A leading West Oxfordshire estate agent has warned that a new ‘mansion tax’ announced in today’s Budget could turn into an “administrative nightmare.”
Brendan Kay, Managing Director of Parkers Properties, said:
“The proposed mansion tax will hit local people who aren’t multi-millionaires, but instead are often long-term owners whose home value has crept up over the decades, often thanks to inflation, local demand, or work they have done on their properties.
“The mansion tax will be hugely challenging to implement as it will require the first revaluation of council tax bands in more than 30 years. The tax is only forecast to raise around £400 million annually, but how much will it cost to roll out and then administer the scheme on an ongoing basis?
“Anyone who finds themselves falling into the new mansion house trap is likely to appeal, adding further delays and complexity. The whole policy could end up being a zero-sum game and may never actually get implemented.
“The mansion tax, which starts at homes valued at £2 million, isn’t a clever way to target the ultra-rich – it’s a stealth wealth grab which threatens to stall the housing market, burden homeowners, and hurt people who played by the rules. Taxing paper wealth as if it’s cash in hand simply isn’t fair.”
Brendan, who has offices in Witney and Eynsham, works with clients in some of Oxfordshire’s most sought-after villages, including celebrity favourites Charlbury and Burford.
He also expressed concern over the Chancellor’s announcement that landlords will face a 2% increase in tax rates on dividends and property.
“This is likely to impact more traditional landlords rather than those running their portfolios via a limited company, and the growing number of so-called accidental landlords, of whom we have a large number locally — for example, someone who has inherited a property or had to relocate for work.
“It’s just the latest headache for landlords who are already having to get their heads around the new Renters Rights Act, the Making Tax Digital scheme, and various energy efficiency measures.”
Brendan added:
“The announcements concerning the property sector in today’s Budget will do nothing to solve the biggest issue, and the one the Government said they would address when they came to power — namely, to get Britain building again.
“Rather than getting more spades in the ground, we are going backwards. Last year in West Oxfordshire, just 271 new homes were built, compared with over 1,000 in 2021.”
