"Why shouldn’t that stamp duty charge be at least at the same level as that which has to be paid by UK-based landlords?"
Whether we are any closer to a deal remains to be seen – the next few weeks will be crucial – but the fact the Chancellor will deliver his Budget this month rather than next, perhaps tells you that there seems little likelihood of us getting a deal before the end of the year. Indeed, ‘no deal’ seems a ‘safer bet’ than it has ever done – albeit from a betting sense rather than being any good for the UK.
There has however been a housing ‘tinge’ to the conference season which again, might be expected, given that the parties probably feel this is somewhat safer ground for them. Housing has been relatively high on the agenda for many and there have been plenty of messages and proposed measures to excite the mortgage/housing market, and perhaps to also terrify them in equal measure.
Hammond’s October 29th Budget will give us more detail but there seems to be a concerted effort to focus more on overseas owners of UK property, and there has been plenty of talk that stamp duty charges will be increased by between 1-3% for those foreign nationals buying homes here. Political capital is being made here by the Conservatives in that they say the money raised will be used to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness, which is clearly in need of resources and support however one can’t help compare the stamp duty increases proposed to those that are paid for by landlords and second-home owners.
As everyone knows, they have to pay 3% more in stamp duty to purchase property and yet the suggestion from Conservative Party Chairman, Brandon Lewis, that the foreign national stamp duty charge might be just a 1% increase seems like a further kick in the teeth for private rental sector landlords who after all are, at least, contributing to the supply of housing in this country.
The Conservatives seem most concerned with those foreign purchasers who buy and leave their property empty, so why shouldn’t that stamp duty charge be at least at the same level as that which has to be paid by UK-based landlords?
Landlords indeed will have felt even more put-upon by the outpourings of conference season, with the Labour Party also talking about further levies on second and holiday homes, plus talks of rental controls and an end to no-fault evictions. Quite rightly, it says that it will tackle ‘rogue landlords’ if it gets into power but it seems to be willing to tar the entire landlord community with the same brush.
Party politics in this country is always likely to be tenant-centric – especially given the need for the Conservatives to pull back some voter support from ‘Generation Rent’ – but we are in danger of throwing the landlord baby out with the private rental sector bath water here? Does the governing party not truly understand the importance of private landlords to the UK housing market? Is it willing to decimate it in order to pick up more 18-40 votes? Don’t answer that.
There are many positive aspects to intervention – of course all PRS properties should be of a high standard, of course energy performance levels of homes should be at the top rankings, of course tenants should feel safe and secure in their properties, but should we not be allowing landlords to set a fair market rent, should we be making it financially impossible for landlords to keep a property, should we be making the rental sector the preserve of corporates and no-one else? I would suggest not.
You might say that landlords should be used to this by now and, indeed, many have already left and others will follow. The fact is that remaining in the sector requires more money than it has ever done; rents have risen to reflect this and they will continue to increase until there is a shift. Perhaps we might see stamp duty cuts for landlords or a u-turn on the mortgage interest relief changes, but I doubt it. The landlord with one or two properties is likely to be squeezed even further which will mean a growing housing gap in the UK. One that might be very difficult to bridge, whoever the Government of the day is.
