To think people who own more than 3 properties should have a special tax applied to them?

[Calltheguards]

I'm just thinking with the housing crisis, should people really own more than 3 properties? I would assume it's a property portfolio and used to exploit renters. AIBU to think there should be a special tax applied to property owners who own more than 3 properties? Maybe tax them at a really high rate to discourage people from hoarding property.

We never had a holiday home.

What assumptions you have about something you will never know about.

Am sure 100% of these posters that call landlords wankers and parasites, that if they had the opportunity to buy their own home and then be in a position to invest money in a property to let - they would do in a heart beat.

It’s a business just like any other.

Get over it.

The LA approach LL to let their homes out because the government will not build them fast enough.

You honestly don’t understand supply and demand.

When we were FTB we bought a new build and commuted because we couldn't afford our local area in London.

@PettyContractor

"Where a mortgage-free property is left empty for some reason, paying tax on the hypothetical income it could be generating would be a good way to make the owner reconsider the benefit of leaving it empty."
What about where people inherit a home in an awful state and don't have all the money or time they need to do it up right away and they don't want to sell it in the run-down state?

We are about to sell an empty house and we pay 200% Council Tax due to being long-term unoccupied. That is probably equivalent to paying tax on the hypothetical income of renting it out.

Obviously we will then also pay Capital Gains Tax when we sell.

Ok let's say you own 4 properties.

Most likely you have a holiday home

Eh? I doubt many landlords have a holiday home in the U.K. - where do you get that idea from?

Most likely you have a holiday home which is taking a home away from someone who would live there, and now that person is forced to buy a new build where the land and infrastructure must be changed which will harm the environment.

But that’s just you weaving a fairy tale to suit your agenda. Your ‘most likely’ has no basis in fact whatsoever. 🙄

There are many flats purchased in London as investment properties and left empty. That's not good for the environment as it forces the workers to commute.

A high percentage of MPs are landlords with multiple properties large portfolios etc, the people that make the laws tend to make them in their own interests

When you tax something you get less of it. So this is an excellent way to increase rents by reducing supply. Higher rents will make renting more attractive to property owners than selling and investing the proceeds elsewhere, taking for sale properties off the market and reducing supply.

The only way to lower housing prices is to increase the supply by building more housing units.

Did the UK stop teaching economics?

OP.

I think your time might be more profitably spent studying basic economics rather than posting nonsense on the internet.

If you used the tax for social housing than you would increase competition and the rents would be forced down.

Did the US stop teaching Economics?

of course landlords like anyone respond to incentives, if you have spare money and property gives you the best return on your investment then it is logical to invest in property.

However it is the job of government to properly regulate the housing market so that it functions in the interests of society as a whole.
The game is rigged, blame the people who have rigged the game

Are you talking about empty second properties or properties that are rented out, OP?

If someone decides to sell a property that is rented out, it's not often that the person renting buys it. They would have to leave. If everyone sells rental property, where are they going to go if they can't afford to buy a property themselves?

purchase tax 3% above & if you sell property you have to pay capital gains tax - amazing how little people understand about this subject -however when the very rich get involved (like mps say!) they become part of companies I believe & they don't have to pay many of the taxes that smaller property owners do. Are you aware that people rent home to pay for care or because they have to move for work (temp & permanently) or for some reason cant sell straight away or they didn't get enough/any pension so they downsized? ie they worked all their lives & are using property to make ends meet or NOT be dependent on the state & yes they do pay tax - & have expenses & blank periods in rental & cost because of legal system & there is not enough housing & many people who need to rent & wouldn't be able to get mortgage because of the nature of their work (ie temp/contract etc & blame the government for some of these directly as gov esp local gov use these kind of contracts)

If everyone sells rental property, where are they going to go if they can't afford to buy a property themselves?

Apparently we are going to build a shit ton of social housing.

Right so you want to tax 3+ property owners and use the tax income to build social housing so less people have to rent from private landlords, and rent costs will be driven down by the supply of more social housing.

Except you don’t want to build more houses because of the environment.

Meanwhile, these tax increases will filter down into renters. Struggling renters will be forced out of their properties to make way for those who can afford the rent increase but still can’t afford a house.

None of your social houses are built yet because you’re so worried about the environment that you need to ethically source the building sites and they all need to be built to the highest environmental standards which takes more time and money.

So where will everyone go while you’re waiting for the houses to be built? I mean the people who can’t afford the rental increases from the tax you’ve implemented.

Where is the money coming from to build all these new social houses? Even if your tax was introduced it would take an awfully long time to raise enough money to suddenly rehome everyone from private rentals to social housing.

Also surely then you are going to be reducing the choice that those who rent get? With private renting there are houses available in a variety of places to meet needs and wants at that point. Social housing generally is in a small area.

Now something should certainly be done about properties which are sat empty but that’s not a landlord issue that’s a owner issue!

And if landlords sell up and don't pay this tax, who will pay for this social housing that can't be built due to environmental reasons.

Where will all, the homeless people live. Maybe you could put some of them up op?

Where will all the new environmentally-friendly social housing be built OP?

Should people with spare bedrooms be taxed as well then? Because that went well didn’t it?

They already do

3% stamp duty

18 or 28% capital gains tax

Income tax at prevailing rate on income

Do you think people should do research before they spout nonsense?

Should people not be allowed to own more than 3 of anything then - shops, cars, shoes- goodness, then there would be more shoe choice in the shops and they would have to sell the glut off cheaper.

It's called having good business sense to have a property portfolio and could have been acquired by sheer hard work, risky investments, serving an apprentice to gain the skills to renovate them, many long hours, good financial knowledge, putting off family life till later or the stress of bad tenants etc. or just good luck, a lottery type win or an inheritance

It seems anyone, who hasn't got what someone else has, thinks they should be deprived of it and given to them because they didn't have the clout to be good enough to go out and get the same thing for themselves

There is a shortage of housing in this country because there are about 20 million too many people here wanting certain types of housing and, if there were no private landlords, where would they all live!

Stricter regulations around letting will mean that those landlords operating on fine margins will have to sell at a reduced price in order to avoid bankruptcy this will help to gradually bring down property prices

It would be more environmentally sensible to decrease the private rental market, let those landlords place the properties they cannot afford back for sale, let them be acquired and fixed at lower prices by the council via the new tax fund and allow for the social housing stock to increase. The landlords that have fewer properties will not be penalised and will have an incentive by the fewer number of renters to make their property competitive for the market (modern and environmental).

The shortage of housing is much more complex than lack of supply

Because councils are rolling in money to spend on buying houses aren’t they.....