A poll by financial website loveMONEY found more than half their readers think the biggest victimes of the buy-to-let crackdown will be tenants.
An extra 3% in stamp duty was introduced in April to anyone buying an additional property, and from next year, landlords will have their tax relief on mortgage interest payments slashed slowly.
On the surface it appears landlords will be the biggest losers in this shakeup, but the loveMONEY readers who participated think otherwise.
A poll of more than 700 readers revealed 53% think tenants will be worse off overall. By comparison, just a quarter felt landlords would suffer most from the new rules and around one in five (22%) thought first-time buyers would be the biggest losers.
What loveMONEY readers had to say
Dekmessecar commented: “Tenants will pass the charges on landlords because, as we all know, the customer pays for everything.”
Reader LandOfConfusion was far more critical of the buy-to-let brigade: “Existing BTL'ers would appear for the time being to be fine, although the political landscape is changing as more and more people are waking up to the fact that BTL'ers are essentially parasites.”
Why they might be right
LoveMONEY discussed the issue in their article on the the impact of the buy-to-let crackdown. In the piece, their writer pointed out that the cost of renting is already on the rise.
In the UK (excluding London), the average monthly rent in April was £764. This is 5.1% higher than the same time last year according to HomeLet Rental Index, when it was £728.
However, according to David Cox, MD of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), while rising rents affect tenants across the board it’s those on the verge of buying that will be hardest hit.
He explained: “Those at the bottom end of the rental market can never afford to buy their own home; those at the top end only rent until they ‘want’ to buy, but those in the middle will be hardest hit as they’re living in properties they can afford to rent but not buy”.