A welcome summer holiday for house buyers and the housing market!

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced on 8th July 2020 an SDLT holiday until 31st March 2021 coming into force with immediate effect. 

If you are buying your first home, or are a purchaser who does not own additional properties,  and your sale completes between 8 July 2020 to 31 March 2021, you only start to pay SDLT on the amount that you pay for the property above £500,000. Normally, the tax is payable on amounts above £125,000 (£300,000 for first time buyers). 

If you own additional property and are not replacing your main residence the additional 3% threshold has also been extended to £500,000.

The above can best be seen in practice from the worked examples below:

Example 1:

Miss Smith is a first time buyer and is purchasing her first property for £315,000. As long as Miss Smith completes her purchase between 8th July 2020 and 31st March 2021 no SDLT will be payable.

Example 2:

Mr and Mrs Jones are purchasing their new home for £580,000 and are selling their current home at the same time. As long as Mr and Mrs Jones complete their purchase between 8th July 2020 and 31st March 2021 the amount of SDLT payable will be £4,000. 

Example 3:

Mrs Baker is purchasing a buy to let property for £300,000. So long as Mrs Baker completes on the purchase between 8th July 2020 and 31st March 2021 the amount of SDLT payable will be  £9,000.

The announcement is hoped to kick start the housing market and in turn boost the economy. On the Chancellor’s announcement Michael Coward, Head of Residential Conveyancing, explains:  

“The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been stark on the property market. Land Registry comparable data shows that transactions lodged with the Land Registry in March 2020 were down up to 38% on March 2019 and current average UK house price has fallen by 0.2% compared to February 2020”

“It certainly wasn’t the summer holiday We would usually be looking forward to! But I hope today’s welcome announcement from the Government will encourage buyers and sellers to enter the property market and in turn boost the numbers of transaction we have been seeing”

“Our offices are open and we are able to see clients for appointments in line with Government safe working guidelines and our own practises to ensure that clients still have access to our excellent team of legal advisors to guide them through their transaction”

If you would like a quote for a house sale or purchase or any other Conveyancing transaction please call us and ask for Michael Coward or a member of the Conveyancing Department as we would be delighted to assist you.