Profile incomplete
10:43 AM, 4th October 2016, About 8 years ago 30
Text Size
If you are already aware of the problem and can’t be bothered to read this entire article please feel free to skip to the bottom to read our “plan of action”.
It is all very well that media are recognising the Government experiment to introduce the 3% Stamp Duty levy on second homes is failing but that’s just part of the story.
Osborne’s Stamp Duty levy has resulted in less duty being collected which might put pressure on Hammond to reconsider that.
The backlash from industry bodies such as RICS, conveyancers, estate agents etc. is all helping to make the case against the Stamp Duty levy but from my perspective it’s all too short sighted.
The organisations calling for a reversal of the Stamp Duty levy are only doing so because that’s what is affecting their business today. The real problem is going to be the increasing number of people who will find themselves homeless as other tax measures begin to bite.
Let’s pretend the Stamp Duty issue is resolved and that investors start piling into the market again. Those affected today might see this as a win, HM treasury will certainly be happy if Stamp Duty receipts increase again and in the short term there will no doubt be celebration.
The new investors will enter the market with their eyes wide open and many intent on building property portfolios will do so in a Limited Company. Let’s face it, they be daft not to, especially if they intend to borrow money! After all, why would any business elect to invest in a structure which prevents them from offsetting finance costs against income? It’s pure madness, no other business except for private landlords is taxed on the basis that finance costs are excluded as expenses.
The hole in the bucket
If the Stamp Duty issue is fixed then investment into UK property will undoubtedly rise. However, hundreds of thousand of landlords who committed to investment before April 2015, when George Osborne first announced the restrictions on finance cost relief, will remain trapped into an ownership structure which is no longer viable. There may only be a few hundred thousand landlords affected but between them they own at well over one million properties.
As the bucket fills with new investors, unaffected by George Osborne’s tax policies, the number of properties owned by private landlords will reduce. To put it another way, those affected by George’s policies will sell up, hence the “hole in the bucket”.
Why is it that Government refuse to recognise this problem?
A headline in The Guardian today reads “UK faces shortfall of 1.8m rental homes”
Err …. #ToldYouSo!
This is what happens when a Conservative Chancellor with a history Degree implements tax policy on private rental housing devised for the Green Party by a Geography graduate who just happens to have a posh Daddy.
On a more local level we are seeing headlines “MPs in dispute over £1 million Travelodge bill for homeless families”
What a mess, and to think that Shelter fully supports the legislation that is causing this.
Why is it that Shelter, one of the biggest charities supposedly fighting homelessness cannot see beyond their noses?
A cynic might suggest that Shelter are nothing without a homelessness problem and landlords to attack!
The numbers of evictions will rocket when the new landlord tax regime kicks in. God help anyone claiming benefits to pay their rent. Benefits caps and Universal Credit isn’t helping help either. Private landlords will not be able to afford to continue renting to benefits claimants. Instead they will do what most Housing Associations are doing and rent to working folk. They will also end tenancies which are no longer profitable.
Does anybody have any idea where the most vulnerable in society will live? Councils are already using Travel Lodge for emergency housing because they have nowhere else to put people!
Does anybody really think Government Housing Policy makes any sense at all?
We want to communicate with every high level housing officer and centre of influence in local Government.
Why?
Because the homelessness problem is going to end up on their doorstep. It is the local council who are going to be responsible for the clean up operation when the Government war on landlords (read indirect stealth tax on tenants) takes full effect.
Ever since the Summer 2015 Budget a team of 14 academics, all regular contributors to the Property118 forum, have committed their spare time to researching the consequences of George Osborne’s tax policies on the Private Rented Sector. The vast majority of the research provided to “Axe The Tenant Tax” campaign has been presented by this group.
Dr Rosalind Beck head up this research campaign and the members of Property118 have pulled it all together into a substantial report.
Our goal is to have this published and sent to every local Government officer with influence over housing policy. Educating those people is another route to putting further pressure on Government to re-think consequences of the tax policies introduced by George Osborne.
To achieve this we need to raise funds.
The more money we raise, the more we can do.
We trust we can rely on your support?
Previous Article
Council tax liability dates make no sense?Next Article
Just Suppose
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
9:06 AM, 29th October 2016, About 8 years ago
UPDATE
The report is now published - see https://media.property118.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/6G0YKMd1Wf.pdf
So far this campaign has raised £781. Thank you to all who contributed.
The amount raised was less than we needed to have the report printed and posted so we have had to come up with a plan B.
The new plan is to acquire a database of all MP's Lords, Councillors & Housing Charities and to send personalised emails with a link to the report as follows:-
Subject line: Housing Crisis
FAO name
Title
Organisation
Address
Town county
Postcode
By email only
Dear
Please see below a link to our report regarding Government legislation we believe will make the UK housing crisis worse.
