The war on landlords is a plague on the economy

During a lull in the pandemic I rented a little flat in Oxford for the academic year I was thrilled to have been offered; then Covid came back, my college all but closed and I made so little use of my lodgings that it would have been cheaper per night to stay in a suite at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. As bills mounted, I learned that modern renting is astonishingly expensive – while for the landlord, I thought, it looked like easy money. So in the next phase of life, I became a buy-to-letter myself – and as I do the maths at the end of the tax year, I’m discovering the meaning of what the Daily Telegraph recently called ‘Britain’s demented war on landlords’.

George Osborne, as chancellor, imposed a stamp duty surcharge and reduced tax relief for mortgage interest to discourage investors in flats and make more room for first-time buyers.