This is the last blog that I am going to write in relation to this topic, for now anyway, but I just wanted to round off my series on the type of support that the Government needs to be giving the BTL sector. I really think it is time we all made our voices heard on this issue.

I touched on the idea of landlords being treated as traders in the last blog and I want to go into a little more detail here. The Government actually commissioned a review into this topic, the Rugg review. When they returned with their findings, one of the strongest recommendations was that private landlords be treated like businesses. Julie Rugg, head of the review, outlined to the government how important it was that landlords were taxed in the same way as other businesses. Until now they have ignored her.

The private rented sector is becoming acknowledged as the key provider of homes in the UK and this is not something that is going to go away with the recession. It started before the recession and will continue long after it. The way taxation is applied will play a vital part in how healthy this sector remains and at the moment that could mean the difference between the population having homes or not.

It is no longer just a matter of looking after private landlords, the Government needs to look after us so we can help to make other people’s lives better. These taxation changes must be made for the good of the nation’s economy.

In a continuation of our series supporting the RLA’s pleas to the Government, this blog is going to cover a couple of taxation topics. The first is a call for tax relief for carrying out works to comply with HMO conditions; next, a look at capital gains tax on active residential property investment businesses.

There have been a lot of regulation changes in recent years that have affected landlords and many of them have resulted in the landlord having to spend large amounts of money.  An example of this is the changes to fire regulations which resulted in the necessity to update systems. In one house this was a significant expenditure but if you had a sizable portfolio the cost was nearly backbreaking. No one is questioning the need for top notch fire safety and we all approve of the law change. Given that it is a law, however, these kinds of things should result in tax relief for landlords. It is only fair.

The next suggestion the RLA has for the Government is one that I am completely behind. It is an urgent plea for those in charge to change the status of residential property investors who are actively involved in managing their businesses to that of trader. This would allow them to claim capital gains rollover relief for residential properties and, even better, taper relief. Landlords have been calling for this change for what seems like an age now and it appears to be falling on deaf ears.

As the true worth of the BTL sector to the British economy is slowly becoming apparent it would behoove the Government of this country to start taking some notice.

In a speech given to the Fabian Society last week John Healy, housing minister, made it clear that the population of the UK is increasingly looking towards renting. In a statement that many with an invested interest in the BTL sector would call blindingly obvious Mr Healy confirmed that people are increasingly turning away from buying their own homes and beginning to rely on rented accommodation to house them.

Seven years ago seventy one percent of all homes in the UK were owner occupied. This figure had dropped by three percent last year and all signs indicate it is likely to decrease further. It seems that the British dream of owning your own home is starting to tarnish slightly.

Interestingly though, Healy does not seem to believe that this attitude was kick started by the recent recession. He says that this move toward the rental sector showed up in figures as far back as 2005.

I do agree with the minister when he states that this trend is not necessarily a bad thing. It is all about perception really. Continental Europe has always been happy to rent privately and use their money in other ways. Owning your own home is not the necessity that we in Britain have so long regarded it as, but rather a lifestyle choice. It may take a long time for the older among us to accept this statement but it seems that some of the younger generations are already there and quite content to rent their home.

Yesterday the Residential Landlords’ Association ran a blog which contained some of the most insightful comments I have read in a long time.

The RLA has basically written an open blog to the Government urging them, for the good of the country, to give private landlords a break.  Their reasoning is sound.

Given the financial crisis, people are going to be turning to the private rented sector in their droves. Therefore, not only is the PRS going to be providing vital accommodation but it will also be in a position to stimulate increased economic activity. The PRS is, in fact, going to play a major part in hauling the UK out of the mire.

The point the RLA is making is that the Government should be doing more in the way of initiatives to help this critical sector.  Given the situation with loans and other recent law changes, it would often appear that the exact opposite is happening. The RLA are making some recommendations regarding taxation and other breaks that seem like common sense.

Their thoughts are very comprehensive on a number of issues so what I plan to do over the next couple of blogs is summarise them and add my two pence worth.  I think it is important that we all understand what the RLA is suggesting and get behind their campaign to have the government listen to what the PRS has to say.

In the UK many of us do not always see eye to eye with some of the recommendations of the EU. But when it comes to their recently agreed maximum 5% tax rate for renovation and repair work, landlords are right behind them.

The UK Government needs to implement this as soon as possible. This is a unique opportunity to encourage landlords to get properties up to spec. Given that a lot of the PRS (private rental sector) deals in older properties could do with a little work, this has to be viewed as a very good thing.

Of course, it is not to be ignored that a drop in tax, which will lead to an increase in renovations, will also stimulate the economy by providing work. Tradesmen have had a hard time of it lately with many people shelving any plans that they had for home improvement when the crisis hit. This would get a lot of these businesses back on track. Not to mention the huge boost that will be given to the manufactures of all kinds of building supplies.

