“Buy-to-let Tax cuts won’t put landlords off” says Waterfords.

Following the Chancellor’s summer Budget, in which he announced a substantial crackdown on mortgage interest tax relief, Brendan Cox of Waterfords says he does not think this will put people off investing in buy-to-let.

The amount landlords can claim as relief will, from 2017, be set at the basic rate of tax – currently 20 per cent, in a move which is said to ‘level the playing field for homebuyers and investors. Whilst some industry experts believe this will cool the buy-to-let market, making property investment less attractive, Brendan Cox, Managing Director of Waterfords which operates across Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, says he doesn’t feel it will have a substantial impact.

He comments “I don’t think people will be put off. Buy-to-let investment still offers a good opportunity for people to make money from capital growth and most people consider the long-term gain over the immediate income. There are still some good yields to be had on a monthly basis, and granted, landlords aren’t going to be able to make quite as much money, but the gains are so big in others areas I would be surprised if this rocked the market very much.

In trying to cool the property market, the government may have created an even bigger problem for tenants because landlords may look to recoup some of the loss through rental income. In our experience, such is the shortage of properties available, that anything we take on the market is snapped up immediately therefore, landlords could probably add an extra 5-10% and still find willing tenants.

Initially the increase in inheritance tax allowance won’t have much of an impact. The most notable difference will be that elderly people, who previously might have downsized to divide up their funds in advance, will now remain in their homes safe in the knowledge their offspring will not have to pay a large tax bill upon their death.”

Christopher Walkey

Founder of Estate Agent Networking. Internationally invited speaker on how to build online target audiences using Social Media. Writes about UK property prices, housing, politics and affordable homes.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

UK monthly property transactions for May 2025

Headline statistics from the latest transactions data include: the provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in May 2025 is 81,470, 12% lower than May 2024 and 25% higher than April 2025 the provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in May 2025 is 80,530, 13% lower than May 2024 and…
Read More
Breaking News

Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) shows the Government has a plan

The Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) held its first board meeting today (26 June 2025), where it set out a roadmap for recruiting 100,000 more construction workers a year by the end of Parliament. Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “The Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) is a recognition…
Read More
Paint Stripper Tools
Estate Agent Talk

5 Strategies to Optimise Your Warehouse for Real Estate

The term fixer-upper can mean many things, from ‘slap some paint on the walls and it looks brand new’ to ‘will this building collapse if we open the front door?’ Indeed, in the dicey world of commercial property acquisition, each warehouse you buy will probably fall into both camps. Thinking about the viability of warehouses…
Read More
Breaking News

HMOs sell for up to 50% above market average

New research from Excellion Capital, the boutique debt advisory and investment firm, reveals that HMOs sell for as much as 50% above the average house price, further increasing their investment potential after it was revealed that HMOs also create rental yields of up to 12.5%. After previous research from Excellion Capital recently showed that the…
Read More
Breaking News

UK buyers struggle while 50,000 homes sit empty

As the UK housing crisis deepens, new analysis by Open Property Group exposes a worrying surge in so-called “zombie homes”- properties that sit unoccupied and deteriorating while millions struggle to access affordable housing. Key insights: 50,000+ long-term vacant homes in England alone 23,000+ of these have been empty for more than two years Estimated £13.6…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 26/06/25

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   The UK is Europe’s second most distressed market despite headline GDP growth Retail and Consumers Goods has emerged as the most distressed sector in Europe, with distress levels now the highest since the global financial crisis, according to the latest Weil European Distress Index (WEDI). The…
Read More