A trade body says the country faces a net loss of 133,000 homes for private rent over the next year - and only a radical rethink on lettings taxation can avoid it.
That’s the view of the Residential Landlords Association’s research wing, PEARL, which says that government figures themselves show a loss of 46,000 private rented properties in England alone between March 2016 and March 2017.
The RLA says that based on questioning over 2,600 landlords, no fewer than 84 per cent have seen tenant demand increasing or at least remaining stable - and this is despite some years of policies which, the association claims, have been geared to increasing owner occupation.
It says much of the reason for the fall in supply has been down to the start of the phased elimination of mortgage interest tax relief for buy to let investors, and the introduction of the three per cent stamp duty surcharge on additional homes.
The association says the much-vaunted Build To Rent sector contributes just two per cent of all private rented households in the UK.
To boost the supply of homes to rent the RLA now wants the government to scrap the stamp duty surcharge when landlords or investors aim to convert empty offices and shops into rental residential units, or turn large homes into small self-contained properties or bring one of the over 605,000 empty dwellings across England back into residential use.
“The demand for private rental homes shows no signs of slowing up, despite efforts to encourage home ownership. The government was always mistaken to place homes to own and to rent in opposition to each other rather than seeking to supply more homes in all tenures” explains RLA policy director David Smith.
“The vast majority of landlords are individuals and small businesses, providing good housing to their tenants and supporting local economies. We need to support and encourage them to provide the long term homes to rent needed.
“The government should use taxation more positively and not penalise landlords who are contributing to badly needed homes to rent.”
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Paul Johnson from the IFS told Government that S24 would do nothing to help FTBs. On other matters Cameron said that the IFS was the 'Gold Standard' of independent economists. It was another pointer that illustrates all this is really about is tax take.
So now the chickens are coming home to roost. First time buyers aren't helped, tenants aren't helped and once loyal Tory voters are definitely not helped. All this in front of a potential general election. They couldn't have cocked it up more.
Furthermore if transactions fall then so will tax take. Incompetence all round.
This is going to get worse and worse as the first s24 tax bills hit Jan. many landlords who haven’t done their homework are in for a nasty shock. More houses up for sale less for rent it’s a form of social cleansing as it is the most vulnerable in society that will suffer throw in the horrific UC there is a massive homelessness crisis like never seen before brewing.
"To boost the supply of homes to rent the RLA now wants the government to scrap the stamp duty surcharge....."
The RLA have lost the plot it is the draconian s.24 that is doing the damage, as it effects existing rental properties, and causing Landlords to leave the sector.
The3% surcharge doesn't help but can be factored in when buying a property.
Yes definitely just a tax grab dressed up as helping first time buyers.
But what they gain in tax will be lost In Housing the homeless as landlords sell up and stop buying.
How many businesses built up around btl will also go to the wall what will be the cost of all this to the economy.
Regarding the consultation on Section 24 none of the committee read them so it was just a paper exercise the decision had already been made.
Will the same be for the consultation. On 3yr tenancies.
At our landlords meeting on Tuesday we had a Council representative speaking and asking landlords to provide homes in Peterborough. The council now has 350 families in emergency accommodation and that's up 200% on this time last year. They forecast that by 2022 they will have overspent on the budget for this type of accommodation by £5.5 million.
Tell them to go to government, it’s all good asking landlords but they need to be supportive when it comes to legislation, and get rid of selective licensing, and anything else that is unnecessary which causes landlords to leave the market
It’s incredible that some people think this is good! It means 133,000 houses that tenants cannot access - worse, potentially up to 133,000 families being made homeless. Why are the charities/govt/haters so silent on where all the homeless are to go?
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