More criticism of buy to let tax changes by angry trade group

Treasury proposals to hand greater powers to the Bank of England to make access to buy to let lending harder risks choking off the supply of new housing.

That’s the view of the Residential Landlords Association which argues that the formal consultation on the proposals, issued last week, comes on top of extra tax payments by landlords and stamp duty increases on buy to let properties - the combination has the potential to cut off investment in the private rented sector.

The RLA says that according to government figures 83 per cent of all new dwellings created between 1996 and 2013 were private homes to rent. 

With business consultancy PwC predicting that almost 60 per cent of young people will be in rented housing by 2025, there is a desperate need for the private rented sector to keep expanding says the RLA. 

“There is no clear evidence that the property boom is caused by buy-to-let investors, when rising prices are mainly concentrated in London and the south east. This is largely fuelled by foreign investors and speculators treating our property as a commodity” claims RLA chairman Alan Ward.

He says his association backs any measure to ensure the stability of the financial sector because “it is important that lenders do not saddle landlords with debts which they cannot pay back.” 

But he insists the overwhelming majority of landlords are responsible borrowers providing homes as a long-term business.