National Insurance on rental income could give older landlords an advantage

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 22/10/2025 – 16:25
They currently do call and treat it as unearned income and we can make voluntary NIC contributions.
Mandating it would imply that is being treated as earned unless they extended it to dividends and interest earned.
Oh, and one of the tax kites that has been flown recently is removing the pension age cap on NIC payments as part of a move to consolidate income tax and NIC into a single tax.
Triple Lock + Heating Allowance = Tax Return + NICs for pensioners

Reply to the comment left by Rod at 22/10/2025 – 17:10
Either way it would be passed on as rent increases to tenants.

You would have thought, that somewhere along the line of all this, someone in government would realise that a lot of people over pensionable age have invested their pension pot in property not the stock market or pension funds, so that they can provide for themselves when the time comes but if that investment is continually being taxed away then all that will happen is that these people will most likely be forced to become more reliant on the state. Contrary to how they like to portray such people they are actual assisting by remaining independent having paid National Insurance and tax all their lives. You cannot go on re-inventing yourself or have many choices as you age and time is running out so please leave those, in this position helping themselves alone, it does makes sense if you think about it.

Reply to the comment left by DP at 22/10/2025 – 17:43
This government isn’t interested in what makes sense or what is fair. You are quite right that people who have strived all their lives paying NI and also trying to invest for a comfortable retirement by investing in BTL shouldn’t be penalised for that in any just world.

But that’s not how labour sees the world. “Workers” are people who work in the public sector or other unionised industries. That’s who keeps labour MPs in power and pays for labour MPs pensions.

The Telegraph just reported that the taxpayer is just about to foot a record £59 billion for gold-plated public sector pensions.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions/private-pensions/taxpayer-bill-for-public-sector-pensions-hit-record-59bn/#:~:text=Britain%27s%20gold%2Dplated%20public%20sector,double%20the%20previous%20year%27s%20increase.

You are also right that as you get older your horizons narrow and you cannot just keep reinventing yourself. Any older person who doesn’t have a gold-plated public sector pension and votes labour might as well put a gun to their head.

Most pensioners are like myself, counting down the days until the tenants leave, so we can sell up and have a stress free retirement.

I started to upgrade my Victorian properties i rent out about 3 year ago, i did internal insulation & have had no problems so far, i also at the same time upgraded the windows, doors & electrics, went back to bare brick & started from there, cost more than 15k to do all that per property & that’s with me doing the majority of the work my self.
It’s financially been a strain to say the least but pleased now i have done them, but it’s a big worry for any landlord.
I know a lot of landlords & don’t know any other landlord that has done what i have to improve there rentals & was starting to think i had wasted time & money doing them, mine i did each time one become vacant so an added cost of no rent while work is being done.

Reply to the comment left by Barry Smith at 24/10/2025 – 00:28
I admire your commitment to your tenants. You’ve done most of the work yourself, which is a massive saving, but even then, £15k per property is a big number. I’m sure you’ve calculated the total cost, including lost rent, and mortgage costs, but have you calculated your breakeven point (assuming no voids) ? Also, what difference has this made to your EPCs?

Reply to the comment left by Barry Smith at 24/10/2025 – 00:28
What most of the radical left wing (which now doesn’t just include the labour party and their union backers but also includes the Green Party) don’t understand, or even want to understand and accept is that being a landlord isn’t a free-ride.

It’s not just a passive investment and there’s always work to be done. There is also risk to manage. This is particularly the case if you are using BTL finance because if for example you have a 60% BTL mortgage you own 40% of the property. If there’s a downturn the bank takes no risk at all…so if the value of your property drops to 80% of its original investment then you’ve done a lot of work, spent a lot of money, and still lost 50% of your original capital.

The most radical, stupid, lazy, and entitled members of the country’s radical left wing either don’t want to understand this, don’t want to accept it, or think that you shouldn’t have had the capital in the first place, even though you might have spent years earning the capital to invest, after paying both tax and NI on your earnings, maybe for 40 years or more. They also don’t want to accept that this is a socially-useful activity. It puts a safe roof over somebody’s head.

Even the current members of the government who are still living the lie and saying that they can build 1.5 million new homes haven’t accepted that it is obvious to everybody with any intelligence at all that they won’t be able to do it and can’t afford it. It’s also obvious that they won’t come close to providing the accommodation that the country needs by penalising investors for working hard, taking risk, and investing in it.

Reply to the comment left by DP at 22/10/2025 – 17:43
Won’t be eligible to be reliant on the state as have more than 1 property and that property can be sold to fund retirement.

Reply to the comment left by Rod at 22/10/2025 – 15:54
S-E NI both class 2 and class 4 have never been allowed tax relief.