Moving Home: stamp duty deadline 'unrealistic' says Law Society
Those people waiting to move home, exchange contracts and go on to complete on their property move before the reduced Stamp Duty reduction deadline of 31 March 2021 will find it hard to do so, now that there is only three months left to get all the legal contracts and enquiries processed, agreed, signed and exchanged.
The bottleneck of properties moving through the system at this time is blocking progress being made due to the extremely high volume of property sale and purchases. The onus has moved from estate agents and mortgage providers now to solicitors, who handle contracts at the end of the house-moving process. Enquiries, searches and checks still have to be performed and cannot be short-cut if the sale or purchase is to be legally sound and go on to safeguard property owners' future interests.
David Greene, President of The Law Society, said today:
"Consumers must recognise that it is increasingly unlikely that if they sell/buy their house now, they will complete by the 31 March deadline. The solicitor is often the last link in the move, and it is only when the solicitor has all the pieces, which they are dependent on obtaining from others, that buyers and sellers can move."
ARTICLES:
See our earlier article about the impact of only a few more months and weeks until the deadline closes (see article).
Read the Law Gazette full story here [18 Dec 2020].
See Earlier articles about the housing market from Lawson-West Solicitors:
5 Nov 2020 - Lockdown: Estate agents stay open for business - buying and selling homes is an economic priority
29 Oct 2020 - Warning of severe delays in housing market completions
Here's the comparison chart on the 2020-2021 rates which include the Coronavirus reductions announced by The Chancellor in July 2020 and the proportions of purchase price levels and their respective SDLT charges:
[Note: different SDLT charges apply to leasehold and second property purchases, in addition there are first time buyer allowances.]
