With over 10,000 signatures already, the Government is required to respond to an online petition calling for landlord tax relief on mortgage interest to be re-instated.

Created by Simon Foster, the petition is open until 10 May 2023. If it collects 100,000 signatures by then, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

Foster’s petition calls for the full amount of mortgage interest to be allowable as a set-off against rental income before tax is calculated.

‘Like many self-employed business people I am a small, well-established private landlord that is now struggling to make any money from letting properties’, he said.

‘Unless the ability to offset mortgage interest against rental income is reinstated I will like many be forced to sell my properties. This could reduce the amount of properties available on the private rental market’.

* The Government’s Mortgage Guarantee Scheme is to be extended by a year.

Launched in April 2021, the scheme supports first-time buyers, who make up 85 per cent of scheme transactions, allowing them to buy a home with a 5 per cent mortgage deposit. So far, over 24,000 households have used the scheme.