Green Tax for Buy to Let Landlords
If you are a buy to let landlord, you are now facing another tax on your property from next year. It has just been announced that investors face a green tax on their properties by having to pay approximately £200.00 for a compulsory energy performance certificate.. This certificates are a controversial part of the home information packs.
This is bad news for landlords as they are already facing increases in UK mortgage costs and rental yields are falling.
At the present moment buy to let property is still big business in the United Kingdom, approximately 860,000 people have purchased buy to let property as a means of saving for their futures in stead of relying on the more traditional pension approach.
Many landlords have multiple buildings and experts are predicting that landlords would be forced to employ qualified energy inspectors to provide their buildings with energy ratings between A & G.
This new Green Tax was confirmed by the government yesterday and will come in to operation next October. However no guidelines or regulation have yet been produced to assist landlords with compliance. However, it is expected that the government will issue information on the Internet shortly and the Association of Residential Letting Agents and the National Landlords association are sure to become involved.
Home information packs are already widely being criticized by many and it is believed that there will not be enough energy certificate engineers to meet demands.
It is worried that smaller landlords not affiliated to any association and perhaps not using the services of a letting agent would remain unaware of the new regulations. Buy to let property purchase is continuing to be very popular in the united kingdom but these new regulations are seen by many as an unwelcome hurdle in a property market that is beginning to show signs of running out of steam.
