Tax raid on buy-to-let properties nets £2.7bn

GEORGE Osborne’s stamp duty raid on buy-to-let properties has added more than £2.7billion to the Government’s coffers.

It is more than twice as much as officials were expecting to collect when the Government slapped higher stamp duty rates on landlords and second home owners in April last year.

The Government had expected to raise £1.3billion from the tax increase in the first two years.

However, HM Revenue and Customs figures show it has raised more than double that in the first 1 months alone.

Mr Osborne, the former Chancellor, introduced the so-called ‘landlord tax’ to cool the booming buy-to-let market and to free up housing for first-time buyers. In what critics labelled a ‘war against landlords’, he also stripped wealthy buy-tolet owners of the ability to claim higher-rate tax relief on mortgage interest payments.

While the policies had a damaging effect on buy-to-let transactions initially, figures from trade body UK Finance show the number of landlords buying homes hit an 1 -month high in August.

At the same time, first-time buyer house purchases are up just per cent in the past year.

David Smith, policy director at the Residential Landlords Association, said: ‘First-time buyer sales have not picked up as much as people expected. It shows the rationale behind the measure doesn’t seem to be working out. That says to me that this is just a tax grab.’

Philip Hammond, the current Chancellor, is reportedly considering slashing stamp duty for first-time buyers in next month’s Autumn Budget.

‘Doesn’t seem to be working out’