Leeds Landlords, Homeowners & the Autumn Budget 2022

Capital Gains Tax Changes

In previous articles about the Leeds property market, I touched on the muted plans from 2020 to increase the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) headline rate.

Instead, in the Budget, the CGT relief allowance has been cut from £12,300 to £6,000 for the next tax year (2023/4) and then cut again to £3,000 for 2024/5.

Therefore, if you are a basic rate taxpayer, you will end up paying £1,134 extra in CGT after April 2023 (and £1,764 if a higher rate taxpayer) and a further extra 50% on top of those figures in tax year 2024/5

Only second homeowners and landlords pay Capital Gains Tax on the difference between the price you paid for the property and the price you sold it for. (Note- it is not paid on any gain of your principal residence)

This will be unwished-for news for Leeds landlords and second-home owners

Even if you have no intentions of selling your portfolio in the next five to ten years, there are things you could be doing now to reduce your CGT liability in the future. However, there are various reliefs [name of town] landlords can apply to HMRC for that will reduce the CGT liability. If you would like some names of good local Leeds accountants, drop us a line, and we can suggest some for you.

Is it worth selling your Leeds rental property now? Well, the average conveyancing time for UK property from sale agreed to exchange of contracts is 19 weeks, which takes us to 30^th March 2022…all to save £1,764 …all at a time when rents have rocketed by 19% in the last two years.

Stamp duty cut to stay - yet only until 2025

Kwasi Kwarteng's cut to stamp duty in England announced in his September Budget will remain until 31^stMarch 2025.

Jeremy Hunt stated because housing activity will be slower in 2023/4, the stamp duty cuts announced in Kwarteng’s mini-budget will remain in place for the next two years and four months.

This means that the price of a property before stamp duty is paid will stay at £250,000, up from the previous level of £125,000 until March 2025, then drop down to the old rates.

This will be good news for Leeds home buyers and landlords in the coming years.