The Government is considering levying National Insurance on rental income in Chancellor Rachel Reeves Autumn Budget.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “Further punitive tax hikes on the rental sector will lead only to rents going up, hitting the very households the Government wants to protect. It would come on top of last year’s increase to stamp duty on homes purchased to rent and proposals expecting landlords to pay up to £15,000 on energy efficiency improvements to properties.  

“Analysis by Savills shows that up to one million new rental homes will be needed by 2031 to meet demand. Given this, the Chancellor should be using the tax system to encourage long term investment in new good quality rental housing. She should also heed the advice of the Committee on Fuel Poverty and reform the tax system to support investment in energy efficiency improvements.”

The move by the government is apparently being considering as a way to plug the black hole in the public finances.

Stephen Perkins, Managing Director at Norwich-based Yellow Brick Mortgages, said: "Landlords have long been successive governments’ soft target, and this could be the coup de grâce. Further taxes on landlords' ever-decreasing profits will see them either exit the sector or push up rents to cover the tax. 

"If even more landlords exit the sector, supply will drop and rental prices will go stratospheric. Make no mistake, it will be working people and tenants who will ultimately pay the price of this move if it is implemented."