MPs urge ministers to open pensions to buy to let

MPs urge ministers to open pensions to buy to let

15:19 PM, 14th May 2012, About 12 years ago 1

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Calls to boost buy to let by upgrading pensions to include residential property are gathering momentum in Parliament.

An influential select committee of MPs is urging the government to streamline pension and tax laws for landlords to stimulate investment in private rented housing.

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee, which includes MPs from all parties, wants self-invested personal pension schemes (SiPP) opened to buy to let investors.

Current tax laws bar retirement savers from including residential property in pensions, although property investors can shelter commercial property in a SiPP.

Lobbyists the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) welcomes the move.

“The crisis in the private rented sector shows no signs of abating. Faced with a chronic shortage of accommodation, many tenants are faced with too high rents and are left to simply accept whatever housing they can find,” said chairman Alan Ward.

“This report echoes the arguments we put to the committee and are putting to government to reform the regulatory and taxation system which is stifling new investment in the sector.

“The proposals we have suggested would help unlock renovation in run-down properties, bringing them back into supply, and lead to new homes being provided for let.

“We strongly welcome the support given in principle to this by the report and urge ministers to act on its recommendations.”

The committee also recommends the government supports ‘build to let’ initiatives.

“While it is right to consider the potential for large institutions to invest in the private rented sector, it is also important to remember that the sector is, and will continue to be, dominated by small companies and individual landlords,”says a report from the select committee.

“There are a number of issues facing those in the sector. We have heard that the burden of regulation and taxation has deterred landlords from expanding their businesses. While constraints on mortgage finance will continue to affect investment in the sector, the government could provide some support by taking steps to address this burden.”


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Comments

15:43 PM, 14th May 2012, About 12 years ago

But didn't Gordon Brown stop this idea last time as he would have lost millions in inheritance tax.
Govts don't like the idea of property passing on at death without having to be sold and them receiving taxes.
Plus these properties could avoid care home fees if in a pension scheme.
Presumably being in a pension scheme would mean a widow could retain the property for years after the original penison owner had died.
Govts will not stand for such a massive loss in taxes if properties are effectively put into tax shelters called pensions.
You could even put your own residential property into a pension and have a tenant who you lodge with!!
Therefore as a lodger you would not be residing in a PPR so the council could not sell it for care home fees.
The fact that your 'tenant' was seemingly hardly ever around would not be relevant!!!?

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