Industry group steps up pressure against buy to let tax change

As the Conservatives meet at their annual conference and Chancellor Phillip Hammond considers next month’s Autumn Statement, an industry body has stepped up its opposition to changes in taxation for buy to let landlords.

The Residential Landlords Association claims well over half of landlords plan to increase rents to cope with recent tax increases.

Its survey of almost 3,000 private sector landlords also found that the same proportion do not plan on purchasing any additional properties for their portfolio - with nearly a third of landlords are considering leaving the market altogether. 

Some 56 per cent of of landlords are planning to increase rents in the next 12 months to offset the impact of changes to mortgage interest relief, the RLA says, adding that the policy will most negatively impact families because 63 per cent of landlords reporting letting to tenants with at least one child.

There are also likely to be cutbacks in raising the standard of existing properties with 58 per cent saying the tax rises will hit their plans for investment in their properties.

Recent tax changes have included restricting the payment of mortgage interest relief to the basic rate of income tax and an extra three per cent stamp duty on the purchase of homes to rent.  

Some 54 per cent of landlords do not have confidence in the future of the sector with 70 per cent anticipating further government policies aimed at landlords in the near future.

The RLA is calling on Phillip Hammond to review the tax changes made by his predecessor George Osborne and get behind the nation’s landlords and encourage more homes to be developed for rent to meet the demand.