Chancellor’s assault on buy-to-let “is mystifying”

The Chancellor George Osborne has been slammed for his outright assault on buy-to-let investors following the introduction of a stamp duty surcharge last week, while also exempting landlords from fresh cuts to Capital Gains Tax, and planning further tax increases on property investors. The former Editor of The Times and the London Evening Standard, Simon Jenkins (left), questioned in his latest column for The Guardian columnist whether George Osborne was really a Tory. He also described Osborne’s “assault” on buy-to-let as “mystifying”. He wrote, “With the withering away of public housing, private renting is how evermore people live, especially in cities. They include the migratory rich, millennials, those unable to afford a house and those who are just very poor and cannot get a council tenancy. Between 2001 and 2011, private renting in London went from 17 per cent to 26 per cent of the housing market, and is continuing to rise.” Jenkins believes that encouraging the release of under-occupied space is the one sure answer to the housing shortage, and the most efficient way of doing this is by encouraging letting, especially in London. “Renting is the most efficient use of urban property. It keeps things flexible. It is…