Conveyancing firms are being warned to brace themselves for a wave of complaints from property buyers who miss this month’s Stamp Duty deadline.

Chief legal ombudsman Paul McFadden says solicitors must ensure they warn clients of the risk of missing the cut-off and what the consequences are.

The ‘nil rate’ Stamp Duty band for home movers will drop from £250,000 back to £125,000 from 1 April, and for first-time buyers, the threshold will go down from £425,000 to £300,000.

We saw a spike in complaints about residential conveyancing.”

McFadden told Law Society Gazette: “We have previously seen that changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax can affect consumers purchasing a property if the deadline for completion is missed.

“Following the Stamp Duty holiday coming to an end in June 2021, we saw a spike in complaints about residential conveyancing, with monthly volumes increasing by over 50% – one of the highest demand increases we have seen in recent years.”

Extra charge

He said conveyancers will not be held responsible by the ombudsman for the extra charge unless their failing led directly to the additional tax bill.

And he said: “It is likely that, even where there are upheld complaints about delays and communication, remedies may be modest when compared to the additional SDLT a consumer has had to pay.”

Complaints

In December, McFadden revealed that a third of all complaints about legal services concern conveyancing.

The ombudsman’s annual report highlighted that poor communication (24%), delays (22.7%) and lack of advice (18.6%) were the main bugbears.

Property fall-throughs ‘likely’ as thousands miss Stamp Duty deadline