3 month extension to stamp duty holiday

[MindatWork]

Just announced this morning as an exclusive in The Times: ‪ www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stamp-duty-holiday-will-be-extended-to-end-of-june-gc0qfrckz‬ (apologies no share token).

Looks like it will run to end of June. Won’t help us as we’ve not even got ours on the market yet but hopefully will save some others on here some cash!

@user85963842 of course it would be possible for people to make the new deadline if they started the process now - not everyone but loads could

I only put an offer down on the 23rd December and am completing on Friday - didn’t take long at all

@SheWouldNever

I think the extension should have been for 2 months rather than 3. This is going to lead to another flurry of houses going on the market in the hopes of completing in time as people think 12 weeks is just about enough time if they are lucky. Will be another cliff edge in June with house sales falling through. 2 months would have been enough to allow purchases currently underway to go through in time, and ease the demand on conveyancers / removal companies.

I agree. Anyone who was realistically pushing for March shouldn't need until end of June. There will now be people out there trying to start from scratch and squeeze it in. Not impossible to do obviously, but unlikely, and will probably lead to similar chain collapses as we would have seen in March.

I think they should have given it 6 weeks. That would stabilize the market by giving existing sales a good shot at getting over the line, but wouldn't entice loads of people into entering the race and effectively prolonging the current situ.

I actually don't think this is a good idea - as far as I can see the section of the housing market that's impacted by this is in need of little financial support & the tax break is far better spent elsewhere.

It's just kicking the problem down the road to June, when there will still be a cliff edge. Property lawyers have been working flat out for months, many haven't been taking on new matters since January, it's stressful work anyway, the pay is pretty crap and no matter how many times you tell people their transaction won't happen before the cut off date, they (understandably) still call and email every day asking if it's going to happen. Firms don't want to take on new staff as they know a cliff edge is coming, so all the work is put on those who are working already.

They need to come up with a proper plan to slow the market down so that it doesn't crash - extend for a year so there's no huge rush and then taper gradually, or abolish altogether for properties under 500k. Extending by 3 months is just pointless and creates a huge amount of pressure in the market.

I agree probably not a good idea and would support six weeks if at all. If three months there may be flaky buyers (and there are quite a few if other threads are anything to go buy) may chance their arm on what they think is a better deal and pull out causing more chain collapses and distress.

...who may chance...

We've just decided to pull out of the house we're buying so are back to the drawing board 😭

I don't think there is much chance of a property crash if they don't extend it. It's a sellers market. So little coming on to buy.

I think they should have given it 6 weeks. That would stabilize the market by giving existing sales a good shot at getting over the line, but wouldn't entice loads of people into entering the race and effectively prolonging the current situ.

I agree. 6 weeks would have been plenty for those already heading for end of March. It just gives a bit of wiggle room for removal companies going in self isolation etc. This is a huge extension and there'll be people thinking they can make it.

I also wonder how we will get our vendors to fuck off now. We were aiming for mid March but reckon they'll try and hang on for their dream house now. Fuck sake.

I'm a conveyancing solicitor and this is just prolonging the current hell we're trying to cope with at work 😭

We offered in November and are just waiting for a completion date in the next week or so. We were hoping to get done by the deadline anyway but if it goes through it gives us that bit of breathing space.

@mooloop me too, it's horrendous at the moment.

Conveyancing sol here too. They have just kicked the can down the road. I'm absolutely on my knees.

If he does announce it, I'd love to see how my firm deal with the holiday requests, given that we've had a holiday ban from last week until end of march.

@Justpassingtime1

SDR is still available for FTB under £300, OOO so how much help is it in fact? Pushes prices up a bit I suppose

It encourages people to move into their next home up, thus freeing up starter homes and flats.

It is an incentive to those buying more expensive homes at the other end of the ladder, who will pay some stamp duty, which the gvt needs, and which without this incentive they might stay out and the gvt would get nothing.

It keeps surveyors, removals, trades, solicitors in work. All of whom pay tax.

VAT is still payable on EAs, surveys, trades. So the gvt get revenue.

The property industry is a huge moneyspinner for the economy.

However, I think they should have just extended by 6 weeks to allow current transactions that have been slowed down by this lockdown to complete.

I appreciate it must be great for those of you who are moving up to bigger larger houses etc, but for us both working full time trying to scrape together a deposit for a house that our parents would have bought on one wage, and seeing prices rise quicker than we can save is tough

Another shocking misuse of tax payers money to propel the housing market while so many high priority aspect of the economy would need a financing boost. We ll see details soon enough but 3 month extension is definitely intending to be more than a buffer for people near completion.

They should extend it for anyone who has put in for searches on or by 31st March, until each of those people has completed. If one of those people's purchases subsequently falls through and they have to start again with a new transaction, then tough luck. People who had an offer accepted anytime after Christmas really should have budgeted for stamp duty and treated it like a bonus should they have completed by 31st March.

I'd be interested to know what the government is aiming to achieve here. If it's to keep transactions from falling through, 3 months is too long. If it's to spark more transactions, 3 months isn't long enough. It's a strange amount of time to have extended for.

They just announced first time buyer subsidy scheme now so it all makes sense, propping mid market then rocket boost the bottom to support the housing inflation created in 2020

@Paulina23

They just announced first time buyer subsidy scheme now so it all makes sense, propping mid market then rocket boost the bottom to support the housing inflation created in 2020

Yes, I just saw that too. Inflate house prices even further out of reach of FTB and then inflate them further from the bottom. Utterly irresponsible policies. I thought the Conservatives believed in a free market. They actually believe in inflating the value of their own multi million £ property portfolios, making the building companies even richer and keeping their wealthy doners and friends happy.