Protecting your finances now Labour are in charge

Cossy

Germanshepherdsmum

Unfortunately, Merion, we now know that you are not unbiased.

To be fair GSM neither are you

To be fair, Germanshepherdsmum has not let us think otherwise and has always told us that she is partisan politically and has never tried to post political rhetoric as facts, only ever as opinion

My bias is towards a fairer society where we address everyone’s basic needs before anything else. If that means taxing those who are well off a little more so be it. I’m not wealthy but comfortable and would be happy to pay more tax for better public services.

What RosiesMaw said and to karmalady. That was why, in the Spring Budget 2024, the previous government had proposed to end the tax break for people offering short-term holiday lets. See my post upthread.

There has been a substantial rise in people switching from long-term letting to short-term letting, particulary Airbnb - making it even harder for local people to find a home.

The proposal did not make it into the Finance Act and we can only speculate why. Perhaps a deliberate pre-election move to leave the matter in the hands of the next government. If Rachel Reeves decides to include such a measure in the Autumn Budget, Labour will take the flack for introducing a tax rise that the Tories were going to do anyway.

This is the kind of juvenile, manipulative journalism that gets on my nerves. Have a box of tissues handy.

www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/moving-10000-miles-away-70s-escape-labour/

You may need to use www.removepaywall.com/ to read it.

Couple buy a barn for £300,000, borrow £300,000 on an interest only mortgage and convert it into a luxury home from which they have run two businesses. Ten years later, they want to downsize and intended to repay the mortgage from the sale proceeds.

The property is said to be worth £1,600,000 but has been on the market for three years and hasn’t sold so they have taken equity release to repay the mortgage.

They are talking about “downsizing” to something costing (say) £950,000 and complaining (amongst other things) about stamp duty. But this tax already exists.

In just ten years, they have made a capital gain of a million pounds from one property and are complaining???

They claim they have made no private pension provision. When you dig a little deeper you find that the husband is a chartered accountant, has an MBA and ran a successful corporate strategy business …

Here’s his LinkedIn profile:

www.linkedin.com/in/ianmcdonaldwood/?originalSubdomain=uk

.. but didn’t (apparently) apply his strategic thinking to income in older age.

Two sons in Australia working as doctors and grandchildren they would like to see more of so they are off to Australia -

but it all Labour’s fault.

Utter tosh.

I have always made my political leanings very clear, so everyone knows where I’m coming from when commenting.

Germanshepherdsmum

Unfortunately, Merion, we now know that you are not unbiased.

To be fair GSM neither are you

It would be good if the MPs stopped receiving large pay rises and expense accounts were to set a good example. Don’t hold your breath though.

RosiesMaw

To be fair, while there are so many families being rehoused in B & Bs, damp and mould ridden Housing Authority flats, whole families often in one or at most two rooms with shared toilets and kitchens, or even containers I shan’t shed too many tears for second home owners or holiday let’s in rural,or seaside areas where 50% of the housing is AirNbB and locals are priced out of the market
As for “rings of steel” , my sock under the bed will stay where it is.
I don’t think those of us on pensions especially where we own our own homes are necessarily particularly at risk.
If spending on homelessness, the NHS, schools, social housing and social care take precedence over investment in property or tax evasion schemes I’ll be the first to give three hearty cheers

I couldn’t agree more, RosiesMaw. 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

I had forgotten that Labour try and get so much money from wealthier people.

My DH had a relative in the 1970s, who left England because of it, and never returned.

I am thinking and hoping, that they target the many second home-owners, holiday lets and air BnB owners, while leaving the majority of us ordinary folk alone

I don`t have rings of steel but am careful wrt the 7 year rule,whilst keeping enough to fund my own care, if needed.

RosiesMaw

To be fair, while there are so many families being rehoused in B & Bs, damp and mould ridden Housing Authority flats, whole families often in one or at most two rooms with shared toilets and kitchens, or even containers I shan’t shed too many tears for second home owners or holiday let’s in rural,or seaside areas where 50% of the housing is AirNbB and locals are priced out of the market
As for “rings of steel” , my sock under the bed will stay where it is.
I don’t think those of us on pensions especially where we own our own homes are necessarily particularly at risk.
If spending on homelessness, the NHS, schools, social housing and social care take precedence over investment in property or tax evasion schemes I’ll be the first to give three hearty cheers

Well said, me too.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

No mortgage relief for landlords now, by the way.

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree witzend. Why on earth should anyone fund the social care of another person so that that person doesn’t have to sell their house?

I think the nursing part of the care should be funded.
Otherwise it means that those needing nursing care in addition to general care are being forced to pay privately. Even if it is, it is difficult for relatives or those with POA to apply on behalf of the person in a nursing home who may have dementia or other incapacity.

Good hotels are cheaper than many care homes which are often owned by private equity funds and other, sometimes unscrupulous, owners.

Callistemon213

BevSec

Zakouma66 the answer is that folks can buy what they want and can afford. We are not a socialist state (at least not yet!)

