Summer Budget 2015 – Landlords Reactions

Recommendation 42
Efforts to promote high-quality build-to-let development have commanded
significant amounts of government attention and resources. One of the main
arguments in favour of this approach is that it will lead to improved choice,
quality and affordability across the whole of the private rented sector. It is
too early to assess the impact, but a key part of the evaluation of these
measures must be the impact they have on the sector as a whole. If, in a
year’s time, there is no evidence of this broader effect, the Government must
reconsider its strategy and look to other measures to boost supply across
the sector as a whole.
Government remains confident that the Build to Rent Fund will deliver on its key
objectives. This is why we increased the Fund to £1bn following the last Budget.
Early indications are that this extra funding, coupled with the Housing Guarantees
Scheme and the work of the Private Rented Sector Taskforce, is producing strong
and significant change within the private rented sector

A piece in the FT by James Pickford

Osborne shakes buy-to-let to its foundations

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/07c586a2-7323-11e5-a129-3fcc4f641d98.html#axzz3oow3hse9

I have done my bit Kathy.I have 20 properties from 2 bed flats to 4 bed houses.[some brand new] let to homeless families placed by the local council. All the properties are checked for safety by the local councils agents and inspections made every 3 months .Some of the tenants have now been their homes for over four years have been able to get back on their feet and are working full time.The rents are guaranteed so the tenants do not provide references or deposits.The leases are all between 3 and 5 years some of which i have renewed for a further term so the families can feel fairly settled.Although the tenants are more demanding than my so called professional tenants at least i don't suffer the same rent arrears

Hi Ray

Thats interesting checks every 3 months for 2 years the social providers leased my property for amount slightly less than market rent.

But neighbours complained the tenants were awful , and constantly contacted me about the problems. I kept telling them it was leased to the housing provider and they needed to speak with them.

This then stopped as they found it cheaper to provide their own houses as temp accommodation.

But they paid for redecoration and new carpets and any repairs in the 2 years.

London they are always asking for landlords to lease the properites, probably in the more high demand areas .

Reply to the comment left by "Jon Pipllman" at "17/10/2015 - 11:42":

Hi Jon

Can you cut and paste , I cant get into site
Thanks

I can't C&P unfortunately Kathy FT is pretty hot on such abuse of its T&Cs

If you google, there are ways to circumvent joining to read the article

Here is the letter my MP, John Penrose sent to the Chancellor following our recent meeting:

I've exchanged a series of letters and also met with Jerry Jones, landlord of a small portfolio
of properties, to discuss the Govemment's decision to lower mortgage interest rate relief to
the basic rate of tax and how fair the tax system is for individual landlords, in comparison to
limited property companies. We have narrowed down our areas of debate considerably
through that process, leaving a few which I have promised to raise with yourself

Mr Jones says he would be willing to move his portfolio into a company holding structure (so
he could continue using debt interest as a tax shield) as the recent tax changes encourage him
to do, but the transfer would be extremely costly for two reasons. They are:

. Stamp Duty applies to the combined value of property transfers via related transaction
rules, even though the individual value of each property would be in a very low stamp duty
band.

. Capital Gains Tax would also apply if Incorporation Relief doesn't apply, which he has
been told it may not.

Clearly, whilst these tax costs won't apply for any future properties he purchases (which he
could do through a company structure) but the transition for his existing property portfolio
looks unworkable. Mr Jones agrees with our overall intention, of creating an increasingly
professional and low cost property rented sector while removing some of the personal tax
anomalies which used to apply. And we both assurre that there's no intention to make the
transition to this new world unworkably difficult or expensive. So could you please let Mr
Jones and myself know how he should deal with the problems he has outlined to me here?

Yours sincerely,

Reply to the comment left by "Jerry Jones" at "17/10/2015 - 15:37":

Well, it will be interesting to see the response. If it's the usual I suggest we all collectively bang our heads against a wall simultaneously.

Still doesn't address the problem of my current (personal B2L) mortgages being on very low reversionary rates of 1.5-2% though. I hope lenders will allow a transfer to a company in due course.

Reply to the comment left by "Jerry Jones" at "17/10/2015 - 16:20":

We have to hope they see sense. I think the input from the Institute of Chartered Accountants has been a significant development and also Richard Dyson's publicising of it this week.

I'm trying to find out how to make an official complaint regarding the disgraceful behaviour of the Finance Committee members- not reading any of the written evidence and therefore being clueless about the thing they then voted on. It's hard to work out if MPs are feigning being dense or are actually dense.

I suggest it would be good if others make a complaint about the conduct of the Committee as well and if any of you have any contacts in organisations related to taxation, the landlord bodies etc., that you encourage them to also make a complaint.