THE FUTURE OF UK BUY TO LET
Ray Clancy,
Editor, Property Wire
Buy to Let in the UK Set to Weather
Change
The UK residential property industry
as a whole has been facing a
challenging time and buy to let in
particular has seen a breath taking
number of changes.
So it should be no surprise that the future of buy to
let is currently a major topic in the industry and the
subject of Property Wire’s latest panel debate which
not only attracted four leading property experts but a
room of people interested in finding out more.
Panellists Paul Mahoney of Nova Financial, Tony
Gimple of Less Tax for Landlords, NLA rep and
landlord Richard Blanco and Andy Wynne-Jones of
Simple Landlords Insurance took on the questions of
the moment.
Tax emerged as the key issue as landlords with mortgages now at the beginning of April
2017 face changes to tax relief on their payments. Tax is always a tough issue to grasp and
also depends on the circumstances of the individual landlord and the size of portfolio and
loans involved. But Tony Gimple was able to provide detailed and informative advice.
It was also clear that the effects of the extra stamp duty on additional homes is also a
talking point along with where to invest going forward and in what type of property.
Interestingly there was a split in the panel with Richard Blanco, himself a landlord in
London, firmly of the belief that the city still offers a wide range of investment
opportunities while Paul Mahoney believes that there are investment opportunities in the
so called northern powerhouse with cities like Manchester and Liverpool.
When it came to insurance Andy Wynne-Jones provided an insight into what should be
important from a landlord’s point of view. As well as coming up with advice about how to
keep insurance costs manageable he also reminded the room that insurance is a cost that
you cannot do without.
The overwhelming message from the debate and question and answer session was that as a
landlord you are running a business regardless of whether you have just one property or a
multiple portfolio and as such a business like attitude is what is needed going forward to
be efficient and make money. To take the words out of the mouth of Tony Gimple, things
happen, just deal with it.
In the meantime please enjoy this summary from our panel experts.
For the latest industry news and views, visit www.propertywire.com