Stealth taxes to hit the property sector
In a move which is as much about protecting tenants as it is about raising additional funding, the UK government is currently considering a scheme which would see all landlords added to a national register. While presented as a way of highlighting rogue landlords and potential fraudulent activity, the £50 charge per landlord would raise a significant amount of money for the UK government without actually hitting the headlines for traditional taxpayers.
The new programme, if accepted, would see around 1 million landlords around the UK pay out £50 a year to add their name to the national register. The various landlord associations have been fairly quiet with regard to their opinion so far, preferring to wait until the small print and the details are announced. However, while many letting companies and landlord associations believe that there is scope to improve the sector, there is a growing concern that this is nothing more than a fund-raising exercise for the government.
We should hear more about the scheme over the next few weeks although the introduction of a "light touch licensing system" appears almost inevitable in light of this drip feed of information being released to the press. Quite how the government will protect tenants remains to be seen, as does the subject of who will eventually pay for the licences.
Share this..
Related stories
Is the UK car industry relying too much on the scrappage scheme?
As new registrations in the car industry rose by a further 6% to just over 67,000 in August, mainly thanks to the UK government's car scrappage scheme, there are concerns that the industry is starting to depend too much on the scheme. It is forecast that by early next year the funds put aside by the UK government will have been exhausted and the scheme will ultimately end. So what will happen afte...
Read MoreIs Zac Goldsmith an unwelcome distraction for the Tories?
Despite the fact that Zac Goldsmith has confirmed that his tax affairs in the UK are very much in order, even though his non-domicile status is attracting unwelcome attention, it seems that the popular press has picked up on this particular situation and the Labour Party is looking to make great headway in the polls. In many ways this is a sharp lurch back to the situation we saw 12 months ago whe...
Read More28% of retirees use pension lump sum to clear debt
26/11/2014 MGM Advantage, a retirement income specialist, has released a report detailing how retirees use pension lump sums, showing 28% of retirees use them to pay off debt. The research, in which the company asked retirees who had taken a lump sum at retirement “how they used the money”, showed that 28% of retirees have paid off their debts with their retirement lump sum as a priority...
Read MoreIs the UK property sector really starting to recover?
The encouraging news from UK housebuilding giant Persimmon caught many in the market by surprise, with the confirmation that further land bank write-downs are not required perhaps the most positive note. However, while the group appears to have called the bottom of the market there was no indication as to when UK house prices will start to rise again and when hundreds of thousands of UK homeowners...
Read MoreGordon Brown defends government handling of Northern Rock case
Despite the criticism in a National Audit Office report today, Gordon Brown has stepped forward to defend the government's actions with regards to Northern Rock. As we covered in one of our earlier posts, it appears the company continued to approve 125% mortgages even after the taxpayer led rescue package had been put in place. This goes against all of the comments and conditions which the governm...
Read More