Proportion of London landlords looking to sell quadrupled in past six months

The proportion of landlords in central London who intend to sell property has quadrupled since last year’s Budget, according to new research from the National Landlords Association (NLA).

Just 4% of landlords in central London had plans to sell property when surveyed before last year’s Budget. However, the figure has almost quadrupled, rising to 19%, when surveyed in January this year.

The 15% increase in intention to sell property is the highest witnessed across the UK over the past six months.

Landlords with property in the North East have seen the smallest increase compared to other regions of the UK, rising from 17% in June to 24% in January.

The restriction to mortgage interest relief for individual residential landlords – announced during last year’s Summer Budget – will leave many landlords worse off, forcing some basic rate tax payers into a higher tax bracket and leaving higher and additional-rate payers with considerably bigger tax bills. 

The NLA has labelled the changes the Turnover Tax, because landlords’ tax will be calculated on the rental income they earn, rather than their profits.
 
Richard Lambert, chief executive officer of the NLA, said: “Local property markets vary greatly across the United Kingdom, but we are seeing a loss of confidence across the board as many landlords realise they won’t be able to remain in the market.

“If landlords follow through with their intentions over the coming months this could lead to a massive sale of property, as we have previously warned. However, this may not be a straightforward process, especially for those with stock in low demand areas.

“We urge those considering selling up to think about when they will need to do so, and to plan ahead now in order to minimise the risk of losing money as a result of a failure to sell.”

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