Posts with tag: George Osborne

Chancellor’s measures to harm sector, report shows

Published On: February 11, 2016 at 11:42 am

Author:

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: ,,,,,

A new survey has revealed that the Chancellor’s policies intended to slow buy-to-let growth are actually leading to increased pressure on the sector.

Research carried out by Belvoir shows that despite 68% of landlords surveyed not raising their rents during the last year, 86% think that larger purchasing costs for investment properties will leave them with no choice but to put rents up in 2016.

Analysis

Managing Director of Belvoir, Dorian Gonsalves, explained, ‘the survey ran from mid December 2015 to mid-January 2016 and we invited all landlords, not just those who are clients of Belvoir, to respond to an on-line questionnaire. We received a total of 1,038 answers and many of these concurred with Belvoir’s predictions at the start of this year.’[1]

The vast majority of respondents were investment landlords with between one and ten properties. 93% of these rental properties were in England.

‘When we asked landlords how changes to stamp duty and taxation were likely to influence their investment plans for the next 12 months, 44% responded by saying they will be adopting a cautious approach to further investment,’ Gonsalves continued.[1]

‘A total of 68% of landlords had not increased their rents at all in the last 12 months and almost half of those surveyed have no plans to increase rents in the next 12 months.’[1]

Chancellor's measures to harm buy-to-let sector, report shows

Chancellor’s measures to harm buy-to-let sector, report shows

Ominous

More ominously, 88% of landlords feel that higher purchasing costs for their investment properties as a result of the tax changes will lead to increased rental costs.

‘Landlords are almost equally divided in their views as to whether they think BTL remains a good investment for new people coming into the market. A total of 46% thought it would still be a good investment and 40% thought it would not, with 14% undecided,’ Gonsalves explained.[1]

‘The majority of landlords named George Osborne’s anti-landlord policies as the single largest challenge that landlords will face in 2016. This is entirely in line with my prediction that increased Government interference in the BTL market will put a real squeeze on the supply of property in the rental market in 2016 and beyond,’ he concluded.[1]

[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/2/letting-agencys-survey-shows-osborne-measures-hurting-private-rental-sector

 

Landlords campaigning against tax hike to contact Government

Published On: January 25, 2016 at 10:14 am

Author:

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: ,,,

An attempt by two buy-to-let investors to seek a judicial review of the Chancellor’s mortgage interest tax relief alterations is beginning to gather pace.

Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper have taken advice from a number of legal aids, including Cherie Blair QC, on the prospect of getting a review of section 24 of the Finance (No.2) Act 2015. They have been informed that they have a, ‘reasonable chance of success.’

Challenge

Messrs Bolton and Cooper launched their challenge shortly before Christmas and had little trouble securing £50,000 through crowdfunding to first secure legal advice and then launch the campaign.

Mr Bolton is head of Platinum Property Partners, which has £200m of residential property in its portfolio. He has teamed up with fellow buy-to-let landlord Cooper in order to launch a challenge, on behalf of nearly 250 investors in the Platinum Property Partners network.

Landlords campaigning against tax hike to contact Government

Landlords campaigning against tax hike to contact Government

On their Facebook page, the pair state, ‘the Finance Act 2015 includes Clause 24, which overturns a fundamental financial business principle, where INCOME less COSTS equals PROFIT. The current government sees fit to change this trend, tested and proven commercial formula. In simple terms, the government believe that it makes complete sense to tax property owners on that part of the rent that has been paid to the lender as mortgage interest, as that money was still in the property owners’ bank account!’[1]

‘The next step is for our lawyers, Omnia Strategy LLP, to send a letter outlining our case to the government with a view to commencing judicial review proceedings,’ the post adds.[1]

[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/1/lawyers-for-anti-osborne-buy-to-let-tax-changes-to-contact-government-this-week

Angry Landlords Hope to Tackle George Osborne

Published On: January 4, 2016 at 12:26 pm

Author:

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: ,,,,

Two private landlords have launched a campaign to challenge Chancellor George Osborne’s plans to cut the amount of mortgage interest that buy-to-let landlords can claim against tax.

Chris Cooper and Steve Bolton are seeking a judicial review of Clause 24 of the Finance Act 2015.

Angry Landlords Hope to Tackle George Osborne

Angry Landlords Hope to Tackle George Osborne

The changes were announced in the summer Budget, meaning that landlords will be taxed on turnover, not profits.

Some landlords could find themselves in a higher tax bracket and could even pay tax when they are making a loss.

Opponents believe that the changes target smaller landlords, with wealthier investors without mortgages and companies not affected.

Cooper and Bolton claim that Clause 24 breaches human rights and/or EU law.

Landlords have warned that as a result, rents will be pushed up, harming private tenants.

The pair had hoped to raise an immediate £15,000 and a further £35,000 on the website Crowd Justice.

The total £50,000 target has now been met.

