A few changes are coming up that you need to be aware of if you are a landlord or property investor. Here are three that have been recently announced which may impact you.
On 4 May 2021, a new scheme will be coming into force to help people in debt. This includes people that live in a rented property and are in rent arrears. The Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium allows individuals to seek professional debt advice to create a plan for dealing with their debt.
The impact for landlords is that their tenants can state that they need breathing space. This would be for 60 days. If the tenant is receiving mental health crisis treatment, then this lasts for as long as the person is undergoing treatment, plus 30 days. During this time, you must pause enforcement action and freeze charges, fees and certain interest for the duration of the moratorium.
It is important to note that this is not a payment holiday, so the tenant does need to re-pay their rent after this period. However, you would still need to pay your mortgage during the breathing space period as lenders will be expecting their monthly payments as usual.
Last year the government announced that the Green Grants scheme would be extended until 31 March 2022. Landlords welcomed this as it allowed them to apply for vouchers to upgrade their properties. This scheme is designed to help the UK reach its target for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 as Britain builds back greener.
On 31 March 2021, the government made another announcement stating that the Green Homes Grant was to stop immediately. The reason given was that there hadn't been enough uptake as had been expected.
If you applied for the scheme before 31 March 2021, your application will still be processed, and you will be notified if your application has been successful.
If you have already been issued a voucher, you can still use this, but make sure you do this before the voucher expires.
In the Spring Budget, the government announced that they will extend the temporary increase to the SDLT nil rate band for residential property in England and Northern Ireland to 30 June 2021.
From 1 July 2021 until 30 September 2021, the nil rate band will be £250,000. The nil rate band will return to the standard amount of £125,000 from 1 October 2021.
We regularly work with landlords and property investors based in the East Midlands and across the UK. If you would like to find out more about the accountancy support, we offer, please do get in touch.
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Haidee is our Personal Tax Director and is a fully qualified tax adviser, having achieved the ATT qualification in 2006. Tax efficiency being her main concern. Specialising in taxation, Haidee provides clients with advice on personal tax, PAYE services, VAT and social security. She also provides guidance to new start-up businesses.
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