Property News · April 1, 2016

A real Tory chancellor wouldn’t persecute buy-to-let landlords | Simon Jenkins


Of course there are racketeers and slum landlords, but going after all landlords is an oddly un-Tory move that won’t help – or free up any under-used spaceIs George Osborne really a Tory? This week his previous grovelling before communist China over steel tariffs has returned to haunt him. His conversion to a socialist “living wage” is enraging small businesses. Today, in a sudden revulsion against market economics he is penalising buy-to-let investors – and their tenants.Osborne’s assault on buy-to-let is mystifying. With the withering away of public housing, private renting is how evermore people live, especially in cities. They include the migratory rich, millennials, those unable to afford a house and those who are just very poor and cannot get a council tenancy. Between 2001 and 2011, private renting in London went from 17% to 26% of the housing market, and is continuing to rise. The London borough of Newham takes in 5,000 newcomers a year, virtually all poor and renting privately. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…A real Tory chancellor wouldn’t persecute buy-to-let landlords | Simon Jenkins

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