Cooper and Bolton hope to tackle the changes, as they believe the new law breaches “a long-established principle of taxation that expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the business are deductive when calculating the taxable profits”.

Cooper is a part-time landlord and Bolton is the founder of Platinum Property Partners, a buy-to-let training franchise firm.

Bolton comments: “It’s not clear why the Government has chosen to just launch an attack on buy-to-let owner-operators with mortgages. It’s a tax from Alice in Wonderland – truly absurd and divorced from real life. Not only is this tax grab unfair, undemocratic and underhanded, but we believe that it could also be unlawful.”1 

The pair plans to hire Omnia Strategy to challenge the Chancellor.

A pre-action protocol letter will be sent to the Government this month, with an application for judicial review to be issued by 17th February.

A petition against the changes has also been launched. It is currently almost halfway to forcing a Parliamentary debate on the issue and will close on 27th January.

The crowdfunding page can be found here: https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/clause24/

And the petition is here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104880

1 http://www.platinumpropertypartners.co.uk/articles/ppp-to-be-part-of-a-legal-campaign-to-challenge-government-on-proposed-changes-to-mortgage-tax-relief/

George Osborne Pledges Housing Fund

Published On: November 25, 2015 at 1:11 pm

Author:

Categories: Finance News

Tags: ,,,,,

During the Autumn Statement and Spending Review today, Chancellor George Osborne is pledging a huge new fund for housing.

George Osborne Pledges Housing Fund

George Osborne Pledges Housing Fund

The Autumn Statement details Government spending plans for up to 2020, including billions of pounds in cuts.

Alongside £20 billion in cuts to Whitehall budgets and £12 billion in welfare cuts, Osborne is promising around £7 billion for house building, in a bid to build over 400,000 affordable homes in England.

The combined Autumn Statement and Spending Review has been under way since 12:30pm today. It sets out departmental spending limits for the next five years and gives details of the Government’s taxation and deficit reduction plans.

Osborne is addresses the “crisis of homeownership in our country”, pledging a “bold plan to back families who aspire to buy their own home”1.

The Treasury announced that Osborne would reveal “the biggest affordable house building programme since the 1970s”1.

This will include:

  • £2.3 billion for developers to build starter homes for first time buyers, who will receive a 20% discount on properties worth up to £450,000 in London and £250,000 elsewhere.
  • £4 billion to build 135,000 Help to Buy: Shared Ownership homes for households earning under £80,000, or £90,000 in the capital.
  • £200m for 10,000 new homes for tenants to live in for five years at reduced rents while they save for a deposit. They will then be given the first right to buy the home.
  • £400m for 8,000 specialist homes for the elderly or those with disabilities.

The Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation (HBF), Stewart Baseley, reports that recent attempts to fuel housing supply are beginning to take effect and the latest house building statistics for England are “very encouraging”1.

However, Labour claims that the Conservatives’ house building record since 2010 has been a “failure on every front”1, with homeownership at the lowest level in a generation and a halving in the amount of affordable homes to buy.

The Shadow Housing Minister, John Healey, says: “If hot air built homes, then Conservative ministers would have our housing crisis sorted.

“A matter of weeks ago, the Housing Minister promised a million more homes, now George Osborne is saying they’ll build 400,000 more. Rather than rate them on what they say they will do, people will judge them on what they’ve actually done.”1

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34915218

 

 

NLA will Lobby Osborne on Tax Breaks

Published On: May 21, 2015 at 4:42 pm

Author:

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: ,,

NLA will Lobby Osborne on Tax Breaks

NLA will Lobby Osborne on Tax Breaks

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has revealed that it will lobby Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne on private rental sector tax breaks before the new Government’s Budget on 8th July.

A statement from the NLA reads: “The NLA will be taking the opportunity to drive home the message that landlords’ status as legitimate businesses is not comprehensively reflected in the tax system.

“Specifically, we wish to see the Chancellor tackle the tax treatment of landlords’ assets at disposal, i.e. the lack of distinction between short-term speculation and the appreciation which may take place during long-term ownership of property.”1

Osborne states that the July Budget will contain “a laser-like focus” on raising productivity and living standards, and will highlight the ways that the new Government will “deliver on the commitments we have made to working people.”

He continues: “We will protect the NHS and give it more funding each and every year, while making savings across Whitehall. We’ll crack down hard on tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning by the rich, because everyone should pay their fair share.

“Second, we’ve got to go on helping businesses create jobs in Britain, so we move towards full employment. That means facing a hard truth: in Britain, we produce about a quarter less for every hour we work than countries like America or Germany. Fixing that long-running productivity weakness is the big challenge for the next five years.

“So in the Budget, we’ll spend less on welfare and instead invest to create three million more apprenticeships, so that young people can learn a trade, get better jobs and earn more.”1 

1 http://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2015/5/industry-body-to-lobby-osborne-on-tax-breaks