Private landlords on tenterhooks bracing for yet another attack?

Private landlords on tenterhooks bracing for yet another attack?

10:31 AM, 9th February 2021, About 3 years ago 42

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Private landlords are on tenterhooks once more prior to the Budget, bracing ourselves for yet another attack. The rumour is that we are to be slammed with a massive increase in Capital Gains Tax. I have explained why this is so wrong on many levels and made some alternative suggestions in an article I was asked to write for a political website here. I would appreciate it if as many landlords as possible read it and gave it a positive rating (this may help me to get more similar articles published in the future).

Will Rishi dish landlords in his Budget — yet again? | TheArticle

In such articles, there is a word limit, so I couldn’t go into everything that has been done against us in recent years, so feel free to add anything about any of this here. For example, there is the big issue of Energy Performance Certificates, which I didn’t have space to mention. The idea that countless millions of homes can get a C rating on the EPCs by 2025 is a joke. The Government doesn’t seem to have a clue about the older buildings in the PRS and the huge amount of money that would be needed – and even then, it might be impossible to bring them up to a C.

I also could have mentioned HMO licences and the cost of them also and how the schemes are one big racket. Also, there are the Rent Repayment Orders – a landlord could rent out a beautiful house, at a cheap rate and with all health and safety measures at an excellent standard – but if they didn’t know they needed a piece of paper from the council and didn’t pay the £800 or so fee – they face paying back a year’s worth of rent on top of a £30,000 fine – and that is per property.

These punitive policies are a disgrace for a so-called Conservative Government. They are more befitting of a Socialist/Communist state.

We need the Government to have a positive vision for the sector, with incentives and fair taxes. That is how a Conservative Government should be behaving. Please pass this on to your MP, to the Treasury or to whomever you want. It all helps. Although of course, what we really need is an organisation which will take on these fights for landlords, preferably in the legal arena.


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Comments

Chris Bradley

6:57 AM, 10th February 2021, About 3 years ago

I'm a small porfolio landlord income from property 27k, I think I need to start breeding dogs instead. At £3.5k a puppy average 8 puppies per litter. That's 28k twice a year with none of the hassle and paperwork and I bet most of the sellers don't realise that they are supposed to declare the income for tax

JB

9:22 AM, 10th February 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Chris Bradley at 10/02/2021 - 06:57
... and no regulations for breeders!

Mike W

20:55 PM, 10th February 2021, About 3 years ago

Excellent article but until landlords start putting the case for landlords then nothing is going to change. In my employment I had to move every 2-3 years. That is 16 houses across 4 countries I and my family have lived in, and we had to rent out our own home to balance the books. Without landlords, my job could not have existed. Indeed in two of those countries, the housing was company-owned housing.
Nor can it be fair if the same business is taxed differently depending upon how it is structured.
The biggest problem which is still to hit is the carbon neutral one. Nobody has calculated the cost of refurbishing old housing to high insulation standards because heat pumps cannot produce the same level of heat output as gas boilers. And that will hit all homeowners who do not have EPCs of B or at least high C. Think of all those houses built from the Victorian era right up to 2010. They will all require work. Who is going to pay? And think of the disruption. Not just loft insulation but wall insulation as well and probably underfloor insulation too.

Mike

9:38 AM, 13th February 2021, About 3 years ago

what the landlords don't broadcast to tenants in general is that their rents are sky high because of the risk of enormous fines that can be imposed on landlords when they may inadvertently overlook something, plus all the silly and stupid endless legislations which will have a direct impact on their rents , we are no different to Insurance companies who base their premiums on risk factors, so things like having a license, urgent repairs, EPC, gas safe certification upfront of contract, EICR report, property licensing, and the long list of bureaucracy, biased courts and judges, free legal aid to rogue tenants, yes I much rather keep a property empty and use it as a second home, sell it for retirement . We don't need this hell.

apparently, this has nothing to do with tenants, but the poor sods will now have to pay me more rent so that I can continue to exist as my local council council has imposed stupidly high charges for issuing residents parking permits, so i need to fork out an extra £600 this year frim my budget and the only way I can balance my books is to raise the tenants rents, this is climate control rubbish as an excuse to raise revenue. Money does not grow on trees.

Pete Lightowler

9:46 AM, 13th February 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by David Price at 09/02/2021 - 14:33
Sounds interesting David, can you say a bit more about this strategy please? As we go further into retirement we have this option when we eventually would think about selling individual properties.

JB

9:46 AM, 13th February 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 13/02/2021 - 09:38
Its not just fines. I think the biggest problem is the tenant from hell who live in the property for free and does thousands of pounds of damage.

The good tenants are paying for the bad tenants. If they woke up and supported landlords in swift evictions it would improve their lot.

Derek t

10:14 AM, 13th February 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by David Price at 09/02/2021 - 14:33
What’s the best way to do this ? This is something we have discussed but dont k ow where to start thanks

TheMaluka

12:08 PM, 13th February 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Derek t at 13/02/2021 - 10:14
The first move is to place all your properties in a limited company, you may be able to incorporate without too much penalty. Shares are issued by the company to you and your family members each of whom is at liberty to sell their shares to any other person. If it is another family member it MUST be at the market rate based on the value of the property, if to an unconnected person it can be at any mutually agreeable price.

Derek t

12:10 PM, 13th February 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by David Price at 13/02/2021 - 12:08
Many thanks will start looking into it with the unencumbered properties as that will be easier
I suppose with mortgages will be more difficult

Chris @ Possession Friend

12:24 PM, 13th February 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 13/02/2021 - 09:38
Mike, re ... ' what Landlords don't broadcast to tenants. '
I would say that its landlord Associations, and especially the largest, who should be pushing that message, and pushing it Hard.
Reality is. - they have a cosy relationship to Govt, are limp-wristed and don't say it as it is. ( as some might have noticed, I do say )

For example, when has either of them, even before amalgamation, challenged tenant support groups and held them to account for the effect they have on shortage of rental properties for the majority of tenants, - instead of just taking up the case of the few rogue tenants.

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