Once again the Budget has brought about a change to Stamp Duty which will have a significant impact on many of our client’s new home purchases.
First Time Buyers will benefit where the purchase price is up to £300,000.00 as they will from 22nd November have no stamp duty liability at all.
On this basis if the purchase was completed last week at £297,500.00 they would have been paying £4,875.00 – from 22nd November the amount is £0 - that certainly is a bonus!
Where the purchase is between £300,000.01 and £500,000.00 there will be a liability for a payment of 5% of the amount above £300,000.01 and up to £500,000.00
See below the calculations for Stamp Duty payable by First Time Buyers pre and post budget
| Property Price | Stamp Duty before budget | Stamp Duty now |
| >£125,000 (England and NI) | £0 | £0 |
| >£145,000 (LBBT Scotland) | £0 | £0 |
| >£150,000 (Wales) | £0 | £0 |
| £200,000 (England, Wales, NI) | £1,500 | £0 |
| £300,000 | £5,000 | £0 |
| £400,000 | £10,000 | £5,000 |
| £500,000 | £15,000 | £10,000 |
| Above £500,000 | no change |
The stamp duty change will apply in England and Northern Ireland, and Wales up to the end of March 2018. Scotland has an independent system.
Where we have provided our clients with costs at the start of a transaction, we are now recalculating the amounts due and will be happily advising what the difference will be (and returning funds where applicable).
It must be said that this change comes with a few more requirements to meet
- The property to be purchased must be intended for use as the First Time Buyers only or main residence
- The first time buyer may not have inherited any property or received a property as a gift
- The first time buyer must never have held a share of a residential property anywhere in the world
We will be clarifying all of these points with our clients before completion of their purchase.
The HMRC Stamp Duty Calculator can be found at https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax