13:43 PM, 30th October 2024, About 20 hours ago 1
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As Halloween approaches, landlords find themselves trapped in a horror story that just won’t end. Every year, they hope for relief, yet every Budget announcement only deepens the nightmare.
The government’s failure to recognise and act on the landlord exodus has created a never-ending cycle of terror—not just for landlords, but for tenants too, who face skyrocketing rents and limited options. This Budget has added new monsters to an already haunted landscape, from increased Stamp Duty charges to missed opportunities for tax reform. Welcome to the Endless Budget Nightmare.
Landlord Sarah thought she was prepared for the challenges of managing her properties—until the Curse of Section 24 struck in George Osborne’s 2015 Summer Budget. From 2016 onwards, Sarah could no longer deduct full mortgage interest costs from her rental income, and her tax bill began to rise dramatically, even though her profits had stayed the same. Each Budget has renewed the curse, with no end in sight.
Section 24’s impact on landlords like Sarah has left them struggling to make ends meet, forcing many to sell off properties just to avoid bankruptcy. As landlords exit the market, tenants are left scrambling for housing, facing limited options and climbing rent prices.
As Sarah flees the burden of Section 24, she’s drawn into a landscape haunted by the Ghost of Capital Gains Past. This eerie apparition demands payment on “gains” that are nothing more than inflation. “You owe me… for the price you never truly gained!” the ghost whispers, tightening its grip on her finances. Though Sarah made no real profit, she’s forced to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) as though she’d struck gold, while the Budget ignores pleas to reinstate Indexation Allowance.
Each landlord forced to sell due to unmanageable CGT on inflationary gains means fewer affordable rentals in the market. Without Indexation Allowance, landlords are unfairly taxed on paper gains, reducing rental availability and pushing up rents.
As Sarah escapes the grasp of the Ghost of Past Capital Gains, she stumbles into a maze of paperwork, her path obscured by the Selective Licensing Phantom. This ghostly figure demands fees and forces landlords to navigate endless bureaucratic hoops. “Pay, comply, or pay again!” he hisses, burdening Sarah with costly licences just to rent out her property.
Selective Licensing was meant to improve housing standards, but it’s become a costly trap for landlords. As more give up under the weight of these fees, tenants face a dwindling pool of available properties and find themselves paying more for the few that remain.
The nightmare continues with a familiar beast: the EPC Monster. With every passing year, the creature grows stronger, demanding stricter standards for energy efficiency. By 2030, every private rented property will need to meet an EPC C rating target, which could be costly for landlords. For Sarah, the cost of meeting these requirements for her older properties is far beyond her reach.
As landlords struggle with costly EPC upgrades, many are forced to sell, especially older properties. The result? Fewer homes on the market, pushing tenants into higher-priced, often newer builds, increasing financial pressure on renters.
As Sarah makes one last attempt to expand her portfolio, she’s stopped in her tracks by the Stamp Duty Surcharge Shadow. This sinister figure blocks her way, demanding a 5% surcharge on every new property—an increase from the previous 3%. “One more step, and you’ll pay dearly,” it warns, effectively locking her out from any chance of growth.
With fewer landlords able to invest in new properties due to the increased Stamp Duty surcharge, the market tightens, reducing housing supply and creating intense competition among tenants for the properties that remain. This drives rent prices up, making it harder for tenants to find affordable housing.
In yet another haunting twist, the Chancellor has once again frozen the Inheritance Tax (IHT) nil rate band. Worse still, IHT will now apply to pension funds, closing a key avenue for landlords hoping to pass on their wealth to future generations. Sarah feels the chill as she realises her estate planning strategy may not protect her heirs from the tax man after all.
With IHT allowances frozen and pension funds now subject to inheritance tax, landlords face an even greater tax burden on their estates, which could lead many to sell properties earlier than intended. As fewer properties are passed down, this further reduces the rental supply, hurting tenants as rental availability continues to decline.
For landlords like Sarah, each Budget has been another chapter in a horror story that doesn’t end. Instead of offering relief, each Budget brings new or prolonged burdens, squeezing landlords and forcing them out of the market. As more landlords give up, tenants are left in the true nightmare: a rental market with limited options and skyrocketing rents.
