Cherie Blair is getting set to launch a legal battle against George Osborne’s plans to increase tax on buy-to-let investors, claiming it is a breach of landlords’ human rights.
In last July’s summer Budget, announced capping of mortgage interest that landlords will be able to offset against tax.
The change will mean that landlords will be taxed on turnover, and not on profit – meaning that some will have to pay tax, even if they are making losses.
However, landlords that operate as companies, including pension funds and insurance companies, will be exempt. They will continue to be taxed on profit.
In a letter to HMRC, Blair’s firm Omnia Strategy says that the policy discriminates against individual buy-to-let investors.
Omnia has been hired by two landlords, Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper, who used crowd funding to raise the money to bring an action.
Blair, the former Labour leader’s wife, is a landlord in her own right.
She and her family own a number of properties, most of which are let.
The Government has 14 days to respond to the letter, after which the matter moves to a judicial review, where a court will be asked to rule on whether the legislation is valid.
