The joy of being a landlord

[Bald-Eagle22]

Stamp duty on buying second homes increased significantly.

Yep total madness! It's effective from midnight tonight . This now means an increase of the surcharge from 2% to 5% , not small change.

Guess how many chains will now go tit's up beacaue every wants punish aspirational hard working people . About as ludicrous as any government policy I have ever known .

should have started 6th April 2025 .

 

[Nitefly]

Yep total madness! It's effective from midnight tonight . This now means an increase of the surcharge from 2% to 5% , not small change.

Guess how many chains will now go tit's up beacaue every wants punish aspirational hard working people. About as ludicrous as any government policy I have ever known .

should have started 6th April 2025 .

It’s better for the market to implement these things immediately in a ‘snap’ - otherwise there is more disruptions / uncertainty / headache.

In my view stamp duty on second homes is not an unreasonable thing to increase the tax on, if it needs to come from somewhere.

Edit: that’s not to say it’s not a massive pain for people who have just found out their purchase is going to cost potentially tens of thousands more.

 

[Kenai]

It’s better for the market to implement these things immediately in a ‘snap’ - otherwise there is more disruptions / uncertainty / headache.

In my view stamp duty on second homes is not an unreasonable thing to increase the tax on, if it needs to come from somewhere.

Edit: that’s not to say it’s not a massive pain for people who have just found out their purchase is going to cost potentially tens of thousands more.

It's a 2% increase, the only people it's costing 'tens of thousands' more, are people buying second homes worth £1m+, which I think many people would deem a fairly reasonable target for increased taxes, given they're clearly not short of a few quid.

Edit - that kind of sounds like i'm disagreeing with you, but it's not meant to

 

[Nitefly]

It's a 2% increase, the only people it's costing 'tens of thousands' more, are people buying second homes worth £1m+, which I think many people would deem a fairly reasonable target for increased taxes, given they're clearly not short of a few quid.

Indeed, but it’ll still be an unpleasant shock if people were lined up to exchange. They won’t necessarily be ‘cash rich’ if the second home purchase is backed by a mortgage.

It’s still an ‘unpleasant surprise’ if it’s just a few thousand pounds more of tax, which will be the case with a much smaller purchase price.

As mentioned, I’m not against the increase.

 

[StriderX]

Stamp duty on secondary residential property should be 100% frankly.

 

[Showboat]

So after all the scaremongering and people selling up, not much has changed imo

 

[Lopéz]

The BTL landlord's mantra. Regardless of the question, the answer is "Put up the rent".

The alternative being "go out of business"

A BTL landlord has a fairly straightforward business model. The money coming in from the renter must exceed the spend of the landlord, and if it doesn't, then there is no sustainable business.

It's not like a manufacturing company where increasing costs could potentially be offset with cheaper materials or methods.

If the cost of business goes up, the end price to the customer goes up directly, or the business is no longer profitable and ceases to be viable.

What alternative do you see?

 

[Mr Badger]

The alternative being "go out of business"

A BTL landlord has a fairly straightforward business model. The money coming in from the renter must exceed the spend of the landlord, and if it doesn't, then there is no sustainable business.

It's not like a manufacturing company where increasing costs could potentially be offset with cheaper materials or methods.

If the cost of business goes up, the end price to the customer goes up directly, or the business is no longer profitable and ceases to be viable.

What alternative do you see?

That's a very narrow slice of the wide spectrum of reality. And if they are that close to the edge, maybe they shouldn't have overextended themselves to buy additional houses in the pursuit of profit.

I know several landlords who started out as BTL but now claim to own multiple properties outright, yet still revel in putting up the rent for their tenants at any excuse. Frankly it's bordering on sociopathic behaviour.

 

[Lopéz]

That's a very narrow slice of the wide spectrum of reality. And if they are that close to the edge, maybe they shouldn't have overextended themselves to buy additional houses in the pursuit of profit.

I know several landlords who started out as BTL but now claim to own multiple properties outright, yet still revel in putting up the rent for their tenants at any excuse. Frankly it's bordering on sociopathic behaviour.

Your original comment was about BTL landlords. In the comment above you say it's not about BTL landlords, it's about landlords who own properties outright.

Which is it, because they are two different operating models.

 

[Mr Badger]

Your original comment was about BTL landlords. In the comment above you say it's not about BTL landlords, it's about landlords who own properties outright.

Which is it, because they are two different operating models.

