Summer Budget 2015 – Landlords Reactions

Reply to the comment left by "Lisa S" at "10/03/2016 - 08:03":

Last August I emailed the Manchester Student Homes who are the main university accommodation office for all of the Manchester universities to let them know what was happening and the impact it would have on rents and landlords forced to sell properties. I asked them to circulate the petition to all of their landlord data base so as to inform landlords what was happening and to forward the information to the student unions. They never responded!

I also emailed the Director of "accommodation for students" website who held a national data base of landlords. He never responded!

I have emailed my MP Anne Coffey (For Stockport Cheshire) 3 times, She has not responded!
I shall be chasing up the MP very soon.

My email works fine and they all have my email address on their systems from previous communications.

I put my student rents up by 10% this year and have achieved a 90% success rate. I had purposely kept them low in previous years for a smooth easy let but because of ALL THE TAX GRABS they have increased. I shall continue to increase them to the maximum the market will stand in future years. It will take me approximately 7 years of rent rises to pay for the tax grabs. I have also started to charge my tenants for any repairs that are down to them (blocked kitchen sinks, expired lamps and abortive call outs) I used to "just do them" as they are young students and it helped the landlord/tenant relationship. I can't afford to be nice anymore, the government are making me SO MUCH MORE PROFESSIONAL!

The Telegraph: Could this be George Osborne's last Budget?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/10/could-this-be-george-osbornes-last-budget/

UK housing: Landlords report 'crisis in confidence' amid George Osborne's war on buy-to-let

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/uk-housing-landlords-report-smashed-morale-following-george-osborne-war-buy-let-sector-1541484

http://www.cityam.com/236494/buy-to-let-tax-changes-a-perfect-storm-for-landlords-and-tenants

Report by Michael Ball, Professor of Urban and Property Economics at Reading University

One line in particular stuck out to me: 'The main competitors faced by first-time buyers are existing home owners, whose tax breaks and high own-equity make them strong players in the market-place'.

Thank you Gareth Wilson for sharing this video ...

.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "11/03/2016 - 09:22":

Yes scary insight.

He mentions that about the only thing they haven introduced yet is rent controls. However with the LHA rate having now been frozen for 4 years George has in effect introduced that as well . Its turns the screw gradually year by year on the tenants as the gap between LHA rates and the market rate will widen

By 2020 the gap I suspect will become unbridgeable and LHA tenants will be asked to leave
.

George Osborne is in danger of becoming the Tories' Gordon Brown

http://www.totalpolitics.com/blog/458351/george-osborne-is-in-danger-of-becoming-the-toriesand39-gordon-brown.thtml

Industry urges Osborne to avoid fresh attack on buy-to-let

https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/industry-urges-osborne-to-avoid-fresh-attack-on-buy-to-let/

Brilliant.....all of go measures have impacted me. Voted tory. ....got labour.

Tea, Chris?

Has anyone else received an invitation from Conservative Campaign Headquarters, asking for your support?

I received an email today and felt compelled to respond (see below).

If you are receiving similar emails from the Conservative Party, you might like to send a similar response so that they start to get the message.

Dear Mr. Mabbutt,

I voted for the Conservative Party in the last election. However, I will never vote for the Conservative Party ever again. Neither will my parents, my brother, many of my friends and hundreds of thousands of hard working landlords. Landlords, like myself, who have taken responsibility to provide financial security for themselves and their families, and / or pensions so that they did not have to rely on others in their twilight years - including the State.

You will know that in his Summer 2015 budget, George Osborne chose to introduce a measure stolen directly from the Green Party manifesto, which was a piece of work compiled by a 26 year old Geography graduate - not even a Phd. The measure, which removes the ability to deduct finance costs from gross rental income, after other allowable expenses, in order to arrive at a taxable profit, will destroy hundreds of thousands peoples pension provisions and livelihoods. For me it will mean that I will start to lose my personal tax allowance, pay more tax on my property income than I actually earn and take a 28% drop in my take home pay.

Every other business in the UK is able to deduct the finance costs of running the business, including incorporated landlords operating in the same sector and carrying out the same business activity.

The measure will, of course, have been at the advanced planning stages prior to the General Election. However, no mention was made of the plans in the Conservative Party manifesto. Why? Well, the answer to that question is obvious to everyone - in a cynical and calculated move, the Conservative Party did not wish to divert the large number of landlord votes it knew it would lose if those plans were announced prior to the election.

The statements made by David Gauke to justify the move are, at best, misleading and at worst untruthful. Let me give you two examples:

1. It will only affect the wealthiest landlords. The opposite is true - it will not affect wealthy landlords at all. Wealthy landlords do not have mortgages. It will affect landlords with mortgages only, and the higher the mortgage, the more affect it will have. I guess it depends on your definition of wealth. If your definition of wealth is debt, then why is George Osborne so obsessed with reducing the deficit?

2. It will only affect higher rate tax payers. That statement is technically true. However, it fails to explain that hundreds of thousands (146,121 Source - National Landlords Association) of landlords will be moved from lower rate tax payers to higher rate tax payers.

So, rather than supporting your efforts I, and most of the 2 million landlords in the UK, will be actively working towards ensuring that the Conservative Party is not re-elected and that George Osborne does not become the next leader of the Conservative Party.

In closing, I would like to ask you to support our campaign instead - to fight the “Alice in Wonderland” Buy to Let Tax Grab – https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/clause24/

Regards, Chris Cooper.

On 12 Mar 2016, at 12:01, Alan Mabbutt, Conservative Director of Organisation wrote:

Chris -

I'm asking for your help.

Unlike Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party we can't rely on the Trade Unions to support our campaigns.

We can win across the country on 5th May but we need the support of people like you, Chris.

So please donate £20 today and get your Campaign 2016 Mug and your donation will directly support our campaign efforts.

Best wishes,

Alan

Alan Mabbutt
Conservative Director of Organisation

PS: Want the chance to win a Campaign 2016 mug signed by David Cameron? Donate £50 or more and we’ll enter your name into a draw.

From:The Conservative Party
Sent10 March 2016
Subject:Tea, Chris?

Dear Chris,

Get your exclusive Campaign 2016 mug – donate £20 or more today and receive one as thanks.

In less than two months’ time, millions of people across the UK will head to the polls to help shape the direction of their community and country.

Conservative councils in England have shown that they can make the difficult decisions necessary to deliver value for money. Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales have demonstrated the key role they play in communities, by setting local policing priorities and overseeing budgets of hundreds of millions of pounds.

In Wales, our Assembly candidates are fighting to overturn 17 years of disastrous Labour control of the NHS. And in Scotland, Ruth Davidson is leading the charge to hold the SNP to account and say NO to a second referendum.

With these vital elections just around the corner, we’re knocking on doors, making phone calls and delivering leaflets up and down the country with our message: keeping council tax down, keeping our communities safer and delivering better public services.

It’s thirsty work, Chris. Donate £20 or more today and your post-campaigning cup of tea (or coffee) can come from one of these limited-edition mugs:

On Thursday 5 May, Britain has a choice: a strong team of local Conservatives who will continue to deliver security, stability and opportunity for our communities or the insecurity, instability and incompetence of Labour, who pose a real threat to our national and economic security.

Help ensure our communities continue to move forward with the Conservatives and not backwards under Labour. Donate £20 or more today and we’ll send one of these great mugs to say thanks.

Thanks for your support,

Conservative Campaign Headquarters

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Promoted by Alan Mabbutt on behalf of the Conservative Party, both at 4 Matthew Parker Street, London, SW1H 9HQ