Gutted - stamp duty

[MrsJocelyn]

Found the perfect house and made an offer, on the condition that they would vacate before the end of March. The seller accepted our offer but won't guarantee to be out before the stamp duty holiday ends. We can't afford it after March. ☹️ Gutted and don't know what to do.

Aw man

That is crappy 😢

No one can guarantee anything as so much is out of a person’s control. You can make your offer conditional on completing before end of March.

They are not God so cannot guarantee what you are asking them to guarantee.

I don't think they can guarantee that... Weve been in the house buying process since October, and it's still going through all the pre exchange stuff like mortgage approval, valuation, searches...

Tbh, I would have thought completing by the end of march is almost certainly not going to happen if you need a mortgage or there is a chain.

Even if they told you they were happy to complete by the end of March there is no guarantee. If you can't afford it without the stamp duty holiday then you should pull out.

Having said that, I've heard rumours that they're extending the SDLT holiday.

Thanks for the responses. Neither of us are in a chain so it should be possible to move in before end of March.

That's way too soon! Some take ages even if on paper they should go smoothly.
I think they will extend the deadline for stamp duty 👍

March is really unrealistic due to the backlog that's sat with solicitors - even though they had plenty of work to be getting on with so many conveyancing solicitors I know were furloughed for most of last year 🤷‍♀️

Anyone buying a house should buy within their current budget factoring in stamp duty and if they manage to get it through before the deadline the extra money is a bonus

I suspect prices might drop slightly when the stamp duty holiday ends.

If there’s no chain why would it take so long?
Our last chainless house love happened in 8 weeks

When did you put in the offer? If it was this week you are definitely being unreasonable expecting to be in time for the stamp duty holiday, your solicitor and maybe estate agent will likely have said there's no guarantee of meeting that, how much are you buying it for? Stamp duty isn't a huge amount unless you are buying somewhere very expensive.

Have you only just made the offer? If so you are being very unrealistic expecting them to guaranteee completion by the end of March. The house buying process is taking much longer than usual at the moment. There were articles in main stream newspapers back around October 20 saying that only half those who had just made offers at that time would complete by the end of March.

The thing that's adding time to my purchase is getting mortgage approval (getting survey and search sorted is also quite a lot of work). If you need to get a mortgage I think it might b e a challenge to get it all sorted before the end of March.

They can't guarantee that. It's unreasonable to expect them to.

I'd you can't afford it after March you need to pull out. Obviously seller shouldn't have accepted your offer anyway.

Did you beat them up over the price or did you pay full asking price? If it's the latter, ask them to pay the stamp duty.

I spoke to my estate agent yesterday. He is taking 'double offers' now, so offers at £x if completion before end March, or £x if completion is after.

Prices will drop if the holiday is not extended.

Completion before end of March if you've just offered is totally unrealistic in the current situation.

Are you saying they're refusing to try to have it all done as speedily as possible? Because they need to find somewhere to move/buy whatever so they want more time.

Or are they just warning you that it's impossible to guarantee an end of March completion date?

You just need to make them aware that you won't be able to proceed if the end of March completion date isn't met. Then they can either walk away now and find new buyers, or they can try as hard as they can to get it all through. Either way they have the information.

What you shouldn't do is string them along in hope of meeting the date, and then pull out mid March without warning.

Never would of completed in 11 weeks! No matter what the chain is unfortunately

We have been going since September....delay after delay. We should have been exchanging today (not happened) or tomorrow. Not holding my breath! Can you possibly find the money if you have to?

I would be massively surprised if you were in before match. My recent purchase took 19 weeks and I was ftb and my sellers had already bought a second home so no chain. And I really pushed it!

The market is at an artificially high level because of the stamp duty holiday. Once the holiday ends the market will contract to a more realistic level, and assuming all other things remain equal you'll be able to buy at a lower price. I wouldn't worry about your unrealistic deadline.

When did you make the offer OP?
The estate agent we are with said people would have needed to make an offer mid December to stand a chance and even that would be tight. Our solicitors isn't taking on new clients at the moment as they are working solely on existing cases to beat the March 31st deadline. It sucks if you miss it although you never know the stamp duty holiday maybe extended for a short while 🤞

Add the stamp duty to your mortgage. That's what I did with a house purchase.

If you didn’t start the process last year you are not likely to complete before the Stamp Duty holiday ends. Searches mortgages etc are taking much longer than usual.