- Rental growth accelerated outside London in December, as tenant numbers increased
- Potential taxation changes and pressure on household income may dim the appeal of the market
After her tenant stopped paying rent over a year ago, landlord Candy Richards has stomached £7,000 in arrears from the single property she lets. “As a landlord it’s definitely made me think long and hard about whether I want to continue renting out that property,” she says. Mooted reforms to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime have added to the feeling that the government is not on the side of landlords, she says.
Ms Richards is not alone in questioning her future in the market. A third of landlords surveyed by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) at the end of last year said that they were more likely to either sell some or all of their properties, up from around a quarter during the third quarter. The risk of missed rent payments and a potentially higher tax bill under proposed CGT reforms have made the buy-to-let market more precarious.