From 1 April 2016 people purchasing additional properties such as buy to let properties and second homes will pay an extra 3% in stamp duty.

This means that tax bill on a buy-to-let property costing £250,000 will jump from £2,500 to £8,800.

This is the second major blow to buy-to-let investors this year, after the summer Budget in July reduced landlords’ ability to offset mortgage interest costs against rental income. That change will be phased in between 2017 and 2020 and is will dramatically reduce the yields available on investment properties and may even make some existing buy-to-lets unprofitable.

This may of course trigger a wave of landlords looking to offload their properties, which may in turn make more first time buyer properties available. Any increase in property supply stops prices from soaring.

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The chancellor will deliver her second budget this autumn. Due to slow economic growth and high inflation, the government need to manage a £40 billion shortfall in public finances. There have already been reports about changes to taxes including income tax and capital gains tax.

The chancellor has advised that landlords could have another tax to pay this autumn as the Treasury decide whether to extend national insurance contributions to rental income. 

According to a report in the Guardian, senior ministers have asked Treasury officials to look into a “proportional” property tax to see how it would work as an alternative to the existing stamp duty land tax on owner-occupied homes. 

More than a quarter of UK adults in long-term relationships (26%) have reported that despite living together, they keep their finances separate from one another.

There has been a rise in both rent and mortgage costs over the last three years, with renters seeing a greater increase in their monthly payments than those with a mortgaged property.

The new Delayed Start Mortgage launched by Skipton Building Society allows first time buyers to postpone the first three mortgage payments. This product has been designed to help soften the blow of moving in costs for first time buyers. 

Mortgage lenders are starting to recognise their “Green” responsibilities when it comes to the different products they offer. 

A recent study by Boon Brokers where 1,000 people who had used an estate agent over the last year were surveyed, showed that a whopping 52% said they were pressured into using the estate agents’ in-house mortgage broker.