09 December 2009

ARLA Reaction to Pre-Budget Report 2009

On Alistair Darling's Pre Budget Report Ian Potter, operations manager of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), said:

"The Chancellor has pledged to help the housing sector and yet fails to deliver any initiatives that will make any real difference.

"The private rental sector (PRS) is expected to shoulder the burden of the UK's housing shortage, yet any specific measures to help ensure enough high-quality housing for those who need it were severely lacking from today's PBR.

"By failing to commit to extend stamp duty holiday the Chancellor is unfairly penalising those investing in buy-to-let portfolios, who have to pay Stamp Duty on the bulk price when individual buy-to-let investors pay a lower rate on the individual unit price. This acts as a disincentive on an important part of the sector.

"We await with interest further details of the boiler scrappage scheme to see if there will be any real benefit to the PRS."