Jul 20
On 8 July 2020 the government announced a Stamp Duty holiday for residential property purchases with immediate effect (8 July) until 31 March 2021. Kelly Buckle-Fleming, our residential property expert takes a look at what this means.
Stamp duty is a lump-sum tax that anyone buying a property or land costing more than a certain amount must pay. The rate of tax that you pay varies depending on the price of the property and the type (i.e. residential or commercial).
To give an example, before the announcement, anyone purchasing a property of £125,000 or more would have paid stamp duty, or if you were a first-time buyer, on properties sold for more than £300,000.
The move made by the Chancellor has raised this threshold to £500,000 for all home buyers and has, unsurprisingly been welcomed by those looking to buy in the next few months. He suggested that it would see the average stamp duty bill fall by £4,500 and that nine out of 10 people buying a main home this year would pay no stamp duty at all.
For anyone looking to buy in the coming months this is a terrific incentive and is likely to bolster the property market as it continues to ease out of the lock down period.
The chancellor’s announcement on stamp duty only applies to properties in England and Northern Ireland. The Scottish Government is responsible for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland, and in Wales, buyers pay Land Transaction Tax, levied by the Welsh Government.
To read more about this or calculate your stamp duty bill visit the government’s website – click here.
Please contact Kelly Buckle-Fleming, our Head of Residential Property, for more information.
Published on 13 July 2020
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.
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