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Lesley Brennan (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I have no relevant interests to declare.

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I should perhaps have mentioned that I did a study for the Scottish Government in 2009 on the baseline of the private rented sector in Scotland. One of the things that came up then was the lack of data, so it is disappointing that the data has not improved since that report wa...

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

In your submission, you suggested that the biggest impact of the proposals will be on vulnerable tenants, as less money will be spent on improving stock.

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Shelter has said that large landlords crowd out first-time buyers because they can access cheaper credit. What is your view on that?

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I would like Ms Reid to comment on the CIHS submission, paragraph 1.4 of which states: “In addition, we feel that if the measure is to support the housing market in a meaningful way, the additional funds raised should be reinvested into the housing sector.”

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

As John Mason mentioned, paragraph 4.1 of your submission says: “Local authorities and registered social landlords … should not be subject to the charge if purchasing homes on the open market”. You mentioned mid-market rents. I am a councillor in Dundee. Dundee City Council ...

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

So you are looking for an exemption for registered social landlords.

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I think that we are hearing that there are still questions to ask, and maybe some more evidence to be gathered. I will go back to Mr Gordon. A number of times, you mentioned a lack of supply in the private rented sector in Scotland. I will join up a couple of points that you ...

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am just playing devil’s advocate. Susannah Simpson and Jo Joyce referred to simplicity. If the decision was taken to not apply the 3 per cent supplement, would there be an opportunity to expand the private rented sector in Scotland?

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Could you expand on that? What is the risk?

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

You also talked about a situation in which there was an exemption for purpose-built rented accommodation. In that situation, where would the risk of not applying the 3 per cent be?

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Paragraph 7 of your submission states: “If this supplement is enacted, we would urge the Scottish Government to consider ring-fencing revenue generated from the 3% ... for investment in housing”.

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

It is number 7.

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Lastly, I have a general question for whoever wants to answer it. It is about the workability of the measure for second, or more, homes. Part 6 of the proposed new schedule 2A to the 2013 act is headed: “What counts as a dwelling owned by a person?” Paragraph 9(2) states th...

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

The provisional affirmative.

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I support the principle of protecting first-time buyers. Ensuring that we get the solution right is always in the detail. Today, we have heard about the concerns of the Law Society of Scotland, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In the written responses to the consultation, we h...

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I would like to ask about second homes. Part 6 of the bill refers to “Dwellings situated outside Scotland”. Will you talk us through how you see those provisions being enforced?

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

A couple of today’s witnesses suggested a main residence test. Do you think that such a test is needed?

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I have one last point, which goes back to something that Gavin Brown mentioned. If someone has a second home accidentally, because they cannot sell the other one, would you consider introducing a grace period? A period of 30 days or 90 days has been suggested.

Lesley Brennan (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Very few of us plan and discuss our intentions for when we pass on or, importantly, how we will pay for the arrangements. My own parents are an exception—they have even picked their hymns. They were concerned about the cost of their funerals, and they bought funeral plans in 2...

Lesley Brennan (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I will sum up for the Labour group. It has been a very short debate, but we have heard the key points. During evidence sessions, the Finance Committee heard about the stated aim of the policy, which is to minimise market distortion in Scotland due to inward investment from th...

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: After Stage 2

I agree with John Scott that we should write to the minister. It seems as though the policy is still in development, and there is a way to go before stage 3. Although I agree that there is support for the principles, we need to know the details, which is why we should write to...

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: After Stage 2

My concern is that the policy has not been worked out. There is a lack of scrutiny and consideration. If the proposal is that the policy be developed under regulation, I am concerned about that.

Lesley Brennan (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill

The housing market is a key component of our economy and, as such, changes to it ought to be considered very carefully. According to Registers of Scotland, approximately 90,000 properties were submitted for registration in the past financial year. The Fraser of Allander instit...

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3

A number of concerns have been expressed about the lack of policy development on the bill, and I think that we want clarity about the development of regulations. It would be good to have clarity about whether changes will be major or minor at subsequent iterations.

Lesley Brennan Lab Committee

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3

Given the very tight timescales, I think that that is a good step forward.

