A Mixed Summer Budget for Renters

Having won the election, George Osborne used his first Budget of the parliament to rifle through the pockets of his vanquished political rivals. He announced an increase in the minimum wage, dubbing it the Living Wage in the process - more or less Labour election policy. And he nicked a Green Party policy by cutting tax relief for landlords. We have long called for a review of landlord subsidies - we proposed in February that a new levy should be imposed to recoup the £9.3bn of housing benefit that we funnel into landlords' pockets. This money could then be invested in new social housing. This policy is a pale imitation of that, but it's a big move from the Chancellor. First, he'll stop higher rate taxpayers from claiming tax relief on mortgage interest payments, and second, he'll replace the blanket 10% wear and tear allowance with a system where the landlord has to prove that they replace furnishings, etc in order to claim relief. Read more on Generation Rent.