September SDLT deadline

[Jet20]

We are in conveyancing hell. Due to one glitch at the top of the chain, it looks like three parties may lose out on the SDLT relief. It's only £2500 but we expect our buyer to pass this to us, which would add £5000 to our bill. We will want to pass some or all of this up to our vendor. They will probably want to do the same to theirs. Which may all be rejected if course.

What's the best way to handle this? We can't work out what most people would do in this scenario, or what's fair.

Anyone?

You say no and everyone pays their own stamp duty?

I'm in the process of selling my flat. All the delays to date are the fault of my buyer. I will not be swallowing her stamp duty if we miss the September deadline- I'm in London so this is c.£9k.

Why are you agreeing to pay the extra £2500 for your buyers if the delay is not yours?

We’re waiting to exchange too… we’ve been told that it’s exceedingly unlikely that anyone will agree to cover anyone else’s stamp duty, regardless of the position of the chain.

I’d prepare for everyone having to pay their own SLDT.

Thanks all - that's good to know.

@wannabeamummysobad it's £2500 max. We're in London too, prices are north of £1m, and it's just £2500 per purchase.

We've missed out on both deadlines due to issues at the top of the chain. No one has offered to cover our stamp duty for either hit and when we asked this time we got a resounding no! Our buyers did ask us, but a) they're first time buyers so aren't actually impacted by the September date and b) having taken a £15k hit of our own, we just couldn't take theirs as well.

No harm in asking the top of the chain, but I wouldn't pay your buyer's extra tax when the delay doesn't sit with you.

It's so frustrating, as it's an unnecessary £2500, but at least it's not £15000! I'd be so so gutted.

Yes we are the same, thought we would be exchanging and completing well before end of September, very unlikely now, at least it’s only £2500.
I think everyone in your chain will just have to loose it, rather than passing down the line.

We were gutted! But we offered just before the extension from March to July was announced, so had always budgeted for a significant bill - we just had a couple of months of thinking we'd get away without it. C'est la vie, unfortunately in the appalling English system timelines just can't be relied upon