With the Budget just around the corner on the 22 November, Zoe Roberts has taken a look at what measures may be introduced, which will affect the property sector in her blog post.
As there has been little public outcry following the recent raids by the Chancellor on landlords it’s possible that the Chancellor will further increase the sector’s tax woes.
Potential changes that could be made are to bring commercial properties within the changes applied to residential property – for example, restrictions to tax relief on interest or higher Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) rates for investors.
SDLT has been reported as a blocker to releasing homes into the housing supply so change may be afoot with age related reductions to SDLT rates being one of the changes suggested in the press. I’m not clear how this would fit in with any age discrimination rules and depending on which age groups were affected could be politically disastrous. However, given that house sales are down but SDLT revenues have soared over recent months, I suspect there could be some changes made to this area.
Given latest predictions, increasing the housing supply will surely feature in the Budget. A £10bn extension to the Help to Buy scheme has already been announced but I would consider it likely the Chancellor will announce further changes to enable more housing development. However, whether these will be big announcements with little real impact at the local level, remains to be seen.
Business rates is always a popular area for the Chancellor to tinker with and the recent revaluation has certainly made this a hot topic over the last year. April 2018 will see a further rise and it is expected that the Chancellor may do something to reduce this. Ideally the business rate system is due an overhaul, however its perhaps unlikely the Chancellor has the appetite to address this at this stage.
Don’t forget we will be live tweeting during the Budget on 22 November. Follow us on twitter @bhpaccountants of visit our dedicated Budget section on our website www.bhp.co.uk/budget for all updates announced on the day.
