The government should aim to stimulate housing market activity post-lockdown by abolishing the 3% stamp duty surcharge for buy-to-let landlords acquiring additional properties, according to the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

The organisation argues that scrapping the stamp duty surcharge would boost housing market activity by encouraging investors to return to the market and invest in properties and that would in turn help meet the rising demand for rental homes and drive up transaction levels.

The government’s draconian tax changes have not just pushed a number of BTL landlords out of the PRS, but have also left prospective tenants in some parts of the country with little alternative but to bid against each other, pushing rents up in the process, as a result of falling housing supply.

Ben Beadle, chief executive at the NRLA, argues that supporting activity in this area of the market would add to the net supply of housing. He said: “To have a tax on developing new housing is completely nonsensical at a time when more is needed. Supporting growth in the private rental market, alongside all other housing types, would provide a significant boost to the economy in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Research published last year suggests that landlords inject over £3.5bn into local businesses across the UK.”