20% of landlords to quit because of tax break change - claim
09-02-2015
A firm of specialist solicitors claims that one in five landlords say they will be “out of business due to government tax break cuts” announced in the Budget by Chancellor George Osborne.
The government announced in July that it would reduce tax relief on buy-to-let mortgages from 45 per cent to 20 per cent in April 2017 and would change wear and tear tax relief from April 2016 to apply only to exact costs incurred, instead of a standard 10 per cent.
Now Access Legal, which describes itself as a specialist firm in landlord law, says the measures may drive 20 per cent of landlords out of the sector in the long term, based on the responses of 2,000 landlords questioned in a survey last month.
The firm claims some £9.9 billion is spent by landlords annually on repairs and covering rent arrears, and suggests “every landlord in the UK is out of pocket by £6,600 covering these costs, every year.”
The survey also shows a majority of landlords feeling that they should not be made responsible for conducting the Right To Rent immigration checks, and that the laws surrounding the private rental sector should be less tilted in favour of tenants.
Around three quarters of respondents stated that they did not feel their money was safe with letting agents, and 43 per cent “have dropped their letting agents to save money and avoid safety issues” according to the firm.