Landlords vent their fury over government’s ‘punishing’ tax policies

Landlords have vented their displeasure with the government over its decision to limit the mortgage interest tax relief given to landlords, and highlighted the damage it is doing to the private rented sector.

The opinions have been highlighted by Nationwide mortgage broker The Landlord Works whose poll reveals that 37% have considered selling rental properties as a result of the tax changes.

Also 77% feel the changes unfairly punish them, with the same percentage saying there should be more support for landlords especially post-pandemic.

More than a quarter (26%) with more than 20 properties have reduced their portfolios to reduce the tax impact, compared to 13% of those with between two and five properties.

Landlords could previously deduct mortgage expenses from their rental income to help reduce their tax bill.

But this finally ended in 2020 and landlords now receive a tax-credit, based on 20% of their mortgage interest payments, which is less generous for higher-rate taxpayers, who previously received 40% tax-relief on mortgage payments.

A quarter of landlords also told The Landlord Works that they had raised rents to cover the lost tax relief, which rose to 58% of larger portfolio operators.

“In recent years there have been numerous changes for landlords to get their heads around,” says Paul Wootton, a director of The Landlord Works.

 “Now with the loss of the mortgage interest tax-relief many are questioning whether to leave the sector all together by selling some or even all of their properties in order to help reduce their tax burden.”