The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has teamed up with a group of House of Lords peers to lobby the government on tax rule changes for furnished holiday lettings.
The association has written to the peers, led by Baroness Gardner of Parkes, to welcome their support on the issue.
As the government launches a three-month consultation period on a proposal to change the tax rules, the peers have challenged its treatment of properties that are let to holidaymakers, which currently attract tax benefits different from normal residential properties.
They are calling for residential lettings to be given the same treatment by a taxation system that does not currently recognise them as equal businesses.
The peers were told in a House of Lords debate recently that holiday lets attract more generous tax rules because they offer extra equipment and services in order to compete with hotels and guesthouses and there were “no plans to change the tax or other arrangements for tenancies in the private rented sector”.
It was, said Baroness Gardner of Parkes, a “disappointing reply” and she later told Lord Sassoon, the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury: “If you have holiday lettings, you can roll over capital gains and therefore there is every encouragement to extend your business, whereas if you are a private residential landlord, you do not have that.
“Furnished holiday accommodation can only be let to anyone for a maximum of 31 days. “Surely there is a desperate need for long-term residential accommodation in this country.”
Alan Ward, chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, added: “We have long argued that, with 40 percent of the private rented sector built before 1919, these properties cannot afford to be allowed to decline.
“Better tax allowances for improvements, and improved energy efficiency are essential, but roll-over tax relief on the sale of one property, for investment in another, would help to provide more economical, affordable homes to rent.”
• The newly-created position of Head of External Relations at the National Landlords Association (NLA) has now been filled.
The role has been given to former Head of Communications Simon Gordon.
Chairman David Salusbury said: “This is an important new step for the NLA and is part of our continuing strategy of raising the association’s profile and developing and deepening our network of links and relationships.”
Speaking of his new position, Gordon added: “This process of widening participation makes a vital contribution to an increased understanding of the private-rented sector and the central role it plays in providing housing solutions for more and more people.
“I am very much looking forward to getting down to work at expanding our already broad range of networks to the benefit of landlords across the UK.”
Simon Gordon has been with the NLA since 2002. A graduate of the University of Leeds, he was Government Relations Officer and then Head of Public Affairs at the Electricity Association between 1990 and 2000, helping establish a new organisation.
He then ran his own consultancy with a career break between 2001 and 2002 when he was working in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan-Smith MP.
Simon chaired the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Government Affairs Group from 1998 to 2002 and has lectured on public affairs to both students and civil servants. He has also stood for election to both the European Parliament and Westminster.