I would be most grateful if you could let me have your personal thoughts on this matter and advise generally on how we could work together in order to convince Government to repeal the legislation scheduled for phased implementation from the 2016/17 tax year onwards.
Link to report >>> https://media.property118.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/6G0YKMd1Wf.pdf
We look forward to receiving your considered reply.
Yours sincerely
Mark Alexander
for Property118 Landlords Group
"The Landlords Union"
We have a team of 14 helpers to consider all responses.
.
Paul landlord
19:36 PM, 11th November 2016, About 8 years ago
Just pledged £50.
Every little helps as the saying goes.
Every private landlord needs to 'muck in' and fight the tyrade of attacks that have been coming from all quarters for the last few years otherwise we are all going to be slaughtered
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
20:12 PM, 11th November 2016, About 8 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "paul landlord" at "11/11/2016 - 19:36":
Thank you Paul ?
.
Stuart Trow
10:21 AM, 12th November 2016, About 8 years ago
Donated £50. Thanks for coordinating this.
Your briefing document is comprehensive and well drafted. I've got nothing to add save to highlight my particular irritations.
1) Even those who should know better have become so fixated on bashing the PRS that they totally ignore the consequences for those who either have to, or choose to, live in private sector accommodation.
2) Allied to that the impact of proposed policy changes is usually pretty simple. Certain measures either increase or decrease the supply of housing, whilst other increase or decrease the demand. Help to buy, for example, increases demand (bad), routine planning objections to making property work harder via HMOs reduces supply (also bad).
3) Random licensing increases costs to no great benefit to the tenant and ultimately reduces supply in the rental sector. Personally I would prefer that all landlords were licensed on a consistent national basis rather than being vulnerable to local officials acting out their hostility towards landlords. I think tenants are entitled to feel confident that a property they rent meets certain standards. Persistent and deliberate breaches of the rules will result in sanctions.
4) Corbyn's "subsidy" thing is also irritating as my experience has been that social or HB rents are actually lower for private landlords than the open market.
5) If it was deemed desirable to punish leverage in the PRS, one of the stated aims of the whole mortgage relief reduction thing, it would be far more honest to restrict the availability of interest-only mortgages rather than make a market distorting grab for revenue.
6) And finally a small point on rent control proposals. I fully accept that it is desirable to avoid sudden and disproportionate rental increases. What concerns me is that attempting to over-control the situation will result in annual index-linked increases in rents becoming the norm. It is my experience that most landlords tend not to increase rents for sitting tenants. So in simply trying to avoid isolated cases of gouging, you risk all tenants being subjected to annual increases. You can see what the campaigners are trying to get at, but their lack of understanding of how things actually work in practice means they again risk damaging those they are seeking to protect. Ultimately the only way to drive down rents is to increase supply.
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
12:20 PM, 12th November 2016, About 8 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "Stuart Trow" at "12/11/2016 - 10:21":
I agree with you on all of the points you have made.
.
Russell Thomas
14:14 PM, 12th November 2016, About 8 years ago
Donated £50 plus a lifetime member of the Landlords Union.
I believe your action and the amalgamated views of the contributors will only strengthen our position The more pressure is put on the government and local councils to show that the private rental market is not the problem but the solution to a string of their failed housing policies. Instead they are treating us as cash cows and portraying us as the evil landlord to be kicked and prodded for cheap point scoring.
Only by uniting and creating a lobby group can we be recognised as a force to contribute towards helping the housing problems.
Don't forget the donation and membership are legitimate expenses so claim the tax back!!
Michael Bond
18:09 PM, 12th November 2016, About 8 years ago
I have pledged £50, because this is important. This is not only about the Tenant Tax. We must constantly push the message that the Private Rented Sector, which is us private landlords, is providing a service that no one else seems able to provide. We put our own money at risk to provide many of our fellow citizens with a roof over their heads. I think I am correct in saying that over 20% of households live in privately rented accommodation; about 2/3rds of evictions from rented accommodation are in the subsidised "social housing" sector; that if we did not exist or turned our portfolios over to holiday letting, local authorities could hardly scratch the surface of their waiting lists - you already have to be on the list for years in most local authority areas; and we provide HMOs with bedsits for single people including those on benefits who only qualify for single room rate. Local authorities generally don't provide this sort of accommodation. Certainly there are a small proportion of "rogue landlords". I am sure there is at least as large a proportion of "rogue officials" in local and national government, and almost as large a proportion of "rogue members" of our two Houses of Parliament.
Margaret Liddell
19:59 PM, 23rd November 2016, About 7 years ago
I've donated £30. The Property 118 website is providing a very worthwhile service and opportunity for landlords to communicate, share good practise and co-ordinate initiatives. Thank you Mark.
Sam Addison
12:52 PM, 28th November 2016, About 7 years ago
Just pledged £10. Like Mandy, not really affected by S24 but do not agree with government actions.
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
13:06 PM, 28th November 2016, About 7 years ago
All donations very much appreciated, thank you
.