Government wants stamp duty and tax cuts for buy to let.

brit1234

'Give tax breaks to buy-to-let landlords so they will buy more property', says Government report:eek:


By Steve Doughty
Last updated at 6:52 PM on 23rd October 2008

Buy-to-let landlords should get tax breaks as part of a drive to increase the number of homes for rent, according to a Government report.:mad:

They should get relief from stamp duty or capital gains tax to encourage them to buy more property, it said.:mad:

And buy-to-let mortgages should continue to be on offer, provided they go to investors who can show they understand the rental market, the paper recommended.

The plans are a boost for hundreds of thousands of small investors squeezed in the credit crunch because of the pressure on their mortgages and the difficulty of finding high-paying tenants for city centre flats.:rotfl:

The report prepared for Hazel Blear's Communities Department by York University academics said that tax breaks should be used to help good landlords grow - with the hope that some will turn into big businesses.

It found that buy-to-let landlords are unfairly regarded as amateur and often ignorant short-term speculators. People who want to buy property on mortgages to rent out should be able to do so with some safeguards, the report said.

Author Julie Rugg said: 'Changes to the tax regime should be framed to encourage landlords to view their letting activity as a business rather than investment activity, and buy-to-let mortgages should be available subject to business planning.'

Buy-to-let mortgages should include clauses to protect tenants if the property is repossessed from a defaulting landlord, she added.

Advice: The report by academics at York university was prepared for Hazel Blear's Communities Department:mad:

The report said that efforts to help landlords 'should include smaller landlords, since the larger landlords generally grow through portfolio acquisition.
'Suggestions include changes to stamp duty and to capital gains tax to encourage portfolio development.'

Stamp duty is currently paid at one per cent on property bought for over £175,000; three per cent over £250,000; and four per cent over £500,000.
Capital Gains Tax is paid at 18 per cent on profits made when a landlord sells property that is rented out.

Miss Rugg said: 'We hope the review has signalled the Government's intent to seek a better working relationship with the sector.'

There are estimated to be between 300,000 and 500,000 buy-to-let landlords who operate small numbers of rental properties. They hold just over a million mortgages, and last year they made up 17 per cent of the mortgage market.
But they are among the hardest hit by the economic crisis. Banks that have concentrated on the buy-to-let market, like Bradford and Bingley, have suffered badly, and buy-to-let mortgages are increasingly difficult to get.

Nearly half of all buy-to-let mortgages go to investors who are remortgaging, and many who cannot get new mortgages face high interest rates at a time when tenants are becoming thin on the ground, especially for the new-build city centre flats which many investors have bought.

Housing minister Margaret Beckett said: 'It is crucial that we have a high quality sector that works well for both landlords and tenants, and encourages mobility.' She added that the report had produced 'a number of practical recommendations to consider.'

Malcolm Harrison of the Association of Residential Lettings Agents said: 'We have a situation in which the buy-to-let investor has saved the private rental sector.

'Without the buy-to-let investor we would have a tiny private rented sector and catastrophe in the housing market.':rotfl:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1080081/Give-tax-breaks-buy-let-landlords-buy-property-says-Government-report.html







This just makes me ANGRY. :mad: Yet again the government favours landlords over first time buyers and yet again the goverment are intent in keeping this housing bubble inflated.

Prices are collapsing, over geared landlords are going bankrupt. How can anyone one vote Labour when they are so against the family.

Government wants to bail out the Wilsons



:mad:

treliac

Govt's worried about having all these dispossessed tenants on their hands. First time buyers don't figure alongside that.

StevieJ

And there is me thinking they already had all the tax advantages going.

dopester

The report prepared for Hazel Blear's Communities Department by York University academics said that tax breaks should be used to help good landlords grow - with the hope that some will turn into big businesses.

Lol. These academics should get a real job.

You need people to rent those properties - such a great big business - and I've just returned from reading another forum (cars) where so many people are either worried about their jobs or noticing things get quieter. It is over for the BTL freaks.

Amba_Gambla

I was outraged...... then I saw the link was for the Daily Mail...

BLAME THE IMMIGRANTS!

baby_boomer

I blame the government, not immigrants. The government's policy is all over the place isn't it?

"We want to support first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder BUT we also want to support the housing market (or we'll lose the 2010 election)."

"We want to build more more social housing BUT we can't because we neglected the housing sector in the good times & now we've got no money for that because we're spent it all on Health, PFI, Banks, Public Sector expansion and we've got massive government debts just as tax revenues are about to implode."

"We want housebuilders to build more homes but they won't while the housing market is still falling and we can't see how to encourage them."

So :idea: we'd better support buy-to-let because we've not got any other options if there are going to be places to rent after the repossessions."

So much for the promised public sector Keynesian expansion to boost the economy!

To me, this looks like a desperate government, scared stiff of the effect of a collapse of buy to let on the banking sector, the financial system and the government's investment in the banks.

seven-day-weekend

Plentiful Social Housing would be the right way to go, but seeing as it won't be going that way then surely it is better to have somewhere to rent rather than nowhere?

Incisor

brit1234 wrote: »

...
This just makes me ANGRY. :mad: Yet again the government favours landlords over first time buyers and yet again the goverment are intent in keeping this housing bubble inflated.

Prices are collapsing, over geared landlords are going bankrupt. How can anyone one vote Labour when they are so against the family.

Keep your hair on. It's a report by a group of academics, not government policy at this point.

Incisor

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Plentiful Social Housing would be the right way to go, but seeing as it won't be going that way then surely it is better to have somewhere to rent rather than nowhere?

Yes, but the outrageous thing is that these academics are proposing to give BTL's tax breaks which are not available to people who buy their own homes. It is essentially a capitalist accumulative policy which allows the BTL haves [who already have their own house] to have more at the expense of the have not renters.

wymondham

I would imagine the Government don't really care who buys houses, they just want them sold, and at present FTB's can't/won't do it (wisely!), so who's next in the line....?

scousethife

The government probably would prefer landlords to rent to social housing rather than local councils. All they do is pay the rent , they arnt obliged to do repairs etc