stamp duty
-
Latest property news
Cut Stamp Duty in half!
Government policies on landlord taxation aren’t helping tenants and the 3 per cent surcharge on buy-to-let purchase will cause even more misery.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Stamp Duty change whips up a storm
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the monthly property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “Even the higher taxes haven’t dampened investors’ enthusiasm.”
Read More » -
Latest property news
Helping buyers save on Stamp Duty Land Tax
Cotswold agency, Butler Sherborn, says that agents can help their buyers to save higher rates of SDLT.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Property sales boost was no April Fool
31st March was a busy day for My Home Move, completing a record number of property transactions. To help people complete their property transactions before the 1st April stamp duty changes came into play, My Home Move – provider of mover conveyancing services – alongside many others in the industry worked around the clock to complete a record of 1,210 property transactions on 31st March. This was a significant jump of 40% from the previous record in December last year. My Home Move completed more cases on 31st March alone than 93% of conveyancing firms completed in the whole of 2015. As a result, this marked both a record day and record month of completions for the business and is likely to have been a similar story across the industry. The record day also made it a record month, with My Home Move completing a total of 6,178 mover transactions in March, a 22% increase from its previous monthly record in October 2015 (5,060 completions). Doug Crawford (left), CEO, said, “There was a great amount of dedication last Thursday and in the preceding days and weeks to help customers purchasing an additional property and win the race to save on…
Read More » -
Associations & Bodies
Straight talking
Marc Da Silva asks the Managing Director of ARLA about the new three per cent SDLT surcharge for buy-to-let and second homes and tax relief change for landlords.
Read More » -
Features
Auctions under the hammer
What sort of year did the industry enjoy (or not) during 2015 and what will 2016 hold? Nigel Lewis reports.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Stamp Duty: the hidden issues
The new surcharge on properties purchased as second homes or as a buy-to-let has caused disbelief and fury – but there is more to it than meets the eye. David Gibbs (left), Taxation Partner at London based Alliotts accountants has the informed view, “The consultation paper makes clear that the proposed Stamp Duty charge is an additional three per cent on the whole of the purchase price. For example under the current rules, Stamp Duty on a second property costing £200,000 is £1,500. From 1st April 2016 this will rise to £7,500 – a 500 per cent hike. The draft rules are very tightly drawn so that the additional rate applies if ‘at the end of the day of the transaction’ an individual owns more than one property. “There are exceptions. If you are replacing your main home you are exempt from the charge. So if for example, you own a second property and purchase a new ‘main home’ then the additional charge won’t apply. Buyer beware – the old home must have been sold by the end of the same day that the new home is purchased. The additional rate will apply if it is. There is a proposal…
Read More » -
Latest property news
Mortgage chief calls stamp duty hike ‘political stunt’
George Osborne’s decision to raise stamp duty for buy-to-let landlords has been dismissed as a “political stunt” by Managing Director of Vere Mortgages, part of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations. The Chancellor announced an additional 3 per cent stamp duty on second homes and buy-to-let properties in his Autumn Statement, adding thousands of pounds in tax. A property worth £275,000 will currently cost £3,750 in stamp duty but will cost £10,800 from next April when the tax rise comes into play. Buy-to-let is increasing and is currently at the highest level since before the financial crash in 2008. Rather than dampen the buy-to-let market and free up much needed properties for first-time buyers, Mike Coady (left), who heads deVere Mortgages, believes that the clampdown on buy-to-let investors will be “ineffective for its purported aims” of raising cash to help first-time buyers and paying for more affordable housing. Describing the tax measure as “something of a political stunt”, Coady thinks that the Government’s desire to be seen to be acting on this “emotive and topical issue” by appealing to the “politics of envy” with buy-to-let landlords and second homeowner the targets, will not just “trigger…
Read More » -
Housing Market
Property transactions go from ‘strength to strength’
Residential property sales in the UK hit an 18-month high in August, following a 3.1 per cent month-on-month rise, the latest figures published by HMRC have revealed. The seasonally adjusted data shows that 106,480 property transactions took place in August – more than any month since February 2014. It is the third month in succession the home sales of more than 100,000 have been recorded, which is welcome news for agents. But sales still remain significantly below the monthly sales of close to 150,000 recorded at the height of the property boom in 2006. The seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of residential property transactions in August rose by 5.7 per cent compared with the corresponding month last year. Peter Rollings (left) CEO of Marsh & Parsons, commented, “Taking into account seasonal adjustment, property sales are going from strength to strength, and showing great improvement from this time last year. “With the spectre of higher interest rates being kept at bay, buyer demand is in full swing and summer sales have continued to blossom in August. After slightly fewer home sales than we would expect in a typical July, buyers last month were showing a new enthusiasm and readiness to…
Read More » -
Latest property news
Stamp duty changes save homebuyers £701m
The Stamp Duty Land Tax reforms that were introduced in December last year have saved UK homeowners £701million in the six months since the changes came into force, according to myhomemove. The Government’s estimate that the changes to how stamp duty is levied has cut the tax for 98 per cent of people purchasing homes under £937,500, is supported by the research carried out by the conveyancing service provider, which found that since the reforms each house buyer below this level has saved an average of £1,400. “The stamp duty reforms have saved UK home buyers a significant amount of money since its introduction and provided an important boost to the property market, just as house transactions were starting to slow down in the run up to the General Election,” said Doug Crawford, CEO of myhomemove. He points out that the changes have had a particularly positive impact on those struggling the most to get onto the property ladder, including first-time-buyers, as they can now save more money towards a deposit for their purchase. Crawford (left) continued, “Under the old ‘slab’ system, there was a substantial increase in price at the stamp duty thresholds, which the reforms have reduced significantly,…
Read More »