Even Homeowners' Alliance hates mansion tax

It's predictable that high-end estate agencies would be against the mansion tax but now one of the most outspoken critics of agents themselves - the HomeOwners' Alliance - has voiced strong opposition to the proposal.

Paula Higgins, chief executive, of the HomeOwners Alliance, says such a tax - originally proposed by the Liberal Democrats but adopted this week by the Labour Party - would be the first annual charge from national government on property owners.

At the moment national government only imposes stamp duty - one off at the time of sale - and local government has the annual council tax charge. So this will be the third tax regime imposed on homeowners says Higgins.

What we know from stamp duty is that what is imposed at the top end if the market then moves down into the mass market. Next it will be imposed on all houses over £1m, then all houses over £750,000 and so on" she fears.

"They say they want to help people own their own homes, but they are introducing the first national homeowner tax which will start off affecting only a few but will inevitably end up hitting the many."

In the past the HOA has been at loggerheads with estate agents, accusing them of sharp practices with their contracts with vendors, and accusing letting agents of lacking transparency in their fees to would-be tenants - and sometimes not revealing them at all.

How it seems the Alliance has common cause with those parts of the agency industry opposing the proposed mansion tax on £2m-plus homes.