Budget Your Enthusiasm

Whilst the budget announcements on Wednesday could’ve been alot worse for property people and tenants (many Landlords were running for the door before the budget even came out – they can be a skittish bunch), there were still however some key changes. And it remains to be seen how Scotland for example will use their devolved powers on top of these (their budget is due in December). As always, there are winners and losers in everything – meaning it’s now especially important to stay informed – at least while there’s “blood on the streets”.

Stamp Duty in England has increased from 3% to 5% on investment homes (presumably whether you buy in a company or not). This puts England in the middle between Wales (4%) and Scotland (6%). However there are already impacts on sales of BTL properties, with buyers pulling-out. In the short term, this will mean fewer Landlords / rental properties entering the market, which can only mean increasing rents as demand for rental property shows no signs of abating. There is no bed-in period for this change – it was active from Thu 31st October on purchases which have not yet exchanged contracts. Sure to have given some a fright!

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Capital Gains Tax rate (for selling rental homes) remains unchanged. So the cumulative effect is that the bar for entry to investment property has been raised in England, and the exit door has remained as easy to walk through as before. One might say that the government is perhaps planning to rely more on the “Build to Rent” sector to provide more housing for tenants… and letting traditional non-incorporated Landlords go. What they will likely find however is that these operators typically charge far higher rates to their tenants than traditional Landlords – for smaller properties (aka “shoe-boxes in the sky”) – as they are much more corporately-minded and have their own investors to answer to. The net effect may well be – yet again – that rents increase overall for tenants.

UTILITY OF THE WEEK. Sea Coverage Predictor. Ok, so there’s due diligence and then there’s DUE DILIGENCE… this one is the latter, and it’s probably overkill for most, if not all. But it does make fascinating (if not slightly chilling) viewing to see which areas would end up underwater for different amounts of sea level rise. Worst case scenarios predict a 2m rise over the next 75 years. How long were you planning on keeping that property?

Social Housing providers to be allowed to increase rents above inflation under a multi-year deal. However Housing Benefits will remain unchanged for another year. This is a shame as they are still far short of representing anything near actual market rents – hopefully they will will be pegged to market rates in future by this government. However it wasn’t entirely unexpected as they’d already been increased relatively significantly (from very low to a bit low) in April 2024.

Who are M2P? Married2Property are a family-run property company that aims to build social good through property.

Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz has faced calls for resignation after a critical report from the Regulator of Social Housing labeled the council’s housing management as severely deficient, with numerous unresolved repairs and safety issues. The resignation of a key housing cabinet member and opposition from Green Party councilors intensified calls for new leadership to address Newham’s housing crisis and financial challenges. Mayor Fiaz acknowledged the council’s issues, pledging transparency and urging central government support to address budget shortfalls and rising homelessness costs. This underlines continuing trends in the data showing that in general tenants in private residential tenancies are more satisfied than their Social Housing counterparts.

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Letting agents in the UK face revenue losses as landlords exit the rental market. Agents have been advocating for landlord-friendly tax policies, including smoother incorporation options, which would ease tax burdens on landlords and stabilise the rental sector. Failure to act risks ongoing landlord exits and diminished property rental listings.

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What do M2P do? Married2Property aims to create social good through property – by housing more vulnerable groups of people – giving them a stable platform from which to try and improve their lot in life. We also offer Landlords competitive and hassle-free solutions for their property problems.