Landlord launches official petition to re-instate mortgage interest tax relief rules

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A landlord in the Midlands has launched a parliamentary petition calling on the Government to reverse its Section 24 tax changes for landlords, which since 2017 has gradually removed their ability to claim mortgage interest rate against their tax liability.

Announced by George Osborne in 2015, the tax relief was replaced by a basic rate reduction from their income tax liability for their finance costs of 20%.

Simon Foster, who is the petition’s sponsors, says: “We want the Government to reinstate the ability of landlords to set the full amount of mortgage interest against rental income, before tax is calculated.

Sign the petition here.

“Like many self-employed business people I am a small, well-established private landlord that is now struggling to make any money from letting properties.

“Unless the ability to offset mortgage interest against rental income is reinstated I will like many be forced to sell my properties. This could reduce the number of properties available on the private rental market.”

His petition has reached 9,811 signatures so far and will run for six months, but needs to reach 10,000 to prompt a Government response, and 100,000 signatures to force MPs to debate the topic in parliament.

Leading letting agent and former Propertymark President Maxine Fothergill (pictured) is urging both letting agents and landlords to sign the petition to persuade ministers that removing the tax break is both unfair and reducing stock within the PRS.

She says: “With a serious housing shortage, we can’t afford to lose any more rental housing stock and we need the Government to sit up and listen to our sector to stop this daily erosion.”

In the early days of the Truss premiership she told a meeting of landlords that she would consider reinstating the Section 24 tax reliefs and was sympathetic to the cause of landlords – but didn’t last long enough in power to deliver on her promises.

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