Budget 2017 – big news for first time buyers, landlords and tenants

Chancellor Philip Hammond has made several key housing announcements that will impact both the sales and lettings sectors of industry and which he said was part of a £44 billion package. “House prices are increasingly out of reach for many and it takes too long to save for a deposit and rent absorbs too much of people’s ability to save for a deposit,” he said during his speech. The most important of these is that Stamp Duty is to be abolished for first time buyers and, in more expensive areas of the UK such as London, the first £300,000 of a property’s sale value exempted from Stamp Duty, if priced less than £500,000. This, the chancellor said, would remove any Stamp Duty obligations for 80% of first time buyers. Other measures included enabling councils to charge a 100% council tax premium on empty properties – which may force many landlords to either rent out their properties or sell them. “Penalising empty home owners with a 100% council tax premium is unlikely to really be a deterrent for people who are likely to be high net worth,” says Nick Leeming, Chairman of Jackson-Stops. “If they don’t need the rent, this penalty…