to be pleased my property portfolio won't incur a mansion tax?

[AlphaBravoHenryFoxtons]

The portfolio consists of five London flats worth between £1.4M and £1.9M, three London houses worth 1.5M - £1.9M, and an actual mansion in the north worth £850,000 (with tennis court, its own orchard and some topiary on the front lawn in the shape of a giant socialist clenched fist).

Bizarre.

That's nice, dear.

thats nice for you... point of your thread?

Are you the prospective new leader of the Labour Party when Miliband steps down after the election.

This is a piss take - look at the name. It's sarcasm.

Why bizarre? It's the way Ed Miliband's Mansion Tax works. You can own 100 X £1.9M properties without incurring a Miliband mansion tax but if you own one £2M family home, you are in Mansion tax territory.

It's a stupid tax. Total politics of envy and typical of Labour's back of an envelope/thought up in the pub policies.

Mine won't either, 90k end terrace in South Wales

Xenia is that you?

I know it isn't but boy it sounds like her

Well, it does show how poorly thought through the "Mansion Tax" is I suppose,
Elderly couple,London no income, in a house that, they've owned forever, pay the Tax. Someone else with a portfolio of properties in the 10's of millions, taking a huge income in rental, doesn't.

x-post Alpha

If you have a property portfolio though won't you incur different taxes, capital gains tax when you sell and income tax on your rental income?

If Labour want a wealth tax, why don't they introduce a wealth tax? You can't just tax one facet of one asset class.

I agree it's a stupid tax, but it appeals to the jealous streak in enough people that it will win votes.

A wealth tax would be unworkable though surely, how would wealth be assessed?

No, not I. I only own a house and zoopla have it under £2m and I see when I checked today it's even gone down more under £2m in the last 6 months - presumably new stamp duties over £2m (12%!! from the Tories) never mind threat of Labour mansion tax means anyone getting near £2m is much less likely to be within mansion tax so that's all very good news and thankfully I have never done anything on the house so I am ready and waiting to do battle over how low its value is.

it is certainly going to be an unfair tax - not so much on OAPs with massive equity in the house who seem to be the ones getting sympathy even though they had gains they did not earn but on those of us who have or had massive mortgages, may be £100k equity in a house and no savings and no rises due to house price inflation. It is a tax on love really.

Those who choose to abandon their families and buy a small house and 5 yachts or whatever and spend their money on wine women and song and cocaine don't pay and those who stand by their family and move where there is work (London) to feed the family rather than relying on the state are taxed. It is also racist. My neighbours are largely Indian or Pakistani living often with grandparents in the house and cousin brothers nad the like so they like these big houses because of love and care for the old whereas if they bought 3 flats worth £500k in London and did not look after the family and all lived alone in isolation they avoid the tax.

MPs avoid it because they have to split their capital between two lower value homes - one in London and one in the constituency so just about no tax they could have come up with could have been designed to ensure MPs of all people with their split existence avoid having to pay it!

Mylene?

it is certainly going to be an unfair tax - not so much on OAPs with massive equity in the house who seem to be the ones getting sympathy even though they had gains they did not earn but on those of us who have or had massive mortgages, may be £100k equity in a house and no savings and no rises due to house price inflation.

You're right that it's unfair, but don't you think that once upon a time, pensioners had mortgages that seemed just as massive to them?

Pensioners didn't gain anything any more or less than anyone else who lives in the same house for a long time. There is no gain when nothing changes, the gain can only come when the property is sold. Until there's actual money involved, it's just the same pile of bricks it was before it could could have sold for £2m.

PeachyPants - I can nominate any one of my portfolio properties as my principal private residence (I'll probably have to live in it for a bit by getting my post sent there and registering with a doctor in the vicinity) and then sell it and gain exemption from CGT. And if your property is rented out you get lettings relief against CGT and you can even offset the costs of acquisition (including Stamp Duty and other buying costs) against CGT. Yes you pay income tax on the rental income.

How anyone can afford NOT to be a second or third home owner us beyond me.

Does anyone know how it's going to work in practice?

From what I've read (and please correct me if I'm wrong) they're going to rely on people declaring that their house is worth 2 million or over when they complete their annual tax return - good luck with that one.

Not far from where I live there's a street of large houses which often sell for around about 2 million, however there's quite a difference in price as some of them have been beautifully done up and extended etc but others are definitely still ripe for renovation. I'm intrigued to know how they'll decide which ones are liable to pay the mansion tax - are they going to ask local estate agents to value each house individually, in which case is there an appeals process in place? I would imagine that lots of people will argue that their house is worth slightly less than the threshold (especially as house prices have definitely softened round here in the last few months).

Stunningly insensitive post there OP when people are struggling to feed their families and buy a single family home, never mind multiple residences.

Is £2m a common figure for home owners these days then? I would have thought that if you live in a £2m home, you are pretty well off

I must say I couldn't shed any tears for people who can afford to live in a home worth £2m. It wouldn't worry me too much if it was brought in. But I'm not voting Labour anyway. I don't think the OP was meaning to be insensitive only pointing out that you could have a massive portfolio of houses all under £2m and not pay the mansion tax.

Do you reckon I'll fall foul of the mansion tax - my portfolios worth quite a bit I reckon

SqueezyCheeseWeasel - Eh? It's a discussion about the merits of mansion tax.

Fairenuff - The point is there will be one class of people who own property over £2m paying mansion tax and another class of persons who own property over £2M who aren't required to pay. Like MPs for example, with their London flats and constituency homes, many of them own property worth £2M + but only precious few will be mansion tax payers. Perhaps that's why it's been designed that way.

It's terribly crude and unfair. I have no problem with wealth taxes if that's what people want to vote for. But let's please make sure it's applied fairly.