In the lead up to the 2018 Autumn Budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond is weighing up a think-tank proposal that looks at helping first-time buyers by handing sitting tenants a deposit/partial deposit from a cut to the landlords capital gains tax payable when they sell the property.
Capital gains tax arising from the sale of a buy to let property is chargeable at either 18 percent or 28 percent depending upon the marginal tax rate of the landlord/owner.
Gains are calculated after taking into account any tax free personal allowances, annual capital gains exempt amount (£11,700 in 2018) and losses and costs associated with the sale of the property.
News today shows that around forty percent of young adults are still not able to get on the housing ladder even with multiple schemes like Help to Buy, Help to Buy ISA, shared ownership being put forward as mitigation.
The think-tank, Onward, says that tenants who have been sitting in a property for over three years should be able to petition the landlord to sell with the landlord receiving a discount to their capital gains charge, which is then given to the tenant to secure a mortgage. The estimates put the average tenatnt receiving between £7,500 and £19,500 to put toward their mortgage deposit.
Nearly 90,000 renting households per year could be eligible.
Use our capital gains tax calculator here to find out how much capital gains tax is payable on residential or any other type of asset.