Reform UK has promised to launch a consultation into making homes built on brownfield sites free of stamp duty, capital gains tax and tax on rental income for a decade.

In a move to support the PRS and boost housebuilding, the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice told party conference delegates that planning took too long, was too expensive, and the risk was too high too early in the process, which had led to a collapse in the number of housing completions all over the country.

In his speech, Tice said: “We want to make brownfield sites much more attractive to developers. Money is so tight, the government can’t give any grants or subsidies. What it can do is give tax incentives.

“If someone builds a new residential unit on a brownfield site, then there would be no stamp duty, no capital gains tax and no rental income tax, whether it is held personally or corporately, for a decade.”

Measures

Tice told The Telegraph he wanted the measures to spur a new wave of buy-to-let investment and said the policies could unlock an additional 20,000 new homes per year on former industrial and commercial sites.

He explained: “It would be very tax-attractive. It would be the property equivalent of an Isa. We think that will stimulate a whole load of people to say, ‘I can build up a bit of a rental portfolio.’”

Reform plans to scrap affordable housing requirements for developments on brownfield sites, or previously developed land, outside London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

Listed

It would also water down restrictions on listed buildings, making it easier to refurbish or change the internals of Grade II listed buildings and plans to lift the threshold for business rates in town centres, a move that would reduce bills for physical shops.

Tice has been designated Reform’s spokesman for business, trade and energy, but insists housing will sit within the department he would run in a Reform government. Earlier this year he said Reform would repeal the Renters’ Rights Act, arguing that rental regulations are reducing the supply of properties and pushing up rents. He believes landlords have decided that renting is becoming too risky because of the restrictions on regaining possession.

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