stamp duty
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Latest property news
Tory’s flagship housing policy will not get Britain building again, say MPs
The government’s recently-launched flagship housing policy to get ‘Britain building’ has been heavily criticised by senior MPs today, including members of May’s own party, and also that the Stamp Duty changes for first time buyers will “distort” the property market. The Treasury Select Committee believes both the abolition of Stamp Duty for properties bought by first-time buyers worth up to £300,000, and the easing of the local council borrowing cap to build homes, do not go far enough and will not achieve the 300,00-a-year new homes a year the government thinks it will. The Committee also says the Stamp Duty will create a ‘cliff edge’ at the £500,000 price point because the new rules enable the duty to be avoided by first time buyers on properties up to that value, although only on the first £300,000. “A house worth £500,000 will attract £5,000 less in SDLT than a house worth £500,001,” the Committee report says. Housing cliff edge “When the previous Government redesigned [Stamp Duty] to remove ‘cliff edges’ faced at certain property values, the then Chancellor said that he had reformed a ‘badly designed system that has distorted our housing market for decades’. “It is regrettable that the abolition…
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Latest property news
Tax changes will drive 46,000 properties out of private rented sector, says NLA
The number of private rented sector landlords intending to reduce the size of their portfolio is at its highest for ten years, it has been claimed, with 46,000 properties due to be taken out of the rental market. The National Landlords Association (NLA) says 20% of its members plan to shrink the number of properties, largely because the recent tax changes for landlords and the looming tenants’ fees ban are “undermining the viability of many landlords’ businesses”. Research firm Capital Economics were commissioned by the NLA to look into the recent tax changes, which reveal that landlords are set to lose £400m from the changes, which come into full effect in 2020. The research also reveals that ‘moderate earner’ landlords will soon pay “significantly higher taxes” than those who earn comparable incomes through other means. Private rented sector The NLA’s CEO Richard Lambert (pictured, left) says the government’s recent tax assault on private landlords is clearly taking its toll and that “the Government needs to look at the impact these policies will have on the PRS”. Landlords have recently had several tax allowances rolled back including an automatic wear and tear allowance and tax relief on mortgage interest payments, and…
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Latest property news
Stamp Duty cut: first-time buyers rejoice, but experts warn of price rises
If Chancellor Philip Hammond thought his Stamp Duty cut for first time buyers announced during yesterday’s Budget would get a unanimous thumbs up, then things definitely aren’t going to plan. Firstly Robert Cote, Chairman of the Office for Budget responsibility, revealed that his organisation thought the tax cut would push up prices by 0.3% and that “the main financial gainers will actually be people who already own properties, rather than first time buyers themselves”. Treasury Chief Secretary has subsequently dismissed the OBR’s prediction and just a “minor increase”. But Mark Hayward, Chief Executive of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) (pictured, left) also sounded a note of caution saying that although overall it was a positive move, it would increase house prices by pushing up demand for first time buyer properties. “We have seen this in areas where Help to Buy is offered, as it attracts a great deal of interest from first time buyers,” he said. Sarah Beeny, TV presenter and founder of online agent Tepilo (pictured, right), also weighed in, saying she thought the measures would not make a huge difference to the market. “Cutting stamp duty for first time buyers is unlikely to do much –…
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Latest property news
Stamp Duty surcharge hitting landlords hard, says Countrywide
The government’s assault on the buy-to-let market is having the desired effect on landlords, latest research from Countrywide reveals. It has revealed that since the additional three percent Stamp Duty was introduced in April last year 56 per cent of all purchases the company handled where a landlord and first time buyer competed for a property, the first time buyer won. Johnny Morris, research director at Countrywide (pictured, lefgt), said: “Given their inability to spread the higher rate over a longer period, these micro developers have been the buyers hit hardest by the higher rates. Across the country as a whole, their numbers are running at around half the levels they were.” Countrywide undertook the research between April and December last year and says some 9,000 fewer people buying their first home lost out to landlords than during the same period last year. The shift in activity within the market is down to fewer landlords being prepared to commit to a purchase once a bidding war over a property starts as a raft of measures, including extra Stamp Duty, have dampened landlord enthusiasm for purchasing more properties. This includes a severe reduction in the amount of mortgage interest relief they…
