Is it really good riddance to buy-to-let?

PEOPLE are bemoaning the ‘end of the buy-to-let dream’ (Mail), but buyto-let has destroyed the starter home market. Tens of thousands of young people have been outbid and forced to live in expensive rental accommodation simply so the ‘retirement’ of the buyto-let landlords can be subsidised. I sincerely hope a market correction will severely burn these pariahs at the earliest opportunity. Any planning consent given for residential housing should specifically exclude investors in buy-to-let.

R.I.A. GREEN, Malvern, Worcs. by INCREASING stamp duty from April 2016 the Chancellor has made a mistake: it should have been increased immediately. I’m already hearing that estate agents are receiving offers from buy-to-let folk who want to beat the rise. My granddaughter has been caught in this trap: she made an offer on a property, but the seller increased the price by £20,000 to lure a second-home buyer, so she was priced out and has to look elsewhere. From now until April, estate agents are in heaven. Thank you, George.

JOHN SADLER, Horley, Surrey. WERE it not for private sector rental accommodation, the Government, which has failed to provide sufficient social housing, would be in a worse crisis situation. Buy-to-let landlords, most of whom aren’t wealthy and have opted to invest in bricks and mortar rather than other options, are to be further penalised for the valuable service they provide in filling the void created by the Government. We’re already unfairly treated in respect of bad tenants being told by social services to remain in properties beyond their eviction date until the landlord is forced to go to court. Now increased taxation adds insult to injury.

S. RAIN, Newcastle upon Tyne.