Reform UK says it will abolish section 24 for landlords

Among the promises being made by Reform UK to boost the UK’s private rented sector (PRS) is a pledge to abolish section 24 in its first 100 days in office.

Section 24 was introduced in the Finance Act 2015 by the then Chancellor George Osbourne which removed a landlord’s ability to offset all of their mortgage interest, from rental income before they calculated the tax liability and allow a 20% basic rate deduction.

In its ‘Our Contract With You’, Reform says it will ‘scrap the 2015 tax changes for landlords’.

Reform adds that the tax system should encourage smaller landlords into the rental markets – not penalise them.

It adds: “We will restore landlords’ rights to deduct finance costs and mortgage interest from tax on rental income.”

The Contract also pledges to abolish the Renters (Reform) Bill – which Labour and the Conservatives have said they will revisit after the election.

Unveiled the party’s election pledges

The party’s leader Nigel Farage unveiled the party’s election pledges in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales.

Among other housing issues raised by Mr Farage is that rents are up by 25% since 2021.

He said: “Is it any wonder with an exploding population rents are going up?”

Mr Farage also said: “I’m absolutely in no doubt that we are in decline culturally, we’ve begun to forget who we are.

“We are a party that know what we believe.”

He also says that rising immigration is the ‘dominant issue’ in the election – and the country needs to ‘build a new dwelling every two minutes just to deal with the current levels of migration’.

Reform social housing law

Reform will also reform social housing law to prioritise ‘local people and those who have paid into the system’.

It says that in parts of the UK, ‘almost half of all social housing is occupied by someone born overseas. Foreign nationals must go to the back of the queue. Not the front’.

Reform is also planning to ‘fast track planning and tax incentives for the development of brownfield sites, including unused offices and vacant high street properties’.

Mr Farage says that Reform will ‘restore trust in politics’ and adds: “You might dislike what we say, you might not even want to vote for what we say, but at least we do say what we mean.”

Five core pledges from Reform

Reform has five core pledges, including freezing ‘all non-essential immigration’ to help ‘boost wages, protect public services, end the housing crisis and cut crime’.

The party says it will also ‘stop the boats’ in its first 100 days, with a plan to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The tax cuts promised by Reform include:

• Raising the minimum threshold of income tax to £20,000 a year
• Abolishing stamp duty
• Abolishing inheritance tax for all estates under £2m
• Cut £50billion off public spending
• Leave the European Court of Human Rights
• Incentivise the use of new construction technology
• More new apprenticeships and vocational courses will increase the supply of skilled, well-paid workers to replace cheap overseas labour.