It's not a "Which is it" scenario.

Are you of the belief that BTL means that the mortgage owner should be indemnified against all risk and end up with a free property with all costs transferred to the tenant?

There are people who start out as BTL and after using the profits to pay off the mortgage, then continue to use any excuse to raise rents. The people in number 29 are paying more than my tenants in number 27? Time for a rent review!

 

[dlockers]

Who’s butt hurt?
When my old tenant moved out I whacked the rent up considerably to cover the **** show that’s coming from our financially illiterate govt.
I said earlier in this thread that if they want to treat my rental like a cash cow then I’ll milk that cow for all I can get, and I will.

The lord and saviour hobbyist landlord showing he is indeed tarred with the same brush and full of hot air

 

[Bluecube]

CGT has gone up a few percent for those that sell

Are you certain about that? My understanding is that CGT didn’t go up for selling residential properties. Stamp duty increased in England for buying a property other than your own home.

 

[Freakbro]

Are you certain about that? My understanding is that CGT didn’t go up for selling residential properties. Stamp duty increased in England for buying a property other than your own home.

You are correct, CGT hasn't changed for residential properties, so no change for LL's

 

[andybird123]

Are you certain about that? My understanding is that CGT didn’t go up for selling residential properties. Stamp duty increased in England for buying a property other than your own home.

Sorry yes, it affects me in other ways but not on property, you're correct

 

[Street]

Are you certain about that? My understanding is that CGT didn’t go up for selling residential properties. Stamp duty increased in England for buying a property other than your own home.

I'm mid way through a sale and was expecting it to go up, but fortunately it's staying the same for properties.

 

[Lopéz]

It's not a "Which is it" scenario.

Are you of the belief that BTL means that the mortgage owner should be indemnified against all risk and end up with a free property with all costs transferred to the tenant?

There are people who start out as BTL and after using the profits to pay off the mortgage, then continue to use any excuse to raise rents. The people in number 29 are paying more than my tenants in number 27? Time for a rent review!

No, I'm not of that belief, and it isn't the case - BTL landlords are not indemnified against all risk, they carry one major risk - If a tenant is not paying the rent then the landlord has to.

This is pointless discussing with you though, because you're shifting your position with every response. I can only guess your bitterness is clouding your objectivity, as shown in your comments at the end of this post.

 

[Mr Badger]

No, I'm not of that belief, and it isn't the case - BTL landlords are not indemnified against all risk, they carry one major risk - If a tenant is not paying the rent then the landlord has to.

This is pointless discussing with you though, because you're shifting your position with every response. I can only guess your bitterness is clouding your objectivity, as shown in your comments at the end of this post.

Bitterness about what?

 

[moppy89]

Anyone here who owns 1 or more "second" properties is right near the top of the pile.

I have zero problems paying more tax as long as those even nearer the top pay proportionately more.

Grief knows public services need more money - of course management may have inefficiencies, but more money is a good short term fix.

So much this.

We all complain about GPs, A&E waiting times, pot holes, **** schools and everything else.

Well that's what happens if you have years of austerity and don't spend enough money on services that are being used by more people than ever before.

If we want things to get better, we need to pay for it. I understand being wary of governments wasting money (the story about BILLIONS of pounds worth of COVID PPE having to be destroyed as unfit for purpose really boiled my ****) but I don't trust private enterprise to fix the issues either. I'll point to the state of the private rental market as to why I don't.

We just need to hold our governments to account when they do **** away our money

 

[andybird123]

but I don't trust private enterprise to fix the issues either

Usually whenever government uses "private enterprise" to try to fix a national problem, the contracts go to those with mates in government, hence the PPE problem, hs2 etc.

The more you look at it the more you realise the UK is just as corrupt as most of the countries the UK likes to poke fun at for being corrupt.

 

[moppy89]

Usually whenever government uses "private enterprise" to try to fix a national problem, the contracts go to those with mates in government, hence the PPE problem, hs2 etc.

The more you look at it the more you realise the UK is just as corrupt as most of the countries the UK likes to poke fun at for being corrupt.

Corruption in the UK just happens at a much higher level. Growing up in India, 50-100 rupees to pay a policeman who stopped you for a traffic violation was commonplace. Here, we have billion £ contracts and thousands in party donations to decorate our ex - PMs flat. Id say the UK has just evolved past low level corruption after showing the rest of the world how it's done. The sun never set on the British empire etc