The changes to landlord tax relief announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the Summer Budget speech would not have a game-changing impact, according to renting expert Vidhur Mehra.
“While there have been some worrying headlines in the wake of these announcements, the consequences will not be as far reaching as many fear. For overseas landlords who have a long history of investing in London, their UK earnings are at the basic rate of income tax so the recent announcements will have little impact on them.
“Even for UK based investors, it means they will only have a slightly higher tax bill as they will still be able to claim 20% rather than the existing 40 or 45%. As many of our clients are professional landlords, most will simply use the rent to service the mortgage and see their profit as the capital appreciation of the property.
“With rents increasing in London as housing supply constricts, property values are predicted to increase further over the medium to long term which should cushion many landlords. We’ve certainly not had any indication that our landlords wish to exit the rental market because of the planned tax changes,” Mehra comments.
Currently, landlords can offset the interest on their mortgage repayments against the income they incur on the rent payments. Landlords, can deduct their costs including mortgage interest payments from their profits before paying tax. Higher rate tax payers receive relief at 40 or 45 per cent. However, from April 2017, this tax relief will be slowly phased out, restricting it by 2020 to 20 per cent for all landlords regardless of earnings.
The tax changes are intended to cool the buy-to-let market which the Bank of England warned was in danger of overheating. Buy-to-let mortgages now account for 15 per cent of all new mortgages in the UK, and there is growing concern that Britain’s appetite for buy-to-let is hampering first time buyers’ efforts to get on the property ladder.
