HOMEOWNERS who become temporary landlords through career moves could become 'accidental victims' of George Osborne’s Budget clampdown on buy-to-let investors, says a property expert.

The Chancellor, keen to address what some see as wrongful gains made by investors in residential property, is clamping down from 2017 by gradually removing the right to claim more than the basic rate tax equivalent in relief for mortgage interest.

Also, from next year, he is tightening the rules about write-down for wear and tear for furnished properties by allowing claims only for money spent rather than the annual 10 per cent of rental that’s currently allowed. Holiday lets and corporate landlords are exempt from this.

Stephanie Johnson, lettings manager for property consultancy Carter Jonas in Marlborough, says the changes could hit some landlords with an unexpected, and unjustified, penalty.

“Many properties are owned by people who let them when their careers demand they move elsewhere for a time,” explains Stephanie. “Carter Jonas has a good number of such homes on its books across the UK – appealing properties that readily find good tenants.

“They are let by people who want to return but won’t sell up and move because house price inflation bars them from selling now and buying again later. So they let their home to cover the mortgage and then rent in another location while they are temporarily displaced.

“Among these people are civil servants, who will also face a one per cent cap on earnings growth, moving away from major centres to advance their careers and who ultimately will want to return home.

"They now face a shortfall in their ability to pay the mortgage without raising their rents to cover the difference. It will mean they have to rise by more than the shortfall to cover extra Income Tax payments.

“The loss of a write-down on furnishings and maintenance, unless they can provide invoices, means that these people will have to suffer wear and tear on appliances and fittings that don’t necessarily break during the tenancy but from which they get a shorter useful life because the tenants have been using them.

“We still have to see the fine print and there’s the promise of consultation this summer, so there’s time for Mr Osborne to clear this anomaly so that only those letting more than one residential property are subject to the changes.

"It may have seemed a good idea during his Commons performance but it hasn’t been thought through sufficiently to become policy.”

For example, a property owner paying 40 per cent income tax with a £500,000 mortgage at 4.5 per cent interest would be claiming £9,000 interest relief now on the £22,500 annual interest bill if the property was let.

When the Budget changes come fully into effect, the shortfall will be £4,500 when the allowable amount falls to 20% rather than 40%. This does not allow, of course, for a likely rise in interest rates by 2020.