Summer Budget 2015 – Landlords Reactions

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "26/07/2015 - 23:24":

Sorry Mark, but you were suddenly speaking a different language then. I'm a technophobe. I'll see if I understand what you said in the cool light of day. Thanks for your endorsement. I'll try not to let you down.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "14/07/2015 - 11:41":

hi mark

good letter to HMRC.

i added the following:

'We are extremely concerned about the summer budget 2015 and fear it will lead to our bankruptcy through no fault of our own. There is no way that we could have envisaged such a penal retrospective tax change. We cannot simply undo fixed long term mortgage commitments. I calculate that our EXTRA tax burden will be £XXXXX pa (and even more when combined with the scrapping of the 10% wear and tear allowance). This is unsustainable and no other business is barred from deducting legitimate business costs from income to arrive at taxable profit. We cannot easily sell due to mortgage early repayment charges, high mortgages and capital gains tax. We cannot convert to incorporation for the same reasons and general unwillingness to lend to limited companies. We cannot significantly pay off mortgages in the next few years due to increased taxation, insufficient income and early repayment charges on mortgages. Thus we are trapped and have no option other than to wait for HMRC to bankrupt us.'

Reply to the comment left by "Lun Bun" at "14/07/2015 - 20:23":

YOU ALSO OWE A LOT OF POSTERS AN APOLOGY FOR YOUR MISUNDERSTANDING AND SO MANY WASTE OF TIME POSTS! THE AMOUNT OF POSTS IS RIDICULOUS.

Reply to the comment left by "Ros ." at "26/07/2015 - 21:11":

Dear Ross,

Here is the reply that I got from NLA.

Kind Regards Lee

Dear Lee,

Thank you for your email.

The NLA have been lobbying on this issue for quite some time. You may have seen our open letter to the Chancellor for example. http://www.landlords.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/nla-issues-warning-over-mortgage-interest-payments

We have been quick to react in the media against these plans and are currently considering our lobbying response.
http://www.landlords.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/it%E2%80%99s-not-landlords-the-chancellor-has-screwed-it%E2%80%99s-tenants

Please stay tuned to NLA Focus and your emails as we will shortly be asking members to write to MPs and/or the Chancellor and other campaign asks.
The reason we are taking our time is that a) its soon to be recess b) the summer is not a great time to lobby MPs b) we want to build a coalition of supporters / key stakeholders. For example have recently been meeting mortgage lenders to show the government what the unintended consequences of the policy is likely to be regarding stress testing and access to finance.

We share your frustration especially as it is not appropriate, and indeed would be counterproductive, for us to give a running commentary on most of our lobbying efforts on these changes. What I can say is that the four years of phasing and the six years notice until the proposals fully kick in indicate a degree of flexibility in the Chancellors plans. Given this and that there are two Autumn Statements and one Budget before 1 April 2017 so we are hopeful that we can lobby to mitigate some of the effects of these changes on our members, especially those who are unable / unwilling to refinance, incorporate or sell.

I hope this reassures you we are on the case.

Kind Regards

Matthew Oliver | Public Affairs Officer
National Landlords Association

T: 020 7840 8908 W: landlords.org.uk

Reply to the comment left by "Lee Gough" at "27/07/2015 - 04:21":

Thanks Lee

Yes, I got the exact same response (verbatim) from the NLA, in the person of Matthew Oliver and posted it some pages back. I think once this petition is up and running it would be sensible to get them to support it, explaining Mark's dilution fears, were they to start another one.... It may also be worth a direct question by many of us now : Will they be starting one? If not, will they support one originating from Ros...?

We need to educate MPs, organisations and the public on what we are up against here. There is a lot of great material on this site but there is a need to pull it together into a user friendly format that can help our campaign. I am pulling together a simple questions and answers document to illustrate the issues and possible consequences. The text below, illustrates what I have in mind. I will be adding a number of other questions and working on the answers over the next couple of days.

All you need to know about the Government’s plans to restrict finance cost relief for individual landlords

What is the proposal and when was it announced?
Answer XXX

In plain English, what does this mean?
Answer XXX

What is the Government’s policy objective
Answer XXX

When will the measure be introduced?
Answer XXX

How might landlords be affected by this change?
Answer XXX

Can you show some examples of the impact on landlords?
Answer XXX

How will the proposal affect the private rented sector?
Answer

How might tenants will be affected by the proposal if it is implemented in its current form?
Answer XXX

Will the proposal have any impact on home owners?
Answer XXX

What has been said in the media about the proposal?
Answer XXX

If I am concerned about the proposal, what can I do?
Answer XXX

Reply to the comment left by "BTL INVESTOR SCOTLAND" at "27/07/2015 - 07:28":

Excellent questions BTL, clear and concise,well done!

Reply to the comment left by "BTL INVESTOR SCOTLAND" at "27/07/2015 - 07:28":

Nice one BTL. From your questions it appears you are focusing on Landlords, Tenants & Owner/Occupiers. Is that right? I ask because as you well know, there are so many groups of people that will be affected and I'm just wondering where your document will draw the line.

What you propose is bang on! We most certainly need to get this sort of document in place. Have you any ideas on funding because the numbers we may need for hard copy could be very significant. Obviously in e-form there are no printing costs and I guess we need somebody to volunteer to format the document. I suppose it can be done in Word easily enough.

Great questions. I can only wonder why the BoE and Chancellor didn't ask themselves the same set.

Reply to the comment left by "John McKay" at "27/07/2015 - 07:41":

John - The document will show how many different types of people are affected by the proposal. It can be used to brief MPs, landlords and tenants on the possible consequences of the Government's plans. I hadn't anticipated producing mass copies in hard copy format but am happy for people on here to use the document as they see fit.

Okay guys.
Last chance to influence the wording of the petition. I want to have it up and running this afternoon.

Title of the petition: Scrap the rented property tax levy

Background information (allowed 300 characters):

The decision in the Summer Budget to restrict landlords' rights to offset the finance costs of their businesses will lead to bankruptcies, repossessions, house prices falling, negative equity, higher rents, empty houses and homelessness. It will adversely affect landlords, tenants and home owners.

Additional details Optional - background information, evidence and references (allowed 500 characters):

I've not written this yet and am out this morning, so any suggestions by the time I get back will be great. It can only be a bit longer than the 'background information), so we don't want repetition; just some more excellent points (I don't mind it it means chopping and changing the background information).
[might be worth squeezing in a mention of the IFS and Policy Exchange? Effects on economy at large? Dangerous precedent taxing cost as income? etc.