AIBU to think a £2m homeowner should pay mansion tax?

It was the price of 3 three bedroom semis in Watford
I know because my parents sold theirs around that time

The only reason we, and not our neighbours, would pay the tax is because we borrowed money and spent it in the local economy extending our home.

Some of our neighbours are retired and mortgage free with £700k of equity. Why are they exempt from this envy driven bullshit, but we're considered fair game when we've got similar or less equity and far, far higher outgoings and we're already paying a shit load more tax than them and we're taking far less out?

Hmmmm. You know the argument about people having children they can’t afford? The response is often that “circumstances change”. I think an unprecedented tax is classed as a “change of circumstance” don’t you? Or do changes in circumstance only apply to people who need to claim benefit?

We're currently under the mansion tax threshold, but for how long? I doubt our £3,300 per month mortgage will be paid off before we're pulled into it - but apparently it doesn't even matter if your equity is below the threshold. 🙄

Why should it matter? If you cannot afford the taxes and costs that come with a property, you can't afford to live there?

This.

A slightly older friend told me how she’d bought her Georgian terraced house in SE London for £2000 in the early 60s. Her mother had urged her to buy one a year previously - before prices had suddenly almost doubled.

It is not large and has a tiny garden and no garage or parking, but would still sell now for £1m+.

I knew this would happen. And there is no point in those of us in a house worth half of a quarter of that shrugging because a homeowner is a sitting duck for tax raising so anyone who has a property in their own name will be next.

There will be some interesting challenges. For example every house in Piddington will presumably have a sale value of 25p now….

As I’ve said in previous posts, the introduction of this tax will enable the government at a later date to set different thresholds. Do you still feel it’s unreasonable if they start this extra tax at £500k, or maybe £750k or possibly £1M??? What are your thoughts in it now. Also they can freeze the thresholds and index link property so more and more get pulled into the tax over time. On another note the general hatred of people who have money in the UK should be explored, we need to encourage wealth creation and not despise people who have achieved it.

Equity realise is absolutely extortionate

just think he could of not worked a day in his life and live of benefits instead

I’ll never be in that position but don’t begrudge it to people who are

Shock! Who would have thought it!!!!! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

It's just been announced that they're reducing the definition of mansion to £1.5 million and the tax hasn't even been introduced yet. I wouldn't be surprised if it's reduced to £1 million within 18 months.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/78b249d1697c931a

Up North of course.
I want to level up with the North - get paid the same and have cheap house prices

I think the value at which a house is declared a mansion should be regionalised, otherwise it is just a tax on the south of the country.

it is perfectly easy to work out the top 5-10% of properties by region and to set a tax to match it. Use the data from the land registry.

e.g. Central London +£5m
within the M25 +£3m
Manchester +£1m
Cornwall +£750k

It may seem odd that someone in a £2m house pays less CT than someone in a £500k house, but if the £2m house is a 3 bed Victorian terrace and the £500k house is a detached 5 bed with large garden and pool, I can see why.

We live in South West London. We bought a run down 1930's 3 bedroom semi detached house in 2017 for £550k. It wasn't really fit for human habitation, but we lived in the hovel for two years because we couldn't afford to improve it.

When our eldest son was born in 2019 we got a new central heating system, new double glazing at the front, had it replastered, fixed some leaks that we hadn't even been aware of and DIY fitted an IKEA kitchen.

We've just completed extensive building work and it's now a 220m² six bedroom, four bathroom house. The building work was paid for from savings and additional mortgage borrowing. I think it's probably now worth around £1.2 million.

We're currently under the mansion tax threshold, but for how long? I doubt our £3,300 per month mortgage will be paid off before we're pulled into it - but apparently it doesn't even matter if your equity is below the threshold. 🙄

Thinking about the bigger picture, what will this do to the building trade? If somebody owned a similar semi-detached house in a more expensive area (e.g. worth £1.2 million pre-extension), they'd be stupid to maximise their property like we've done. It would push them into the claws of the envy driven arseholes that support this unfair tax.

As for all the people advocating a Land Value Tax, how would it cope with gardens? The planning rules prevent people building additional homes on their gardens, so the land is basically worthless - but I expect they'll want to tax it as if it's prime development land.

Average house price in 1962 was about three grand. But he could buy a house costing five times that at the time.

He now owns an asset that is worth over seven times the average.

This.

That will probably be in the mansion tax, they have already mentioned lowering it to 1.5 mil before it has even started and it has all the nice things that HMRC are looking for, for the valuations

And the really rich will put houses into trusts so only the middle will be paying. Bastard government.

Why should someone in the south in a smaller home buy higher value pay more mansion tax than those in the north when their house is bigger? Unfair! And wales and Scotland will be exempt… again, unfair. What a f-ing joke it is.

@ThisOldThang. Live somewhere else then, you can buy a beautiful house overlooking the water, private jetty, 2 acres of woodland plus 1/2 acre gardens, 6 bedrooms in house plus accessible annex in grounds near me for £1.4 million, 100 minutes to central London approximately, ideal if you don’t need to be in daily. It’s not a cheap area even, this house is reduced because they want to sell (I know them) for sad reasons

Anything spent on home improvements or maintenance should be deducted, otherwise not fair.

Redistributed to who?

So he should pay more to fund your local area?
I might not be the cleverest spark but council tax is about paying for services in your local COUNCIL area.
This just becomes an additional tax if you think it should be distributed to other areas?
The politics of envy taste very nasty.

Yes but look at it! No amount of space inside can take away how ordinary and average this house looks...kerb appeal is real

The definition of “mansion” will have to be adjusted down to generate any meaningful funds. Or there will be a property tax on every homeowner.

Yes you're right, how many times have we seen in the press about some D listers so called "mansion" when in reality it's a very average looking but largish house. My idea of a mansion is straight out of "To the Manor Born" with over 10 bedrooms and at least 10 acres of land. The word mansion is overused to describe some properties

£2m isn’t going to raise jack shit. The definition of “mansion” will have to be adjusted down to generate any meaningful funds. Or there will be a property tax on every homeowner.

Thinking about the £200k my house has increased by in 20 years, I think overall in maintenance I have spent more than that! (Let alone mortgage!) New windows, new boiler, new bathroom, chimney repair, painting and decorating… and that’s nothing fancy, just necessary maintenance.

In Italy you get the vat back on household maintenance, as otherwise what would happen is people would not maintain their properties as it would not be worth it.

Council tax at least purports to be for local services; a property tax would just be a fine for owning a home, and that is money people won’t be spending on goods and tradesmen.