Nearly nine in 10 Brits fear the Chancellor’s decision to increase tax on landlords will lead to higher rents, research by property lender Together shows.
Rachel Reeves hit landlords with a 2% tax hike on their rental income in this week’s Budget, which Together claimed people see as breaking Labour’s manifesto pledge not to increase taxes on working people.
Some 86% of people said the increased costs for landlords would simply lead to higher monthly payments for already hard-pressed renters, rising to 94% of the Baby Boomer generation (61 to 79-year-olds).
Ryan Etchells, chief commercial officer at Together, said: “In our experience many of our landlord customers have chosen not to pass on increased costs to their tenants, instead absorbing extra payments associated with providing homes for tenants, which have been brought about by attacks on the private rental sector by successive governments.
“However, landlords with properties in their own names now face the taxman taking another sizeable bite out of their incomes thanks to Reeves’ rise in property income tax rates. The two percentage point hike will not only leaving landlords out of pocket, but renters too. Our research shows that the public understand that the extra costs will fall to those renting their homes.
“With all the regulatory, legislative and tax burdens of late (on top of the incoming Renters Rights Bill) this will inevitably result in higher rents from next year onwards, and if landlords can’t make their portfolios work for them they could be forced to sell-up altogether.”
From April 2027 property income tax will rise to 22% for taxpayers on the basic rate, 42% on the higher rate and 47% for those paying the additional rate, to be introduced from April 2027.