The Government will rake in an extra £142 million in Stamp Duty from the 74,000 property sales that will miss the 1st April deadline, says Rightmove’s Head of Partner Marketing, Colleen Babcock.

That figure includes 25,000 first-time buyers who, as a result, will have to pay an additional £34 million.

And the average home-mover in England will face an extra £2,500 in Stamp Duty costs after 1st April. However, while first-time buyers of homes priced at £300,000 or less will continue to pay no Stamp Duty, first-time buyers of homes priced between £500,001 and £625,000 are the most affected group of all, facing an extra £11,250 in costs.

Conveyancing logjam

With home movers eager to avoid unnecessary extra costs, the portal has predicted a conveyancing logjam as 31st March fast approaches, and those going through the completion process try to get their purchase over the line.

Rightmove is calling for a short extension to the Stamp Duty deadline, to help the home-movers who will only just miss out and end up paying more tax through no fault of their own, especially the 25,000 first-time buyers who will already be stretching themselves to get onto the property ladder.

Commenting, Colleen Babcock said, “We expect a rush to complete close to March 31st as first-time buyers and home-movers try to avoid paying extra in tax.

“Our numbers show how there is a relatively small, but disproportionately impacted group of first-time buyers who will be caught out by the changing thresholds, highlighting some disparities in the way the current system works.

We think it would make sense to grant a short extension to the deadline.”

“With 74,000 people only just set to miss the deadline, in part because of the extremely lengthy completion times in England, we think it would make sense to grant a short extension to the deadline and help these movers, rather than have them face higher charges when they complete later in April.”

Disheartened buyers

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark says: “There will be a lot of first-time buyers disheartened by the fact that they will have to pay, in some cases, thousands of extra pounds to complete their house purchase from April especially as many of the delays experienced will have been out of the buyers’ control due to issues presented in the property chain.

“Moving forward, we know that those determined to buy a home and step onto the property ladder will factor this into their costs. However, for some, this is not possible or will not be easy to accomplish.

“The extra cost may come as a blow and set people back from being able to make their aspirations of owning a property a reality.

“It’s important that the UK Government takes this into consideration moving forward and in order to keep the property chain moving fluently well into the future, financial support may well be needed.”