Stamp duty surcharge will hurt tenants most of all warns rental app creator

The three per cent stamp duty surcharge being imposed on buy to let and other properties is set to hurt tenants far more than landlords or the property establishment according to the founder of rentals app Movebubble.

Aidan Rushby, writing in the online news publication Huffington Post, says the motivation behind the surcharge - to emphasise owner occupation over renting - is all well and good but as has continually happened, the people who are going to suffer the most have been entirely ignored in the process: the renters.”

Rushby says rising landlord costs will inevitably filter down to tenants “leading to a decline in the rental stock and consequently raising prices.” 

He says that despite the manic rush of buy to let purchasers attempting to beat last week’s duty deadline, “investors will be the group who benefit in the long run.” 

He says that ever since news broke of the stamp duty surcharge, prices of buy to let properties on sale have been rising “and will now soar due to supply taking a nose-dive.” 

Rushby - whose app is aimed at would-be renters in London - insists change is required but he says the capital is proving too expensive for many bright young people. “We are in danger of failing to attract the top talent with these latest legislation changes and the country's workforce will be poorer for it” he says.