Well Well Well….George Osbourne’s Autumn statement has thrown another curve ball at landlords. From April 2016 any buy to lets purchased will be subject to an increase of stamp duty of 3% on top of the current rates increasing the cost of any further investments made by the landlord.
George’s justification will be that he is trying to open up the market to first time buyers to get more people from renting into owning their own home. However I’m not sure he has thought this through properly as the initial reaction I suspect in the market will be another spike in increased house prices. Further more landlords will want to recoup the extra money so will we see another sharp increase in rents?
Most landlords are good honest hard working folk who have invested or are wanting to invest in a buy to let due to the annuities, interest rates for savers and being burned by the stock market
An example (Source: Deloitte) on how the new stamp duty rates will effect landlords in April 2016:
| Cost Of Home £ | Current Stamp Duty Bill £ | Stamp Duty Bill April 2016 £ | Difference £ |
| 150,000 | 500 | 5,000 | 4,500 |
| 200,000 | 1,500 | 7,500 | 6,000 |
| 250,000 | 2,500 | 10,000 | 7,500 |
| 300,000 | 5,000 | 14,000 | 9,000 |
| 500,000 | 15,000 | 30,000 | 15,000 |
| 600,000 | 20,000 | 38,000 | 18,000 |
