Landlords in Wales are campaigning for their government to remove new taxes on buy-to-let properties.
The tax change for landlords, known as Welsh Land Transaction Tax (LTT) is set to replace stamp duty in Wales in 2018.
Currently, landlords will pay a 3% levy when purchasing buy-to-let properties – which a landlord group have called to be removed where they are ‘adding to the housing supply’. In which case, the levy would not affect landlords building their own properties.
Douglas Haig, vice chairman of the Residential Landlords’ Association (RLA), believes that the levy currently discourages landlords from investing in newly built homes, saying: “Whilst we believe the planned levy on homes to rent out will most hurt vulnerable tenants needing a place to live, the assembly has an opportunity to make constructive changes to the bill to rectify this and back the nation’s tenants.”
The Welsh Assembly claims that the increased revenue from the tax change is “essential to the delivery of public services”.
A spokesperson for the Welsh government said: “Respondents to our consultation about the higher rate expressed a clear view about the importance of maintaining a single, consistent rate across the UK when stamp duty is devolved to Wales in April 2018.”
According to Mortgage Introducer, almost half (47%) of landlords said planned tax increases represented their top concern for the New Year.
You can read more about the implemented changes to buy-to-let tax changes in the UK here.
