MPs clash over property income tax amid warnings it will hurt landlords and tenants

Being a landlord is not a charity so all cost rises will be passed onto customers (tenants) and all regulation that transposes into extra time and costs will be passed onto customers (Tenants). This should be no surprise to anyone as it’s the way the system has worked for decades.

The housing minister said somewhat stupidly ‘Not all regulation is bad regulation’ Unfortunately much of the RRA will damage the prospects of tenants’ and particularly tenants who claim.benefits. The point is it’s the ministers job to make sure NONE OF HIS REGULATION is BAD regulation and he missed that mark by a country mile.

Remind me which party enacted section 24?

I believe the additional 2% tax for 2026/27 is on dividends and 2027/28 for rental properties

What no one in govt or even on this forum ever seems to realise or mention is that since George Osborne decreed that mortgage interest is no longer a legitimate expense but is now classed as income this 2% increase on “rental income” includes all mortgage interest so is not on true income but also on all mortgage interest. Not only that but this total mortgage interest can push many small standard rate tax paying landlords into the higher rate taxation band.

If the goal is true tax equality, all income should be taxed relative to the turnover of the sourcing organisation, apportioned by employee count or salary percentage. This would put every taxpayer on a level playing field. Of course, no government would dare implement this for the general public, as it would be viewed as a massive, unfair tax hike. Yet, interestingly, this is exactly the logic being applied to individual landlords.

Landlords should be pushing for interest to be disallowed for all businesses. Let get the interest playing field properly levelled.

A great many people who became landlords were self employed people with absolutely no financial safety net enjoyed by PAYE workers. No sick pay, no holiday pay, no employers pension contributions, no redundancy rights.

Rental income doesn’t receive any tax relief (enjoyed by all PAYE workers) if it is paid into a SIPP, other than a derisory £2880 per year.

We would love to be treated fairly but there is so much catching up we need to do it’s unlikely to ever happen.

For the record when I became a landlord I was a widow with 3 young children and was working part time in a railway ticket office and as a self employed taxi driver. I worked long hours in a high risk industry to be able to provide for my family. I still work part time but now it’s in a warehouse. I’m about as far from being a baron or vast landowner as it is possible to imagine. I left school at 16 and had many periods of unemployment over the following 16 years. Several years on income support. Suddenly a year on Family Income Supplement revolutionised my life, allowing me to try to earn enough without barriers. During that year I saved enough to buy my own taxi. The following year I bought a very run down flat in need of renovation. It mushroomed from there. A combination of hard work, long hours and high risk. Now apparently it’s fine for me to pay even more tax to support people who can’t be bothered to work any hours or take any risks.

Back in the 80’s, becoming a landlord was the British equivalent of the “American Dream”
People were able to take charge of their own life, by working hard an investing into their families future.
The governments were happy to let private landlords to take over their responsibility to housing those who did not have the means to buy.
But the dream is over, the politics of envy destroyed it drip by drip.
The PRS houses millions, NOT at the expense of the tax payer, but instead produces £1.5 BILLION in tax revenue.
And the politicians have decided to kill it?
These are seriously stupid people “leading” us.

Reply to the comment left by The_Maluka at 15/01/2026 – 09:35
Good point. The minister ignores the fact that, under George Osborne’s Section 24, many landlords with mortgages pay tax on earnings they never receive.

The govt wants to raise more tax but tends to leave big fish and companies alone but hammers those further down. Do Housing Associations pay licences for their properties? No. Will they face the strong possibility of adding VAT to their rents in 2028? No Are they subject to the same rules for 6 monthly inspections or action by local councils for housing issues or time taken for repairs? Apparently not. Small landlords are straight on the block. Add 20% VAT and the full cost of licences to rent and landlords will get blamed for the increase in rent. Landlords sell up and the private sector is called out for ‘not playing their part’. I wonder why AirBnB, VRBO, English Country Cottages, Sykes Country Cottages etc etc are so popular with owners?