Landlords are selling up shop amid fears Labour will whack up capital gains tax and and implement further regulation, according to a survey by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS). From May to July, landlords instructing estate agents fell by 16% overall, dropping by a whopping 59% in East Anglia and 39% in the East Midlands. Sell now or pay later…
The survey points the blame of the drop of buy-to-lets at Reeves and her clan’s likely tax rises, coupled with the new Renters Rights Bill, which ends fixed-term penalties meaning landlords cannot make renters leave without clear fault-based grounds. Meanwhile, the number of houses to rent has dropped by nearly half since 2019 – and rent is only going up. Yet again the effects of a so-called ‘pro-growth’, planning reform orientated Labour are coming to light. And this is just landlords reacting pre-emptively…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”