Today I launch my comprehensive report on Section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015

Today I launch my comprehensive report:

Section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015: “the unjust legislation that will make the UK housing crisis much worse.”

I would like to thank all of those who have contributed to this report, which I hope will have a significant impact in our campaign to reverse this insane legislation.

With the publication of this report we call on the Government in the Autumn Statement to take what might be the last opportunity to remove this legislation from the statute books. Similar legislation in Ireland has been seen to have been a mistake and is currently being repealed – and we call on the Government to repeal the UK incarnation of this before it causes more damage than it already has done.

As readers/members of Property118 it is incumbent on us all to now to send this report to as many people as we can – to our MPs, to councillors, to any people we know who may have some influence. If this buy-to-let tax change begins to be implemented, as planned, from April 2017, landlords, tenants, letting agents, councils and so on are all going to be in the firing line. There is however time to reverse it now and we should all be making us much noise as we can to get it repealed.

When you write your emails with the report attached, it is worth pointing out that there is an executive summary and expert opinions pointing out how wrong this tax change is at the beginning of the report. You might also point people to passages that will be resonant for them. For example, if you are writing to your local councillor or the head of your local council you might want to point to the sections on how this is going to massively exacerbate the homelessness problems they currently face, as tenants on benefits are evicted to be replaced with working tenants who can pay more (as landlords have to maximise rents as far as possible to pay the tax on fictitious income).

To give a few further pointers, you might refer people especially to Section 19 where there is a table comparing different housing providers and their tax treatment – there is a very striking table which illustrates the injustice of this s24. Section 9 will also be of interest to many as the retroactive nature of s24 has not been given the attention it merits. It can be mentioned in this context that the Irish legislation in 1998 was not retroactive and still caused rents to increase 50% in three years. The case studies in Sections 3-4 are also particularly important in showing the dramatic and incredible tax increases for many portfolio landlords who are providing essential rented accommodation but who will not be able to for much longer.

The report is meant as a tool for us to use now to get the message across to everyone we can think of who has influence and/or who has the means to spread the message far and wide.

Good luck! We are in this together.

Dr Rosalind Beck

Click Here to download the Report

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