The Government needs to stop dragging its feet on falling in line with the EU requirements. There is much to be gained and very little to lose. I am sure they can find a way to recoup any monies lost through the drop in tax.

They usually do!

Yesterday the Residential Landlords’ Association ran a blog which contained some of the most insightful comments I have read in a long time.

The RLA has basically written an open blog to the Government urging them, for the good of the country, to give private landlords a break.  Their reasoning is very sound as, given the financial crisis, people are going to be turning to the private rented sector in their droves. Therefore, not only is the PRS going to be providing vital accommodation but it will also be in a position to stimulate increased economic activity. The PRS is, in fact, going to play a major part in hauling the UK out of the mire.

The point the RLA is making is that the Government should be doing more in the way of initiatives to help this critical sector.  Given the situation with loans and other recent law changes it would often appear that the exact opposite is happening.

The RLA are making some recommendations regarding taxation and other breaks that seem like common sense. Their thoughts are very comprehensive on a number of issues so what I plan to do over the next couple of blogs is summarise them and add my two pence worth.  I think it is important that we all understand what the RLA is suggesting and get behind their campaign to have the Government listen to what the PRS has to say.

A very interesting report released this week by a public opinion research firm, Unbiased.co.uk, indicates that an increasing number of British home owners are considering selling their own properties and moving into rented accommodation.

It seems that the trauma of the real estate crash we have just experienced has a lot of people reconsidering their housing options. Nearly two million home owners indicated that they would contemplate selling their house and renting in the near future; of these a third said it was something they would not even have thought about two years ago.

The reason given by most people who say they would consider this route is that it would be worth it for the peace of mind. It would appear that people got a thorough scare during the recent property crash and many have decided that it is just not worth the worry.

Another factor mentioned is also linked to the recession. People are saying that with the job market the way it is, renting would give them the mobility to go where the work is if they needed to.

People are clearly still quite shaken by recent events and who can blame them. It will be interesting to see whether many carry through with what would be a fairly radical move and give up their property to move into rented accommodation. Somehow I just cannot see it happening.

With a lot of people agreeing that the worst of the recession and the credit crunch is now behind us, it is very heartening to see the London property market showing distinct signs of an economic recovery.

The growing confidence in the London market is an indicator that vendors realise that sales are now more profitable and, nearly as importantly, properties are turning over much more efficiently.

Leading London estate agents are delighted with the fact that the number of buyers registering with them has risen by 70% from this time last year. To make things look even rosier there has also been an 80% increase in agreed sales over the same period.

On the buy to let front, the London market has contracted with available stock decreasing by 13% as accidental landlords decide to sell and get out of rental all together. This combined with the fact that the demand for rental properties has actually increased by around 20%, has eased the plight of a lot of landlords who had been faced with vacant property problems.

A knock on effect of all this is that landlords are able to demand a fair price for their rental properties again after having suffered a fairly substantial drop in the preceding year or so. All in all London property is again looking like a good investment.

Many people give at least some of the credit for the UK property revival to the Government’s decision to lower the stamp duty threshold from £175 000 to £125 000 but this stamp duty holiday is about to come to an end and it could spell disaster.

Surveys carried out by leading mortgage lenders seem to indicate that the end of this arrangement could well see tens of thousands of sales fall through.

Many experts are criticising the Government on this one as they believe that they have missed a golden opportunity to reform this tax. The stamp duty tax is seen as distorting the property market because of the huge increase from 1% to 4% on properties in the £125 000 to £500 000 bracket. Experts also believe that the tax should only be applied to the excess rather than to the whole purchase price.

This planned reversion to the old level of stamp duty is causing deep concern in the property industry. James Thomas, head of residential investment at property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle, has expressed a worry that this move could cause drops in property prices across the board.

‘There are already signs of the recent resurgence in house price growth slowing and our latest Residential Market Forecast anticipates a fall in average UK house prices of around 7% in 2010,’ he explained.

As usual, however, this kind of news could prove to be a double edged sword. Buy to let buyers may well benefit from the knock on effect of a rise in tenant demand.

The number of landlords choosing to remortgage their investment properties has fallen to its lowest level in two years according to a survey by Paragon Mortgages.

The survey Paragon carried out revealed that only 39 percent of landlords chose to take out a remortgage in the third quarter of this year. Combined with this is the fact that the borrowing of money for portfolio extension purposes is at its highest level since 2001. Figures indicate this is now 48 percent.

John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, said:

“Landlords are not remortgaging for two reasons - they cannot because of the low number of mortgages available, and there is little incentive to do so because the reversion rates when coming off an introductory deal are so attractive due to the low Bank of England base rate and Libor.”

“We have not experienced the massive sell off of buy-to-let property during the recession that some were predicting, but buying activity has been subdued. As house prices have stabilised, landlords now obviously believe that it is a good time to start expanding before house price inflation starts up again.”

This is good news but a note of caution is clearly being sounded of the lack of availability of buy to let loan products available in the market at the moment. This really does continue to be of grave concern.