By What are the possible grants for the self-employed, and presuming I qualify, how can I be assisted to access it?
The self-employed grant is for individuals or a member of a partnership. HMRC will look at the last 3 years tax returns. (Tax returns from 2016/17, 17/18, 18/19)
They will add these up, average them and multiply it by 80% then divide by 12 to get a monthly amount, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.
It is only payable if NONE of the following conditions are met:-
1) Your trading profit is more than £50,000,
2) Your self-employment income is less than 50% of your total income
3) If on your tax return you haven’t paid any tax. Having done the calculations, HMRC will contact you by mid May 2020 so there is nothing you need to do.
Obviously HMRC will not have your bank details, so there will be a portal of some kind for you to input these details and a lump sum to cover the three month period will be paid.
The money is likely to arrive in June.
If a tenant is claiming statuary sick pay, is there anything they can claim in addition to this to help them pay rent during this time?
They should be able to claim housing benefits as well as council tax benefit and it is in the landlord’s interest to assist the tenant or at least keep on top of the tenant to ensure they have done this.
My local landlord association has said that if you believe your tenant can pay but is not paying, you can pursue a claim for rents through the courts?
The difficulty here is that the courts are not functioning properly and what you are doing is ignoring the governments guidance on trying to come to an arrangement with your tenant directly if you can. There is a need to be forbearing and accommodating on both sides.
The best thing to do is to communicate with your tenant and be as neutral as possible because everyone is encountering difficulties during COVID-19 and exploring the different sources of income or any benefits that they could receive is the best way forward.
Often tenants who are employed or self-employed are just unaware that they are entitled to benefits and the key thing is timing. If they make a claim now or in the next few days and it takes months to sort out, they will still be entitled to the benefits from the date they made the claim.
Will taking a mortgage holiday affect my ability to re-mortgage or borrow money in the future? Lenders have agreed to allow people with buy to let mortgages to apply for a three month mortgage holiday.
As it stands, we have been reassured that it will not. Your credit file is typically affected by unauthorised (missed payments) or voluntary debt plans. The mortgage holiday is neither. As a note of caution though, interest will continue to accrue so you should expect to make higher payments afterwards.
I am still in the process of purchase however have not agreed a completion nor exchanged contract. Should I proceed as normal? Will the lender still follow through with their mortgage offer?
We would suggest that you still proceed to allow yourself to be able to exchange and complete for when the Government restrictions have been lifted. Most mortgage lenders are extending all offers that are currently issued. We would also suggest that until the restrictions have been fully lifted then simultaneous exchange and completions are how you should proceed to reduce risk.
We will be covering more questions in the future, if you have a question of your own then please get in touch by emailing events@lesstaxforlandlords.co.uk and we will do our utmost to include it.
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