The Chancellor has been urged to scrap the extra Stamp Duty paid by landlords when buying properties after new research shows the extra activity within the PRS created this would generate an extra £10 billion in tax revenue for the Government.

The NRLA says this extra duty would come from the increased personal and corporate tax paid by private landlords as some 900,000 extra properties were then bought and rented out.

The research by Capital Economics is part of the NRLA’s attempt to persuade Jeremy Hunt ahead of his 6th March Budget to solve the ongoing rental sector crisis which has seen supply shrivel and rents rocket.

The Stamp Duty Levy was introduced in 2016 with the then Chancellor, George Osborne, arguing that it would prevent landlords squeezing out families who want to become homeowners.

At the time his reasoning was contested by the London School of Economics which argued that “nationwide only a minority of sales to landlords involved bids from both types of buyer”.

Harshly

The NRLA is not alone in calling on the Chancellor act. Paul Johnson (pictured), Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said in The Times on Monday that “the more harshly that landlords are taxed, the higher rents will be.

“Landlords generally are not top of the list when looking for popular tax cuts, but, again, we need to look harder at the actual impact of these taxes.

“They limit the number of properties available for rent. They therefore raise the prices faced by renters. The taxation of rental housing more generally has become increasingly penal.”

Ben Beadle, (pictured) Chief Executive of the NRLA, adds: “The Chancellor needs to pull out all the stops to tackle the housing crisis.

“Growing the private rented sector is not only vital if tenant demand is to be met, but it would also provide a substantial boost to Treasury (pictured) coffers, enabling it invest in vital public services.

“It makes no sense to discourage investment in desperately needed private rented accommodation. Inaction will only result in more misery for prospective renters.”

Pic credit: Google Streetview.

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