Landlords want government to reverse capital gains tax changes

The latest insight from specialist property lending experts, Octane Capital, has revealed that 41% of landlords would like to see recent changes to capital gains tax allowances reversed, with the government’s meddling in the sector also the biggest concern, along with the increasing day to day cost of buy-to-let investment driven by the cost of living crisis. 

The survey of almost 2,000 UK landlords commissioned by Octane Capital found that confidence in the sector remains robust, despite the government’s best efforts to reduce the financial returns available to the nation’s buy-to-let investors. 

In fact, just 8% of those surveyed stated that they had reduced the size of their buy-to-let portfolio over the last year. 

However, government interventions by way of legislative changes remained the biggest concern for the year ahead, followed by the increasing running costs of buy-to-let investment such as maintenance and energy bills. 

The day to day management also ranked as one of the biggest challenges facing the nation’s landlords, as did the increased cost of borrowing as a result of increasing mortgage rates. 

The majority of those surveyed (60%) also don’t believe that we’ve hit a peak where interest rate hikes are concerned and don’t believe the market will be more settled during 2023. 

As a result, just 16% of those surveyed stated that they intend to increase the size of their buy-to-let portfolio over the coming year. 

When asked which government legislative change they would most like to see reversed, the recent changes to capital gains tax allowance ranked top.

The government plans to reduce the CGT tax-free allowance from £12,300 to £6,000 in April of this year, implementing a further reduction to just £3,000 by 2024.  

The ban on Section 21 evictions and required improvements to EPC ratings also ranked as some of the changes landlords would most like to see reversed. 

CEO of Octane Capital, Jonathan Samuels, commented:

“It appears as though the exodus of landlords from the rental sector has been somewhat over exaggerated with just a small proportion opting to reduce the size of their portfolio in 2022. 

That said, while we’ve seen a degree of stability return following a shambolic mini budget last September, many buy-to-let investors remain cautious about the year ahead. 

This caution is likely to prevent them from investing further until a greater degree of certainty returns, although we must also tip our hats to the government in this respect, as their consistent attack on the sector remains the number one concern.”