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Latest property news
Wales debates what to do with own Stamp Duty in April 2018
The Welsh government is consulting on what to do when it takes control of Stamp Duty with a local version called Welsh Land Transaction Tax, in April next year. Landlord groups including the Welsh arm of the Residential Landlords Association director Douglas Haig (pictured, left) are calling for the 3% levy on buy-to-let and second homes to be scrapped because it will ‘limit supply and push up rents’, it is claimed. The RLA says landlords in Wales have seen the average Stamp Duty bill rise from several hundred pounds to £4,850 since the new rate was introduced across the UK. But the RLA is unlikely to get its way in Wales. A Welsh government spokesman told the BBC that the additional revenue of £58m created by the 3% additional tax will be “essential to the delivery of public services across Wales”. Agents have been represented at the enquiry into the devolved LTT by the NAEA whose MD Mark Hayward (pictured, right) spoke to officials in October last year. He recommended a gradual changeover to allow for a “full discussion and full awareness as to not skew the market”. Welsh Cabinet finance and communities Secretary Mark Drakeford said he wanted to…
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Latest property news
Will Hammond rescue faltering London market?
Haart today revealed that its branches within the M25 recorded an increase in sales activity of just 1.1% month-on-month during September compared to a 75% increase for its branches 100 miles or more outside the capital, painting a worry picture of the struggling London property sales market. “The evidence from our branches is that areas around 100 miles from the capital are where the market is reviving, and this is spreading towards the South East and London – a complete reversal of the traditional ‘London first’ pattern we’ve grown used to,” says Haart CEO Paul Smith (pictured). Land Registry data shows that the number of homes sold in London reduced by two-thirds between March and June this year, before the Brexit vote. The slump has been blamed by agents such as JLL squarely on the recent increases in Stamp Duty and Land Tax (SDLT) at the top end of the market. Homes for sale over the SDLT threshold of £925,000 now make up 34% of all homes for sale in London so the changes have been keenly felt in this price band, plus many agents blame the extra 3% SDLT for hammering the number of landlords buying property there too.…
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Latest property news
Knight Frank says extra buy-to-let Stamp Duty must go
Knight Frank chairman Alistair Elliott has today added his voice to the growing industry backlash against last year’s introduction of an extra three percent buy-to-let Stamp Duty levy. Elliott (pictured, left) this morning told City AM that “increasing tax doesn’t increase housing supply” and called for the recent second homes levy to be reversed during the next budget. Knight Frank also claims that the Stamp Duty change has had a bigger effect on the property market than the Brexit vote, particularly in central London. In Chelsea, it says, the number of house sales has dropped by 10% year-on-year. Government figures show that after the Stamp Duty was introduced in April the number of buy-to-let properties purchased dropped off by a fifth, and buy-to-let lending dropped by 65% over the same period, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Elliott is not the only high-profile person to be tackling the government on this issue. Last week Cherie Blair led a failed attempt in the high court by a landlord action alliance called Axe the Tenant Tax Group to reverse the government’s planned reduction in tax allowances for landlords, due to come into force next year. And the property industry is not…
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Features
Stamp Duty is killing market growth
The Stamp Duty Land Tax on a £5m home in London would buy a beautiful villa in Italy, says Andrew Symington, Symington Elvery.
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Latest property news
More calls to scrap Stamp Duty
“SDLT isn’t a Stamp, it’s not a duty and its not based on land! It’s just a tax,” says Chairman of The Society of Licensed Conveyancers.
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Latest property news
Stamp Duty hike raises £424 million extra for HMRC in three months
Most of the revenue came from sales of properties sold for less than £250,000.
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