The Stamp Duty Land Tax Holiday

The Stamp Duty Land Tax Holiday

On 8th July 2020, the Chancellor announced a Stamp Duty holiday. As a result, from 8th July 2020 to 31st March 2021 buyers pay no Stamp Duty on the first £500,000 when they move home. Usually those paying 'higher rates' of Stamp Duty for additional properties will have to pay 3% on top of the standard SDLT rates. Whilst the 3% will still apply, those purchasing second homes also benefit from the Stamp Duty holiday.

The holiday is a temporary relief designed to stimulate the property market and it has certainly been successful in that regard. Most Estate Agents and Conveyancers have seen a rapid increase in instructions following the implementation of the holiday.

Many people in the process of purchasing a property are asking – will we be able to complete by the end of the Stamp Duty holiday?

The answer is not always straightforward. Pre-COVID and the Stamp Duty holiday, the average transaction took around 6-8 weeks to progress from release of draft contracts to exchange/completion. The increase in the number of transactions taking place has placed significant pressures on all aspects of the property market and as a result it is taking longer to complete each stage of the process. As there are many parties involved in the Conveyancing process, such as solicitors (for both the buyer and the seller), search agents, local Councils, Lender's, mortgage brokers, we are unable guarantee a timeframe for completion until exchange of contracts have taken place. There will be some buyers who will unfortunately narrowly miss out on the deadline as a result of issues out of their control. This will however be the case whether the holiday comes to an end in March or September. Our dedicated team will do all they can to ensure matters are progressed as much as possible in advance of the deadline.

On the 10th December 2020, the Government stated that they would not be looking to extend the deadline for the end of the Stamp Duty holiday as it was only ever intended to be a temporary relief. With the deadline of 31 March 2021 looming, a petition to extend the deadline has exceeded the number of signatures required to be debated in Parliament. The Stamp Duty holiday has proven to be very successful in keeping the property market blooming during the course of the pandemic.

The petition asks that the deadline is extended an additional six months to end on 30th September 2021. As with everything, the holiday must come to an end at some point and there will be concerns that if the Government were to extend the holiday, calls for further extensions could take place in the future. We will report on any further announcements as they take place.


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*This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or other professional advice.