Mr Gerrard, past President of the NAEA and Managing Director of London estate agency Martyn Gerrard, has called for a stamp duty reversal for professional landlords to prevent a severe hike in rents and housing supply crisis. This follows the RICS report out this week which shows that the UK faces a shortfall of 1.8m rental homes.
Simon Gerrard says: “If we want to avoid a severe hike in rents as a result of the buy-to-let supply drying up, we really need to be focusing on those that can make the biggest difference: professional small and medium sized landlords. At present stamp duty and Mr Osborne's recent tax changes dis-incentivise professional investors from building a portfolio of rental properties. Suspending stamp duty for professional landlords with at least three properties is imperative, as these investors run their portfolios like a business. Not giving the right incentives to these investors will have a devastating impact on rental housing supply, just as the lack of support offered to small and medium sized developers post credit crunch cost did in the supply of new homes.
It is wrong for the Government to blindly push a home ownership agenda when all the data shows that the private rented sector is the solution to our housing crisis. Encouraging small and medium sized landlords to scale up will increase the supply of housing stock now and generate income for the treasury whilst long-term strategies for corporate landlords will take years to kick in.
Generation Rent is here to stay and we need to support investors and landlords to continue to help plug the housing gap. In light of this report, a stamp duty reversal for professional landlords is an absolute no-brainer.”
