Diane Plant

I am writing in response to Dave Stewart’s opinion piece, “Landlords are not like any other business”, Beacon, October 10.

I don’t even know where to start with the inaccuracies in this piece. All I can say is that I certainly hope that no one rushes into being a landlord based on this article.  

Their first error would be paying over market value for a house because Dave suggests that the return of interest deductibility somehow benefits landlords when purchasing a house.  

Then at the end of the financial year when that landlord sits down with their accountant they will be shocked to find that the Government doesn’t give you your interest back, as Mr Stewart states.  

Next, they would find out that they do in fact pay tax on their income, that’s if there’s any income left after they’ve paid interest, rates, insurance and maintenance.  

Dave, do you release that having interest deductibility returned does not means that landlords get their interest given back to them?  

You seem to be confused about this and therefore misleading others, which is concerning.

Mr Stewart claims to be concerned about fairness to first-home buyers but does he realise that when the labour government removed interest deductibility rents were forced up by $180 a week on average. This made it impossible for a renter to save a deposit to make that jump to purchasing a home of their own.  

Was Dave not aware how tough it was for tenants to make the leap to first home buyer under a Labour Government with both rents and interest rates sky rocketing.  

Now that rents have stabilised and interest rates are coming down, we have more first-home buyers coming into the market than we’ve had for a very long time.  

Dave, I see you also supported our Mayor elect, who was on the front page of Wednesday’s Beacon claiming our rates will continue to rise (above inflation).  

So, again, rents will be pushed up, again making it harder for people to get into a home of their own.  

There is a much bigger discussion that needs to be had around housing in this country, making false claims about landlords and taxes isn’t helpful at all.