PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Private Rented Housing (9 September 2015)

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effects of the measures to restrict finance cost relief for landlords, announced in the Summer Budget 2015, on the average rent payable in the private rented sector in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.

Asked by:
Ian Murray (Labour)

The Government does not expect the restriction to tax relief for finance costs to have a large impact on rent levels in Scotland or the UK due to the small overall proportion of the housing market affected. There are 1.6 million buy to let mortgages outstanding in the UK overall, out of a total private rented sector of 4.4 million households and total housing stock of 22.6 million households in England.

Answered by:
Mr David Gauke (Independent)
14 September 2015