The stamp duty holiday was announced back in July, and since then it’s been estimated that residential house buyers have saved over £108m on their stamp duty bill. With the holiday deadline fast approaching, potential home movers have until 31st March 2021 to complete a house purchase and benefit from these temporary stamp duty thresholds.
What is the stamp duty holiday?
The holiday will increase the stamp duty land tax threshold for home movers to £500,000. This means that if the property you’re buying is below this amount, you won’t not have to pay any stamp duty fees.
Buyers purchasing a residential property (as their main residence) usually pay stamp duty on a purchase price over £125,000. Whereas first time buyers normally pay stamp duty on property purchases over £300,000. Therefore, potential house buyers who complete a house purchase before 31st March 2021 could save themselves a fair bit of money in the process.
What happens when the stamp duty holiday ends?
There’s currently been no further announcement on any changes to stamp duty land tax, so once the stamp duty holiday ends, the thresholds will be the same as they were before the holiday came into effect on 8th July 2020.
When’s the deadline?
The stamp duty holiday ends on 31st March 2021. This means that the purchase of your property needs to complete on or before this date for the current stamp duty holiday thresholds to apply to you.
How long does a house purchase take?
As with all things, the speed at which you could complete your property purchase really does depend on your circumstances. Typically, a property purchase takes around 6 to 12 weeks from having your offer accepted to getting the keys.
But the important thing you’ll need to remember is that there’s no guaranteed timeline, and your purchase could take much longer than this - especially during the current climate. At the moment, almost a third of mortgage advisers are finding that mortgage approvals are taking 6-8 weeks; instead of the typical 2 weeks for approval before the pandemic.
There are also issues that can crop up during the house buying process after you’ve had your offer accepted, such as your legal searches or property survey highlighting something that needs further work or investigation.
Help to get your mortgage sorted before the deadline
If you’re interested in taking advantage of the stamp duty holiday, we’re always here to help.
Our expert mortgage advisors in Hull are on hand to help you find the right mortgage for your circumstances, so you can begin your house buying journey right away. To book a free, no obligation chat with a local mortgage adviser, give us a call on 01482 470444 or alternatively, send us an e-mail.