Landlords and property seen as purely investment tools to blame?

An article today by DailyMail online reports on the increasing generation of rent figures and how the Conservatives are looking to tackle this growing concern with an interest in increasing their own popularity with younger adults across the country.

Certainly today, property is far more of an investment product over being actually a home, prices driven up purely on what they can earn people / businesses with every single possible penny squeezed from them and an increasing amount of genuine first time buyers being forced out of the market and many times struggling to afford their rent.

Under the plans, landlords would be encouraged to sell homes to tenants by being capital gains tax break.

So they would not have to pay the 28 per cent tax on their profits if the buyers had lived in the property for three years or more.

This new scheme is initially looking at tempting landlords to sell their property portfolios with a bait of zero capital gains? Sounds a bit dodgy to me and how is that fair? What the easy solution would be of course, though many Tory MP’s have property portfolios and would not want it, is a straight and easy to understand level of tax on 2nd homes. If a landlord has has a portfolio then they are scaled up taxes so eventually after say five property it is simply uneconomical to own anymore. This would flood the property market, cause a correction in house prices, enable more genuine buyers to purchase and own a home and everyone is happy – Of course except those who see property as a business or those in rental property that should not be, ie illegal immigration.

Theresa May has pledged to get the country building again as she makes tackling the housing crisis a key plank of her premiership.Plank being the operative word here I think…

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

Overseas Property

The most in-demand holiday home destinations

Alicante is the ideal place in the sun when it comes to Brit foreign property dreams Province on Spain’s Eastern coast is the most popular destination for Brits in TV foreign property series Almeria and the Costa Del Sol are in the top three based on analysis of 1,000 episodes of A Place In The…
Read More
Breaking News

Two Weeks to Go for First Phase of Renters’ Rights Act

With just two weeks until the first phase of the Renters’ Rights Act comes into effect, letting agents across England are being urged to ensure they are fully prepared for the significant operational and compliance changes ahead. From 1 May 2026, the new legislation will introduce wide-ranging reforms to tenancy structures, possession processes and rent…
Read More
Breaking News

Housing Insight Report: February 2026

The housing market shows steady activity, ongoing challenges with sales agreed rising slightly and stock levels stable, while affordability pressures and longer transaction times continue to strain buyers and sellers. Demand is strong in the rental sector, with significant competition among tenants despite only a modest increase in available properties. Rents have remained relatively stable…
Read More
Breaking News

London boasts biggest property market gap

UK’s property price gaps exposed: London tops with £838k difference between top and bottom of the market The latest research from eXp UK has revealed the scale of the price divide between the most and least expensive property markets across each region of the UK, with three areas seeing average house price gaps of more…
Read More
Letting Agent Talk

Questions raised over tenant-agent trust gap

New research from Propoly has found that while over half of tenants describe their letting agent as professional, quick to respond to queries, and efficient in handling maintenance issues, issues still exist, particularly a widespread suspicion that agents are not working in the tenants’ favour. Propoly commissioned a survey of 1,000 UK tenants* to understand…
Read More
Letting Agent Talk

29 is the age house sharing becomes ‘embarrassing’

but 11% still do it, according to new Nationwide research That equates to 27 million admitting they have felt embarrassed about their living situation With 69% saying living alone is unaffordable, it’s no surprise the average age of those in house shares is 35 From moving home (12%) to living with an ex (10%), as…
Read More