The Incentive to First Time Buyers is due to End

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)*

SDLT is charged on land and property transactions in the UK. The tax is charged at different rates and has different thresholds for different types of property and different values of transaction.

The tax rate and payment threshold can vary according to whether the property is in residential or non-residential use, and whether it is a freehold or leasehold. SDLT relief is available for certain kinds of property or transaction.

Please see the usual rates that apply.

New leases (predominantly in commercial transactions) attract different rates and a lease calculator is provided by HMRC to calculate tax due in those transactions.

Residential land or property SDLT rates and thresholds

Purchase price/lease premium or transfer value	SDLT rate	SDLT rate for first-time buyers
Up to £125,000	Zero	Zero
Over £125,000 to £250,000	1%	Zero
Over £250,000 to £500,000	3%	3%
Over £500,000 to £1 million	4%	4%
Over £1 million	5%	5%

There are two notable exceptions to the above which come up frequently at the moment.  The first is disadvantaged area relief which means that certain postcodes do not pay stamp duty until a property reaches £150,000.00

The next is for first time buyers – when SDLT is not payable until the property exceeds £250,000.00 – see below for more.

Please note that once you pass a threshold – the tax is payable on ALL of the figure paid.

e.g. if you bought a house at £125,000.00 then you would pay nothing but if you paid £125,001.00 then you would pay £1,250 in SDLT.

First time buyers

People buying their first home were given a much needed boost in March 2010 by the government but sadly this incentive to first time buyers is due to end on the 24th March 2012 (i.e. if you complete on 24th March you will be fine but on 25th March, you will pay the full rate).

So what can you do?  You have just found your dream first home.  £174,000 of lovely bricks and mortar and you meet the criteria – but here's the rub...if you don't complete by 24 March then you will pay a further £1,740 in SDLT.

Worse, imagine paying an additional £2,500 if you are lucky enough to be buying a home at the limit of the threshold?

At Conveyancing Expert we have a team of dedicated experts who can complete faster than most.  Many people report to us that their transaction took around 3 months to complete – we are currently running at an average of just 6 weeks!

In addition, we offer a priority service which means that if you need a transaction pushing through then for a small sum, you can speed up your transaction (unfortunately, this is subject to the seller as well – as if they won't give us the answers we require, then we can't do anything as we will not skip important legal questions and take a risk with your money).

If you instruct us

On or before 10 February	No additional charge you will benefit from our superbly low prices
On or before 17 February	Just £100 additional
On or before 24 February	Just £200 additional this will probably still be a bit cheaper than many other firms
After that time	RING AND ASK

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that you will complete before March 24th as we are dependent on the other side of the transaction (or a chain in some instances) though we will always do our best to achieve this date and to date we have an exceptionally high success rate in getting the transaction done in the required timescale.

One way that we can control matters more effectively is if we are acting for both buyer and seller (as a licenced conveyancing firm, we can act for both).

 

*Information regarding thresholds taken from http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sdlt/intro/rates-thresholds.htm