Good news for property investors. Gordon Brown has been forced into a U-Turn on plans to tax trusts after campaigners argued millions of wills would have to be rewritten because of Budget changes to trusts.

At first sight the Chancellor's last Budget held little of interest for property investors - but look closer and it included changes that would hit people trying to protect property assets from inheritance tax.

That's because Brown announced controversial plans to tax people who put money or assets into trusts for their children and spouses.

These could have meant that anything over the Inheritance Tax limit of £285,000, in an accumulation and maintenance trust or interest in a possession trust, would be taxed at 20% (when the assets go into the trust), and additionally at 6% on every tenth anniversary.

A 6% levy was also proposed at the time when the money in the trust was being distributed.