This is a useful summary from the Guardian on line:
“Social landlords won’t look back on this budget fondly. There were already fears about where George Osborne’s £12bn of welfare cuts were going to fall, but even with a number of policies leaked ahead of the budget, there was still room for a blow to rental incomes that caught them off guard.
Private landlords, too, will not be popping open the champagne. The chancellor delivered much of his budget to loud cheers of support from his own party, but this dropped significantly as he spoke about reducing tax relief for landlords (more than a quarter of Conservative MPs are landlords).
Social housing rents to fall by 1% for four years
Social landlords will be forced to reduce rents by 1% a year for four years after the chancellor attacked “staggering” rises in the social housing sector. The reduction could see housing associations’ predicted rental income fall by 15%. The Office for Budget Responsibility and housing associations have warned the policy could lead to thousands of fewer homes being built. The reduction will start in April 2016 and will apply to tenants in both “social rent” and “affordable rent” homes.
Benefit cap lowered to £20,000 (£23,000 in London)
The overall amount a family can receive in benefits in a year has been reduced from £26,000 to £20,000 – or £23,000 in London. This is a particular concern for landlords as any loss of income from the reduced benefit cap will first hit tenants’ housing benefit allowance. Landlords have warned of increased arrears and many areas of the south-east becoming unaffordable for large families. The government will allocate £800m of discretionary housing payments for councils to help affected tenants.
Housing benefit to be abolished for under-21s
The automatic entitlement to housing benefit for 18- to 21-year-olds will be scrapped for new claimants from April 2017. Exceptions will be made for vulnerable young people, those unable to return to the family home and those who were in work for the six months prior to making a claim.
High-earning social housing tenants to pay more rent
Social housing tenants earning more than £30,000 (£40,000 in London) will see their rents increased to full market rates. Housing associations that do not know how much their tenants earn will now have to find out.
Working-age benefits frozen for four years
The freeze means local housing allowance (which is effectively housing benefit for people renting from private landlords) will fall further behind inflation as the chancellor seeks to stop the housing benefit bill soaring with increasing rents.
Buy-to-let landlord mortgage relief cut
Buy-to-let mortgage breaks have been significantly reduced. No longer can wealthy private landlords claim tax relief worth up to 45% on interest payments on their buy-to-let mortgages. Instead, all mortgage relief will be limited to the basic rate of income tax. Landlords have warned the move will see costs passed on to tenants in the form of higher rents.
Inheritance tax threshold raised to £1m
Parents can pass on up to £1m to their children after their death before them having to pay inheritance tax, meaning many family homes will now avoid the tax.
Wear and tear allowance tightened
Landlords will have to prove they have improved or maintained their rental property before they can deduct the costs from their taxed profits. Currently, landlords can deduct 10% of the rent from their profits to account for wear and tear regardless of whether they have improved the property or not. “