One of the basic rules about tax and law is professionals don’t work from interpretation – they go back to the original statute or case law and build from there.
PropertyTaxPlus.co.uk – 19 May 2009
If not, you can never be sure that you are working from the right information base. That’s what’s happening now with the Rugg Review of the rental sector.
The report came out in October and suggested six main policy thrusts that include encouraging private landlords to see letting as a business rather than an investment and to introduce mandatory licensing for letting agents to improve standards.
Now we are reading the hype as the various self-appointed landlord representative bodies jockey for position to make money from the suggestions stemming from the report.
The National Landlords Association feels this, the Residential Landlords Association thinks that and …who cares? What counts is what is derived from the report not some other organisation’s interpretation spun for their own purposes.
The point is landlords will lose from a tax regime that treats letting as a business and not an investment – even if substantial carried forward losses are allowed to stand if and when the change comes. Rental investment businesses are already treated as any other business for accounting purposes, so the only big change is principal private residence relief will go along with capital gains tax on rental property as income tax comes in and if PPR goes, lettings relief will follow soon after.
Now there we have it! Another way for the Labour Government to tax property people. Think of how many landlords can currently carry on renting for at least three years after moving out of their home and do not pay capital gains tax if they sell within that time. Alastair Darling is missing a trick.
Landlords should vote with their pen at the next election and put across in that box next to the “Get Gordon out’ candidate of their choice.
A pretty unhelpful article from a bad author. The landlord bodies are not self-appointed. They have thousands of members which join them. Who does the author have or is s/he self-appointed?
Comment by Joe — 19/5/2009 #
Anyone that finishes an article with “Get Gordon Out” is a good writer in my mind….
Comment by Jamie — 27/5/2009 #
Unfortunately for landlords, I think that one side outcome of the recent MP’s activities in relation to flipping and expenses will undoubtedly be to put a spotlight on the capital gains tax regime in so much as it applies to let property. We may see a less kind regime in the future!
Still, the government will not be able to get too tough – after all is it the landlords of Britain who are providing property to those who cannot afford to buy including the armies of people on Local Housing Allowance.
Tinkering with tax and making proeprty letting less attractive (as we are seeing following the changes with LHA) will lead to more people being homeless and the government having to build more council properties – an ultimate cost to the Exchequer
Read my blogs at http://www.LettingFocus.com/blog.html for more on some of these issues
David Lawrenson Topic Expert and Property Author
Comment by David Lawrenson — 3/6/2009 #