any, going against the Government. But this has its limits due to imports undercutting local businesses who then fold costing jobs.