RLA: Government out of touch with rented sector

The government is "out of touch" with the rented sector, the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has claimed.

RLA chairman Alan Ward highlighted the recent decision to treat holiday lets as unearned income as a clear example of the government's misunderstanding of the sector.

Mr Ward's comments follow the recent publication of an Association of Residential Letting Agents' (ARLA) submission ahead of next week's Pre-Budget report, which called for increased help for landlords.

The ARLA report urged the government to remove VAT on purchases of material and labour, introduce capital allowance for landlords who improve older properties and look into a stamp duty relief system for purchasers of properties over a certain age.

"While we agree with ARLA, we would add that the government is out of touch with the private rented sector and does not understand the motives behind many landlords' reasons for investing," said Mr Ward.

The RLA also proposed that the government should permit self-invested personal pensions to include one residential letting.

"[This] would be a major benefit to the majority of private sector landlords who have fewer than three properties," added Mr Ward.

Get a cheap landlords insurance quote today from Simple Landlords Insurance.