Summer Budget 2015 – Landlords Reactions

Reply to the comment left by "John McKay" at "26/07/2015 - 20:47":

Hi John. I think if we act quickly enough and get it up and running then we can circulate it quickly to all of the biggest groups - DPS, RLA, NLA, etc. and make sure they don't also set one up as we'll have beaten them to it.
I'm happy to go with Mark's suggestion, but have one worry:
I wonder if it got all of the signatures and was going to be debated and it didn't have the dreaded words 'mortgage tax relief' in the title, if GO could try and make out the petition wasn't about his proposal! I don't know if I'm worry-gutsing here....
As for the next stage I volunteer to liaise with the DPS, spareroom and the Guild of Residential Landlords, as I am already in communication with them about this.
I wonder if anyone can do the same with MyDeposits?
I'm assuming Mark can liaise with the RLA?
Does anyone here have a good contact in the NLA?
There are also stacks of sites like 'Landlordreferencing, Landlordzone etc....
We need to get a good list together and keep track of who is doing what.
On a personal note I am going to sift through all my tenancy agreements, and set up a separate email account for all my tenants and send them a persuasive letter along the lines of the one provided by BTL a few pages back.
On another subject, I have just written to the economists who were the witnesses at the Select Committee on the Budget and also to the IFS again! (even though they said they were impartial etc.)

Amen to that : I have asked to be unsubscribed three times and am still being swamped : Clearly the unsubscribe button on this forum does not actually work. SUppose I could just "MArk as Junk" ... not that it is junk, I just want to read the forum at my leisure and not get everything into my inbox... Mark , can this not be sorted please?

Many thanks

Ian

Reply to the comment left by "BTL INVESTOR SCOTLAND" at "26/07/2015 - 20:29":

Yes, I like Mark's wording, and also Appalled Landlord's ... Presumably the title is <= 80 characters , but maybe there will be an explanation box available underneath the title anyway.. ? So that could carry a little more detail of the (possibly unplanned) consequences of the proposal. Have had response from my MP BTW - Will post this and my response later...

Here is my response from Gerald Howarth MP :

Dear Ian

Belated thanks for your email which I have read with interest. The problem is that buy-to-let landlords are at a distinct advantage over householders who buy. Whilst the former can offset interest charges against the rental income, the latter cannot do so (although of course in the days of mortgage interest tax relief – MIRAS – one could). That skews the market.

However, I will note your concerns and ensure they are conveyed to the Chancellor.

..And here is my subsequent reply to him...

Hi Gerald

Many thanks for your comments which are absolutely correct, if one considers buying a home. However, landlords are not purchasing a home, they are purchasing a business asset, risking their own money to do so and paying interest as a legitimate business expense to do so. When they sell, they are subject to CGT, whereas Homeowners are not – certainly not a level playing field.

Landlording is a BUSINESS, not an investment. For example, it is Saturday evening at 9pm now and instead of being with my family, I am trying to sort out problems with two tenants which have arisen today and will probably have to go out and see them in a minute…. One doesn’t have to do that with stocks and shares!

What is being proposed is akin to telling a builder that only half the materials he uses to build a house are allowed to be taken away from the job price before declaring the rest as profit . It is, in effect, a tax on turnover, and as such is grossly unfair, and extremely dangerous.

If it wants to be brought in after 2017 then so be it, and exisiting business owners have time to make decisions on whether to continue to purchase buy to lets or not, which is fair enough. Doing it retrospectively, will, whilst raising some extra tax, give nobody any choice, and drive many thousands of landlords into bankruptcy, just as builders, or any other business would also be bankrupt if they were not allowed to offset their costs against turnover before declaring income. This is a basic business principle which is being destroyed.

I do hope we can change this very unfair idea

Kind Regards

I have written to the Chartered Institute of Housing to find out if they have taken a position on the Government's proposal. I will post their response when I get it.

Given the amount of effort put in by Ros I think she should be the one to start the petition.

If I started it then others will say it is a Property118 initiative, I don't want that. This issue is bigger than any one organisation. We need to unite.

I am happy for Ros to use whatever wording she chooses because I genuinely believe she will do more than anybody else to promote the petition. I also believe she is right in saying the ability for people to find it is secondary promoting it. This promotion need to come from every person who signs the petition. Whenever we convince a person to sign the petition or whenever we persuade an organisation to promote the petition person we would also encourage them to convince at least 5 other people and five other organisations.

We need to think beyond asking landlords to sign and also ask tenants, homeowners, accountants, lawyers, mortgage brokers, bankers, letting agents, estate agents and as many other trades as we can think of which are supported by the PRS to get involved too.

We ought to aim high, why not go for a million signatures. Somebody once told me "aim for the stars and you will be over the moon in no time at all".

Once the petition is live please post here to say who you are lobbying to support it. The more these people are contacted the more likely they will be to support it, e.g. if Eastern Landlords Association (which I am a member of) gets several hundred members asking their directors to support and promote the petition they are more likely to do so than if I am the only one who asks them.

Within the next few days I hope to be able to post a very long list of all the organisations I will have contacted. My first list will be all landlords associations - see >>> http://www.property118.com/landlords-associations-list/31864/

Go for it Ros!

I will be one of the first to sign when it is live.
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "26/07/2015 - 22:50":

Okey kokey. I'll get on to it!
I might need 5 email addresses - if so, I'll ask for volunteers to submit their email address to Mark so that he can pass them on to me. I know I need '5 supporters' and will find out more about the process tomorrow. Thanks in sdvance.

Hi Ros

Is it possible to upload email addresses via a spreadsheet or a database? If it is then if you give me the login details once you've set it all up I will upload the email addresses of the entire Property118 membership database and we will have double the minimum target immediately!
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Reply to the comment left by "Ian Simpson" at "26/07/2015 - 21:57":

Excellent response Ian to your badly-informed MP. Hopefully, now that he is informed, he will support us - as any sane individual would.
This approaching of MPs is critical. As once our petition is a huge success and we get the Parliamentary debate we need on it, we have to have MPs of all parties willing to go against the grain of their own parties. That is true of both Conservatives and Labour MPs. We will have to use some clever arguments to persuade each and every one of them before the debate.