A Little TLC For Landlords Please…
With the 2010 Budget Report only one day away, the National Landlord’s Association are already addressing 5 key areas which they feel the government needs to address in order to encourage increased investment from property investors.
Basing their assertions around the fact that the rental sector has grown by 4.1% in the last 9 years, the NLA believes the government needs to acknowledge the importance of the rental sector to the economy and take note of the following 5 sections:
Capital Gains Tax: At the moment residential property is exempt from receiving ‘roll-over’ relief, which unsurprisingly has discouraged many property investors from investing in property. However, under the NLA’s direction they strongly believe that property investors should be allowed to utilise the roll-over relief to enable them to release capital gains from their properties and use them to renovate/modernise their investments. By doing so, this shall encourage increased investment across the property market…
Stamp Duty Land Tax: The NLA are calling upon the government to restructure the existing ‘slab system’ which currently calculates tax based on fixed rates in arbitrary price bands. In addition to this change, the NLA believe that in cases whereby landlords invest in multiple properties, each property should be treated individually for Stamp Duty Land Tax and NOT as a bulk transaction.
Value Added Tax (VAT): Whilst property investors do currently receive decent provisions for creating good quality property lets, the NLA feel rates for performing these renovations and home improvements should be lowered to 5%. By removing these cost barriers more property investors will feel inclined to modernise their rental properties.
Council Tax: With the vast majority of multi-occupancies receiving differing guidelines for how much their council tax should cost, the NLA is calling upon the Government to provide local authorities with clearer distinctions for these property groupings. By doing so this will enable property investors to maximise affordable and much-needed accommodation.
Rent-a-Room Scheme: A keen supporter of the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign which argues that completing self assessments may be deterring property owners from taking on lodgers. The NLA believe that the tax-free threshold for property owners (with lodgers) should now be increased from £4,250 to £9,000 a year to help keep them in line with current property rental prices as well as increase landlord/lodger relations.
Related posts:
- Will Property Landlords Receive CGT Exemptions?
- Is Now The Time To Expand Your Portfolio?
- Private Landlords Encouraged To Fill Housing Gap
- New Initiative Offers Property Investors Protection Against Squatters
- Property Investors Benefit From 10.6% Buy To Let Yields
Tags: invest in property, property investment, property investors, property let, property market, property owners, property rentals, residential property
Leave a Reply