This Budget Nightmare is no longer just a landlord issue—it’s a crisis for every tenant who’s been forced into higher rent or endless waiting lists for a place to live.
At Property118, we are fighting to end the endless cycle of Budget failures that harm landlords and tenants alike. We’re pushing for fair tax reforms and regulatory relief to ensure a sustainable rental market for everyone. But we can’t do it alone.
If you want to put an end to this Budget Nightmare, join us in our campaign for fair treatment.
Every donation counts. Use the form below to help us put an end to the Budget Nightmare for landlords and tenants across the UK.
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Mick Roberts
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Sign Up14:36 PM, 30th October 2024, About 20 hours ago
I'll give u a few more:
A background to why you tenants are paying extortionate rents and can't get anywhere unless you earning a cracking wage-Blame the Govt and Councils you vote for because you like it when they give more regs & rules to the Landlord-Guess who pays for this? You do.
I'm the biggest private provider to Benefit tenants in Nottingham over 27 years and not once has the Govt and Council come to ask me What they can do for me, so I and my colleagues will take the people we used to take. I will add to this list as I remember more.
They wanted Pet deposits banned. We stopped taking pets. Description here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u54ouYTdNr7WaCPYW18Q_tZdlJr8-VwSUJpE0IcPf5k/edit?usp=drivesdk
They don't want Landlords helping tenants with Benefits and they bought in Universal Credit which has zero communication with Landlord- We now don't take Benefit tenants.
They bought in Selective Licensing on good Landlords with good houses. We put the rents up to cover it and now don't take risky tenants.
Landlord can get fined £30,000 if tenant takes battery out smoke alarm and Landlord CAN'T prove that tenant did it.
Landlord can get fined £30,000 if renting 1 bed flat to single person and he/she moves his/her partner in unbeknown to the Landlord if the Selective License only has license for one occupier.
They started fining Landlords £5000 if they didn't check tenants passport properly on Right to Rent checks-Landlords stopped taking anyone that had the slightest chance of being illegal immigrant. Innocent UK citizens suffered.
2015, they bought in that if Landlord CANNOT PROVE he/she has gave tenant boiler certificate, you can never get your property back. Even if had a new boiler 5 years later, Judge says Not bothered, u not having your house back. This helped the current bad tenant, hurts the next 100,000 tenants waiting for a home. A purely Anti Landlord measure to stop Landlord getting rid bad tenant or having his house back.
Oct 2024 Unison now wants a rent freeze. Ooh are we a charity are we? What other individual who sells or provides something is told YOU CANNOT charge a price u wish?
Oct 2024 the Renter Rights Bill is going to make it law, u can't do rent increase unless use Section 13. Now for years, I've agreed informally with tenant 'Ok £25 a month, u still £200pm now below anyone else.' Job done.
Now, I'm totally full up with paperwork and rules and regs. I have no more time. Section 13 some more say only a few mins. It's still 30 mins by time printed, filled in, signed, scanned, sent. Each one when u have lots of houses on top of Selective Licensing INSISTING we inspect each house every 4 months (two weeks solid just on inspections every months) is taking me over the edge. My existing tenants are going to have to go with Letting Agent who charge £50 for a Section 13. That's £4pm extra on the rent. Along with the extra £80pm Letting Agent fee which gets rid of cheap rent was charity.
Sep 2024 Ed Miliband MP wants all houses to EPC C which will cost Landlords £5000 and increase tenants cheap rents. As soon he announced this, he made more tenants homeless. Few words on that here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eI7z29SNRCDLLwX6_0QQChrwTxZ4jGZw4UNybVYfD1s/edit?usp=drivesdk
Section 24 Tax bought in by George Osborne of the Tories who said it will only affect 1 in 5 Landlords-Thats over 2 million tenants put at risk of homeless. Landlords with tenants of 25 years are now being made homeless on this one action alone.
Oct 2018 I've heard there's a part of the RRB that says we must give tenants our home address on paperwork.
Details of that here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v7aETrvz0j6CdS7LZwYukthZAbhNxLWRKR8qShi6Gok/edit?usp=drivesdk
Every anti Landlord measure they bring in to they think will help the tenant has hurt the tenants massively.
Every time the MP's talk an anti landlord measure, they've made more homeless and increased rents.