Anyone else in the South East worried about Andy Burnham bringing in a land tax?

[Beachbooks]

With it looking likely that Andy Burnhan will be the next PM, I was interested to see if anyone else in London / the south east were worried about potential tax raises specifically around the land tax rather than stamp duty ?

A lot of my friends who live locally are worrying that he will make the land tax for the South East so high in proportion to other areas of the UK that it will be financially very difficult to afford but then also extremely difficult to sell!!

BTW we have very standard house and garden but we live in an expensive area

PS @nearlylovemyusername the disparities PP are complaining about mainly are based on differences in location. They say, in essence, ‘Why should a three bedroom semi in London be taxed at many timeshe rate of a three bedroom semi in Huddersfield?’

Smith, Churchill and Friedman all supported a tax on the value of unimproved land. The land beneath the London semi is much more valuable than the land beneath the Huddersfield semi. All three of these men believed that, accordingly, the London property should attract a proportionally higher LVT.

The so-called principle that it is unfair for someone in London to pay greater tax (by whatever name) on a three bedroom semi than someone in Huddersfield pays on the identical house on the identical plot would get no sympathy from Margaret Thatcher’s very conservative economic guru!

I do see that for those who live in flats, their share of land value is relatively small and the improved value (the flat itself) is a greater portion of what they own. (I believe the person you originally wrote about is in this position). For them there is a bigger difference between LVT and property tax. Again, we need to wait on the details of any policy.

FWIW, when I lived in America each of our assessments assessed the value of the plot and the value of the house separately. The value of the plot is what drove house prices up.

Exactly, this goes after people who paid their mortgage off years ago, not developers/landowners.

It will affect both those groups and people who still have a mortgage. Essentially everyone whose name is on the Land Registry.

So again totally unfair

So developers and landowners will pay a lot more than someone who bought a bungalow in the 70"s for 2 grand?

Not really, if you own a property you should be more invested in basic infrastructure etc. remaining at a high standard, a renter just moves if the area becomes shit?

I would save 1000 a year according to this, thanks for sharing, signed the petition

I would save £600 and I have a big garden so thought I would pay more

Which most people would do, I meant it’s got to be for everyone including landowners and the politicians

I think renters should still pay something as well, they use the services

The US has a property tax system that feeds into local services. Ie schools are better due.

On waiting for the details it hasn’t actually been announced as a policy.

You can bet that landlords will find a way to incorporate it into rent.

True but what about council or social housing tenants?

Who knows?

That calculator is based on 2019/20

nevertheless
It said my saving was £800 but based on an old council tax
Ill still get a saving but nearer £1000
however
it’s not all about me
This will ruin people’s lives and I stand with an actual fairer system
For once
our Government need to find one

UC top ups for housing
Raising councils bills again

Agree

That’s a bad attitude really if renters feel that way
Both should care about their environment. Both benefit from the services and should invest in it

The landlord owns the property, they have a vested interest in the area being well maintained because it is the difference between having a tenant or an empty flat? How market rent is set is separate, it is mainly based on wages and demand, trying to offset tax on to the tenant will just get many landlords into difficulty with endless voids, the market rent is the market rent, landlords without mortgage costs will just undercut prices to get tenants.

You are right about landlords, they can't simply pass every additional cost onto tenants and expect them to accept it. The issue is that landlords have left/ are leaving the market (tax/renters reforms etc.) and the number of rentals has fallen, according to Zoopla by 25%. Not sure how accurate that figure is. What would be the incentive for many landlords to undercut market rents when demand is so high. Any further changes/ weakening of trust that pushes landlords out of the market means more people fighting over fewer properties. Rent is only going to go one way in that situation.

Immigration numbers are down by about two thirds though, and Zoopla doesn"t have a good track record for accuracy? IMO the test is how many To Let signs do you see, and how long are they up for, many media property pieces are spun to encourage people into property debt and to get them to keep paying existing property debt, especially when the source relies on property transactions for their business. For me the "not enough houses" meme lost any power it had to scare people into debt a long time ago.

The councils will still peas the £ away and there’s never been an epic service offered to date. Love to think it would happen but it never will.

How do you see it playing out, will they just talk about it for a while then U-Turn, standard KS MO?

No one has brought it up officially yet.

Why is it all over the media? He will quickly start to look really useless if he becomes PM then starts U-Turning like 2Tier, he will be a laughing stock?