The UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA) is urging letting agents to sign a parliamentary petition calling for the Section 24 changes for buy-to-let landlord taxation to be scrapped.

Launched by Simon Foster, a Midlands-based landlord, the petition, which calls on the government to enable landlords to offset all the running costs against their tax, as they were able to do up until 2015, has so far attracted 36,534 signatures.

Tim Clark, chairman of UKALA, said: “This is merely a reversal to a situation, before 2015, where landlords could offset all the costs of running their business, including mortgage interest. This is perfectly acceptable in any other business. It seems unreasonable to treat landlords differently.”

A recent study – conducted in late November and early December 2022 among 1,100 letting agent members across England, Scotland and Wales – revealed that, when asked about the availability of rental stock, 89% of agent respondents saw their landlords reducing portfolios in 2023 (61% slightly, and 28% significantly – by more than 10% of their housing stock). Significantly, not a single agent saw their landlords increasing their portfolios and only 11% forecast no change occurring.

Clark added: “The increasing burden on landlords, which has been happening for quite some time, is now starting to have a real impact on the availability of rental stock in the private sector. Our survey results show this quite starkly. A reversal of the section 24 situation could help enormously to encourage landlords not to sell out.”