Lesley Brennan (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Committee

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: After Stage 2

Given the guidance that we have on the change of procedure from negative to affirmative, and being mindful that if an amendment had not been lodged the committee would quite likely be lodging its own, I would be supportive of Jim Hume’s amendment. I would hope that the committ...

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Committee

Finance Committee 03 February 2016

03 Feb 2016 · S4 · Finance Committee

Item of business

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Brennan, Lesley Lab North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

I have no relevant interests to declare.

In the same item of business

The Convener (Kenneth Gibson) SNP

Good morning, and welcome to the fifth meeting in 2016 of the Finance Committee of the Scottish Parliament. Our only agenda item is stage 1 consideration of ...

Lesley Brennan (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab

I have no relevant interests to declare.

The Convener SNP

Thank you very much. Our first witness panel on the bill consists of John Blackwood of the Scottish Association of Landlords, Paul Curran of the Scottish Pr...

John Blackwood (Scottish Association of Landlords)

That is something that we are not aware of. We are certainly aware that we need to encourage investment here in Scotland, and that is exactly what we would l...

The Convener SNP

In paragraph 7 of its submission, the Scottish Property Federation says: “Currently less than 2% of build-to-rent PRS investment is being directed to Scotla...

John Blackwood

We will not have a level playing field because of the framework of regulation that we will have in Scotland, so investors will view it differently. My collea...

The Convener SNP

The Scottish Property Federation also says in its submission: “This will have a consequence for the house-building industry itself as buy-to-let purchasers ...

John Blackwood

Our main concern is about the lack of appropriate data sets that would allow us really to see what the concern is in Scotland. Obviously, we are going only o...

The Convener SNP

Paragraph 12 of the Scottish Property Federation’s submission states: “The supplement will be imposed as a slab tax, exactly the same approach that the Scot...

Paul Curran (Scottish Property Federation)

We were referring to having a more progressive taxation system. The changes when LBTT was introduced removed the threshold point of £250,000, which had meant...

The Convener SNP

You say that there are no exemptions, but our esteemed adviser, Professor McEwen, has written, for the committee, an excellent paper that looks at the potent...

Paul Curran

We are thinking about how we keep Scotland competitive and attract the global capital and investment that we have talked about. The large majority of private...

The Convener SNP

From Daryl McIntosh’s submission, it seems to me that you do not think that that would necessarily be a bad thing. In paragraph 5, you state: “Fewer people ...

Daryl McIntosh (National Association of Estate Agents)

If investors are deterred by the additional tax, theoretically the first-time buyer market should improve. However, we are finding that the main stumbling bl...

The Convener SNP

Fair enough. In your submission, you also express a concern that “For those people who do decide to invest in second homes or in particular buy-to-let prop...

Daryl McIntosh

Yes. If investors have to pay additional tax, it basically comes out of their budget so either they will not be able to make any improvements to rental prope...

The Convener SNP

Before I go on to the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland, what general margins are landlords in the buy-to-let sector working to at the moment? I know t...

John Blackwood

The only thing that I can add is that it obviously depends on the kind of marketplace that one is investing in. We have some small-scale landlords with one o...

The Convener SNP

Okay. The CIHS basically says in paragraph 2.3 of its submission that “It is our understanding that the policy will not directly impact the build to let ma...

Marian Reid (Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland)

That is not the main thrust of our submission, so—

The Convener SNP

It is not, but we touched on the subject, so I wanted to hear your view.

Marian Reid

I probably have less detail on the build-to-let market than colleagues have. That is not the area that we are primarily concerned about, particularly in rela...

The Convener SNP

Fair enough. I will ask you about something else. In paragraph 1.3 of your submission, under the “General comments” heading, you say: “We agree with the ge...

Marian Reid

There is a range of potential unintended consequences that relate partly to the private rented sector, which other colleagues have been highlighting, but als...

The Convener SNP

Thank you very much.

Gavin Brown (Lothian) (Con) Con

I understand that a stakeholders reference group has been set up by the Scottish Government. Very quickly, are any of you on that group?

John Blackwood

Marian Reid

Daryl McIntosh

Paul Curran

I think that the SPF is.