What has changed in the mini budget for landlords?

Stamp duty has changed.

Stamp duty is a tax payable by the Government when you buy or sell a home.

Previously you would pay stamp duty attached on the home or a proportion of the home between £125,000-£250,000. The announcement now states that anything below the threshold of £200,000 is 0.

This means a third of all homes currently for sale 33% are now completely exempt of stamp duty tax in England.

Before today first time buyers paid no stamp duty on the first £300,000 of a home purchase. This has now been raised to £425,000. If the home you are buying is priced below £625,000, you will still pay no stamp duty on a proportion of the property priced below £425,000 and 5% on the portion above. This is an increase of £125,000 from the previous cap of £500,000.

How might the stamp duty cuts impact the housing market?

The stamp duty cut leads to a big jump in prospective buyers competing for constrained number of properties for sale. It can then lead to some unseasonal price rises over the next few months. Because the change is permanent, and because of rising mortgage rates, we expect to see more gradual increase in demand compared with the surge when the temporary stamp duty was announced in 2020.

The Government also provided some other details for landlords as follows;

• They will be liberalising the planning rules and specify agreed sites releasing land and exhilarating developments.
• They will cut taxes for businesses as designated tax sites for 10 years and there will be an accelerated tax relief on the structures and buildings at 100% tax relief on qualifying investment on plant and machinery.

On the purchase of land and buildings for commercial and residential developments, the Chancellor has promised that there will be no stamp duty or business rates to pay on newly occupied business premises. He announced that businesses which are new in one of these zones will not pay any additional insurance for the first £50,000.

However, these all relate to the investment zones which are;

• Blackpool Council
• Bedford Borough Council
• Central Bedfordshire Council
• Cheshire West and Chester Council
• Cornwall Council
• Cumbria County Council
• Derbyshire County Council
• Dorset Council
• East Riding of Yorkshire Council
• Essex County Council
• Greater London Authority
• Gloucestershire County Council
• Greater Manchester Combined Authority
• Hull City Council
• Kent County Council
• Lancashire County Council
• Leicestershire County Council
• Liverpool City Region
• North East Lincolnshire Council
• North Lincolnshire Council
• Norfolk County Council
• North of Tyne Combined Authority
• North Yorkshire County Council
• Nottinghamshire County Council
• Plymouth City Council
• Somerset County Council
• Southampton City Council
• Southend-on-Sea City Council
• Staffordshire County Council
• Stoke-on-Trent City Council
• Suffolk County Council
• Sunderland City Council
• South Yorkshire Combined Authority
• Tees Valley Combined Authority
• Warwickshire County Council
• West of England Combined Authority
• West Midlands Combined Authority
• West Yorkshire Combined Authority

What is happening to the rental market?

Our thoughts are as follows…Rental growth is close to peeking at 12.3% per annum as suggested by Zoopla.

Rents have been rising but also adding to the cost of living pressures.

Demand has definitely started to fall over the last few weeks in relation to rental properties. This is mainly due to the increase in the cost of living not only bills but food etc in general.

Rents have accelerated in the face of chronic supply shortages but there is no doubt that this increase has now peaked and is starting to come back. However, we don’t anticipate that the market will drop dramatically. But the heady heights of prices forever increasing has now stopped and the rental market is definitely coming off the top.

Outside spaces of any nature are still a premium but it is important to get the figures right for rental properties when they go on the market.

If you do have another property you want us to value or thinking of renting out don’t hesitate to contact us. We can be contacted on 01273 724000 or admin@harringtonslettings.co.uk

iInsure 365

Have you been introduced to our sister company iInsure 365 who deal with all types of insurance? You wont have to worry about filing out a long lengthy forms to find cheap landlord insurance. With iInsure 365 you can speak to one of the team and they will find you a quote through their panel of provider. They deal with all types of level of cover and have various different insurer who can offer quotes for you. There are legal requirements for landlords and it is important that you have the right insurance company to deal with your insurance cover.

A landlord may have one or more properties in the United Kingdom that they rent out. It is important for landlords to spend time looking for the right insurance. Make sure you find an insurance policy specifically designed for landlords. They can ensure properties from all over the United Kingdom for you.

Landlords often believe that a new home policy will suffice. This is not the case and they will then make a claim which virtually all insurers will turn down. Standard home insurance policy mostly cover homeowners or property owners, not landlords. If you stick with your normal house insurance policy you can find yourself with no cover at all.

Landlords building insurance

Landlord building insurance is specifically tailored for landlords and their requirements. iInsure 365 will insure what you need for your policy.

Are you aware of the growing risk of underinsurance?

In the words of the financial conduct authority “there is already an alarming degree of underinsurance”. With both the UK businesses and consumers creating issues throughout each of the property sectors.

It is the responsibility of landlords to ensure they take out sufficient levels for cover for the insured risk of having insurance.

If they fail to take out sufficient level of cover this can have devastating consequences for you. It can result in significant reductions to any insurance pay outs and potentially in the worst case scenario, it may void the policy. Resulting in no pay out at all.

A practical example is as follows;

If the rebuild cost of your premises is £200,000 but the property is only insured for £100,000 then you are underinsured by 50%. Every insurance company will have an average clause in the policy which is standard and therefore it reduces the sum insured by leaving the policy holder with 50% of an insurance pay out of just £50,000.

We understand from iInsure that they recently had one of their clients check their rebuild costs. iInsure have an ability to be able to check a policy for the correct sum insured for only £160.00. Substantially more than what most surveyors charge.

The client was insured for £630,000. Once the report was carried out it stated that it should have been £856,000. There was an underinsurance of £226,000 which would have been taken off any claim.

They can provide you with a RICKS certified up to date revaluation. Ensuring that your property is correctly insured for the right amount. The cost is minimal compared to what the situation would be if you weren’t paid out to the correct amount.