One of the thorniest issues in rented housing has brought together the UK’s private sector landlords and a group of House of Lords peers, Reports the RLA
The Residential Landlords Association has now written to the peers – led by Baroness Gardner of Parkes – to welcome their support.
As the government launches a three-month consultation period on a proposal to change the tax rules for furnished holiday lettings, the peers have challenged the government’s treatment of properties that are let to holidaymakers – which currently attract tax benefits different from normal residential properties.
They are calling for residential lettings to be given the same treatment by a taxation system that does not currently recognise them as equal businesses.
The peers were told, in a House of Lords debate (July 26), that holiday lets attract more generous tax rules because they offer extra equipment and services in order to compete with hotels and guesthouses – and there were “no plans to change the tax or other arrangements for tenancies in the private rented sector.”
It was, said Baroness Gardner of Parkes, a “disappointing reply”.
She told Lord Sassoon, the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury: “if you have holiday lettings, you can roll over capital gains and therefore there is every encouragement to extend your business, whereas if you are a private residential landlord, you do not have that.
“Furnished holiday accommodation can only be let to anyone for a maximum of 31 days. Surely there is a desperate need for long-term residential accommodation in this country.”
Alan Ward chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, added: “We have long argued that, with 40 per cent of the private rented sector built before 1919, these properties cannot afford to be allowed to decline.
“Better tax allowances for improvements, and improved energy efficiency are essential – but roll-over tax relief on the sale of one property, for investment in another, would help to provide more economical, affordable homes to rent.”