Investing in property as part of a retirement portfolio was encouraged at one time. Pension funds were in peril due to the financial crisis of 2007/8 and as a result of the scrapping of the tax relief on pension fund dividends by Gordon Brown, leaving shortfalls in the retirement plans of many people.

And the other thing Gordon Brown did, IIRC, was to remove mortgage interest relief for homeowners, while retaining it for landlords. A pretty blatant encouragement for buy to let.

I’ve often thought that Labour reasoned that a huge rise in the private rental sector, would remove their need to bother too much about providing social housing, or repealing the Right to Buy legislation, which would almost certainly have lost them votes - plenty of staunch Labour voters inc. a friend of mine, were only to happy to buy their homes at a substantial discount.

Of course at the time, I doubt that anyone could have foreseen the huge eventual rise in house prices, and private rents accordingly.

I agree witzend. Why on earth should anyone fund the social care of another person so that that person doesn’t have to sell their house?

I live in an area on the south coast where the properties sell for silly money. OK for us with the wherewithal but hard for the locals who want to stay near their families where they were born. Same in coastal Cornish villages where quaint cottages are bought up as second homes or as holiday lets. It sucks the life blood out of the community.

LizzieDrip

Floradora of course, anyone who needs care will lose their home to pay for it, such is the dire state of social care in this country. So they won’t be leaving their home to their children anyway.

Perhaps, if everyone paid a bit more tax, social care could be fixed so it wouldn’t take our homes - wow, there’s an idea!

The cost of residential care is huge, so I for one don’t see why people with sufficient assets shouldn’t pay for it, especially if they no longer need their own home to live in.

My DM, FiL, and an aunt were all self-funded in their care homes and personally I never felt it unfair that they should have to do so.

We thought of doing this twice, one overseas, but something happened each time to prevent it and I'm quite relieved that we didn't.

We have friends whose pensions wouldn't have been large (both very hardworking people but in lower-paid worthwhile jobs) and they put the money from a small inheritance towards buying a second property for extra retirement income. They let it out to a 'friend' who was down on his luck and he completely trashed the place, costing a fortune when they managed to get rid of him.

Exactly so. Zakouma has posted before that she has no money so she presumably thinks any of us who are in a more fortunate position should give it away and if we don’t wish to we are greedy. By choice I have only one home and don’t want the hassle of rental properties but if I wanted to buy several houses why shouldn’t I? My hard earned and highly taxed money, my choice.

BevSec

Zakouma66 the answer is that folks can buy what they want and can afford. We are not a socialist state (at least not yet!)

Investing in property as part of a retirement portfolio was encouraged at one time. Pension funds were in peril due to the financial crisis of 2007/8 and as a result of the scrapping of the tax relief on pension fund dividends by Gordon Brown, leaving shortfalls in the retirement plans of many people.

Zakouma66 the answer is that folks can buy what they want and can afford. We are not a socialist state (at least not yet!)

I have posted many times that I make significant donations to animal charities. That is my choice and where my compassion lies. It is not my choice to donate more money to the government than I am legally obliged to, and I will always endeavour to ensure that what the government takes from me is the absolute minimum within the law. I have paid a great deal of tax over the years and I continue to pay. Why should I further subsidise other people?

Ladyleftfieldlover

Blimey Primrose! Just the one house to cope with. It appears that a few of you Tory supporters have your knickers in a huge knot. Doesn’t the word ‘compassion’ mean anything to you?

What an unpleasant post and such a shame Primrose felt she had to justify her position.

What do you expect people should do with surplus money?

Thank heavens for second homes and holiday lets as in our City the hotels are full of immigrants!

We also have a second home, it’s also a holiday let, we use a local cleaning company to service it, a local plumber, decorator, etc.
The guests that stay use the local restaurants, taxis, shops.
All this is putting money back into the local economy.

RosiesMaw

To be fair, while there are so many families being rehoused in B & Bs, damp and mould ridden Housing Authority flats, whole families often in one or at most two rooms with shared toilets and kitchens, or even containers I shan’t shed too many tears for second home owners or holiday let’s in rural,or seaside areas where 50% of the housing is AirNbB and locals are priced out of the market
As for “rings of steel” , my sock under the bed will stay where it is.
I don’t think those of us on pensions especially where we own our own homes are necessarily particularly at risk.
If spending on homelessness, the NHS, schools, social housing and social care take precedence over investment in property or tax evasion schemes I’ll be the first to give three hearty cheers

It really is beyond me this stuff. I just don't get it! The greed.

Why should somebody have 3 homes and somebody else is out in the rain?

Well there’d probably be some disgruntlement here if our state pension was means tested, as I understand yours is, nanna8? What percentage of Australians actually receive one? I have googled, but the 60% figure I’ve seen looks very out of date.

There would be riots here if they taxed pensions where you have already paid taxes during your working life. Double dipping. Also, to have to pay a tv licence for the state tv is ridiculous. Horrible system.

Sorry, pressed send too quickly.

Labour will be nothing short of robbers - just nonsense from the aggrieved.