To wait for the budget?

[Summerishere123]

We are very close to exchanging on a new house. Probably in the next 10 days. The sellers have been out of the house for 3 months so are desperate to speed things up but DH says we should drag it out until the budget incase they reduce stamp duty. Would you wait? I think the chances they do are slim but we would be paying quite alot of stamp duty as we are going to wait a few months before we sell our home so have to pay second home tax and then claim it back. I am so keen to get the keys because there is work that needs doing but I want in before xmas, but if we push ahead and find out we could have saved thousands I will kick myself! Would you wait for the budget and aim to exchange on the 30th or get on with it?

Lord protect me from time wasting faffers during a house sale 🙏 May this behaviour never find me 🙏 amen

Amen!

Amen!

Amen.

I'd worry worry about the chain having second thoughts on interest rates after it!!

Stop wasting people's time. You either want to buy or you don't.

Perhaps your husband should have waited until after the budget to start looking for houses then instead of suggesting you both start fucking other people about.

It's it likely a change in stamp duty would take effect immediately?

I think the main vulnerability in your plan is you are not planning to sell your current home for a few months. Interest rates are going up and more people will be stretched so I think competition to sell will increase which is likely to mean price reductions.

Yes. If stamp duty was being dropped it would happen immediately otherwise all sales would immediately grind to a halt.

I work in tax and am 95% certain stamp duty won’t be touched. It’s a ludicrous tax that needs to be binned but the government can’t afford to do so.

Stamp duty WONT be on the budget!!!

I know how this is from the buyers side, I would be furious and I actually would rather get on with it, but I should point out that there is noone else in the chain. So I want to know what you would do as the buyer, not from the sellers perspective.

Thank you! I hoped to hear something like this. I really don't want to wait when I don't think they will reduce it. But DH other arguement is what if they increase tax for houses over a certain amount and then we have just bought a house in that bracket. I won't be pulling out either way so don't think it matters!

They’re not going to increase it because it’s an economically damaging tax that inhibits growth. They are doing the mansion tax instead, which is a better tax policy but is being quite shonkily implemented.

Set completion date the day after the budget if you like but exchange ASAP.

We would have saved about 6 k if we’d completed 6 months later, but we got a house we wanted at an affordable level and after all we spent doing it up and the gain we’ve made with the market makes it inconsequential.

We are going to exchange and complete on the same day!

It’s Labour, they’re not going to touch stamp duty! It’s the Tories who have been touting getting rid of it at their conference, and we’re not in an election year so there’s no need for Labour to try and counter. Just get on with the sale.

As a buyer, I would (and did!) budget for what the situation was at the point of sale. I secured a mortgage offer a week before the war in Iran. Then watched mortgage rates raise but house prices fall by as much as 5% in the area I was buying. I still went ahead with the sale because I wanted the house, the seller had the house they wanted to sell quickly, there was no chain and I am a decent human. And I have zero regrets about that despite much nicer houses coming on a market now which are 10-20k cheaper than what I paid just a few months ago.
You think you may save a few grand (even though there is absolutely no indication that they make any changes to stamp duty) but, equally, it can go completely the other way with any number of other variables. It all evens out over time.

Look. They've already pretty clearly signalled they won't be making big changes in the autumn budget. If they were going to do something like that, they would have already released some pretty strong signals about it to the press. They always do this before big policy changes, just to test the public mood. The only signals they've been sending is "don't expect anything groundbreaking". So just go ahead and exchange

Just get on with it. Nothing’s going to happen to stamp duty and the budget’s nearly three weeks away.

That was my arguement to. I just don't see how we wouldn't have heard whispers.

I thought mansion tax was a certainty (coming in 2028)?

No idea, the house we are buying isn't in the mansion bracket. He is just saying they may do something for houses over 500k for example.

You're walking a tightrope of people's time, patience and duty op and you know it. God damnit you know it.

Just buy the house.