Will the SDLT holiday be extended in the budget announcement?
It was reported in the media yesterday that the chancellor Rishi Sunak is likely to announce an extension to the stamp duty holiday.
It was initially reported in the Times that he will extend the SDLT holiday by three months, to the end of June.
The holiday was announced in July last year, as a temporary measure to help keep the property market moving during the pandemic and enables people to save up to £15,000 in tax.
You can click here to read Jen Smith’s guide to moving during the pandemic.
When will the SDLT Deadline be extended?
Details were sparse in Monday’s ‘leak’ and we expect to hear more in the coming days, however nothing will be officially confirmed until the budget announcement on 3rd March.
The chancellor has been under pressure to extend the deadline, as many groups feared the 31st March deadline would cause a ‘cliff edge’ and result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of sales.
Over 150,000 people recently signed an online petition requesting the extension. The government responded earlier this month stating that:
“The SDLT holiday was designed to be a temporary relief to stimulate market activity and support jobs that rely on the property market. The Government does not plan to extend this temporary relief.”
What will the SDLT holiday extension mean for the property market?
Clare Hallett, Head of Frettens’ residential property team:
“If confirmed, the extension will come as a welcome surprise, especially considering the government’s response to the recent petition.
We have been working with our clients towards a 31st March deadline since the announcement of the extension last July. The property market was exceptionally busy in the second half of last year as a result.
Many expected the number of sales to slow significantly in the run up to the deadline, however we have not seen that locally.
We have seen a large number of instructions in the first few weeks of 2021, very few if any of which are dependent on a completion before the deadline.
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