An additional 440,000 homes could be sold over the next five years if landlords were offered a zero Capital Gains Tax bill when selling their homes to a long-term tenant, a new centre-right campaigning think tank with strong links to the Conservative Party has claimed.

Onward, which was set up recently by Tory MP Neil O’Brien and also includes Theresa May’s former deputy head of No 10’s policy unit, Will Tanner, says existing buy-to-let properties should be given 100% CGT relief if they are sold to a sitting tenant of over three years.

The research follows recent research by Onward showing that in 2022 there will be only 88 constituencies in the UK where home owners outnumber private tenants.

The tax windfall from the relief should be shared equally between landlord and sitting tenant, they argue.

CGT windfall

The think tank’s research suggests that the CGT saving on average for each property would be £15,000, gifting both landlord and tenant £7,500 each from the sale, although it could reach £9,750 in some parts of the country.

Onward, which also suggests that landlords selling up to long-standing tenants should be offered more generous wear and tear tax relief allowances, is also frank about why these measures are needed.

Private tenants are statistically more likely to be younger and poorer than home owners and therefore more likely to vote Labour.

Research by Ipsos Mori shows private tenants are 54% more likely to vote labour than Conservative, while Shelter recently found that the Conservatives were 22 points behind Labour in the 60 most marginal constituencies.