An application to begin judicial review proceedings against the government’s reforms of buy-to-let will be filed by Wednesday (17 February), the campaign group behind the legal action has stated.
Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper have sought to challenge chancellor George Osborne’s decision to restrict the amount of tax relief a landlord will be able to claim on mortgage interest to the basic rate.
The pair have raised more than £50,000 from more than 700 backers to take their fight to court.
HM Revenue & Customs has also now responded to their pre-action letter, published last week.
In a statement published over the weekend, Mr Bolton and Mr Cooper said: “Our lawyers have advised us not to share the detail of this letter, but I can inform you that we will be filing the judicial review application next week as planned.
“Everyone is working hard refining the relevant documents, gathering expert statements and background research. We will file the application by Wednesday.”
The statement added that the pair are looking for good case studies from people living outside of the UK, but in European Union countries, who will be affected by the change.
In their pre-action letter the campaigners claimed the changes effectively grant state aid to corporate landlords and to owners of commercially let holiday homes, because no restriction has been imposed on them.
They also claimed the change breaches article 1, protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to property in that it is not proportionate and “devoid of reasonable foundation”.
The pair have hired Omnia Strategy LLP, which was founded by Cherie Blair in 2011, to act for them.
Unless the legal challenge is successful, the government’s proposal will come into effect in April 2017.
