The Chancellor has announced that landlords and second home buyers will pay an extra 3% stamp duty on top of the applicable rate. The Private Rented Sector has accounted for a large majority of the new dwellings created in England and Wales over the last twenty years and this is yet another hit for landlords on top of the changes announced in the Summer Budget. Alan Ward, Chairman of the Residential Landlords Association said “The biggest losers from the Chancellor’s statement are tenants who will now find it even harder to get accommodation they want at a price they can afford. The extra stamp duty on buy to lets will exacerbate an already serious shortage of properties in many areas reducing choice and driving up rents. The Government should be encouraging landlords to invest, not doing everything they can to discourage them.”