Estate agents are once again being encouraged to plead with the government to extend the current stamp duty holiday by at least six months and make an announcement before Christmas, as buyers rush to beat the 31 March deadline.
Propertymark, along with other industry bodies, has been lobbying the government to extend the stamp duty holiday on behalf of both consumers and the property sector.
The trade body has reiterated its call for agents to support its campaign to get an extension to the CGT holiday deadline to help avoid what it fears would be “transactions falling through, price falls, and a sudden loss of momentum in the market”.
Propertymark was among a host of groups to recently send a letter to chancellor Rishi Sunak calling for “urgent action”.
The letter says failure to complete transactions by 31 March “could see the breakdown of chains with consumers potentially financially unable to continue with the purchase, as they would have to find funds to pay stamp duty”.
Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, commented: “The boom caused by the stamp duty holiday has been hugely beneficial for the housing market, however the stamp duty cliff edge on March 31 could cause thousands of sales to fall at the final hurdle and have a knock-on and drastic effect on the housing market, which has recovered well from the Covid slump.
“We are calling on government to rethink these timings so pressure on the system can be released to allow transactions to complete and avoid a disorderly and distressing period for movers and businesses throughout the market.”
An HM Treasury spokesman said the government keeps SDLT under review and is closely monitoring the market.
But there was widespread disappointment within the property industry last week after a hoped-for extension to the current stamp duty holiday deadline failed to materialise in the chancellor’s spending review.
“Understandably, the spending review focused on funding for public services in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, even if the property industry had hoped that the chancellor would use the address to provide clarity on issues such as the stamp duty holiday and proposed changes to capital gains tax,” said Neil Cobbold, chief sales officer at PayProp.
There have been widespread calls for the stamp duty holiday to be extended in recent weeks.
Bryan Mansell, co-Founder at Gazeal, commented: “An extension to or gradual tapering off of the stamp duty holiday would help to ensure that consumers don’t miss out on significant tax savings and the pressure on property professionals is reduced. Extra breathing space would also help the industry to work through a huge backlog of transactions built up in recent months.
“What’s more, an extension to the stamp duty holiday would help to stimulate the housing market throughout 2021 when it will be up against tough economic conditions. Further stamp duty measures could also help to avoid a sharp drop-off of property supply and demand in April.”
We are an industry who in the main has been allowed to operate almost near to normal in many aspects throughout the pandemic. So much so, we have actually had a much easier time than most other sectors. We have benefited greatly from the many aides the Government have put in place, ranging from furlough, to grants, to loans and of course the SD Holiday. Its now time for us to agree that we have had a huge helping hand over the last nine or so months, and we now have to step up and maintain our businesses without more Governement hand-outs; and allow the Chancery to aid other businesses in order that the employees within these sectors have the money and the means to look to move home in the future, which in turn will again be good for us.
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That’s a refreshingly decent comment bestandfinal51.
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Agreed so many people these day when they have a proble do not think what they can do to help themselves they think what will the govt do for me.
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To BestandFinal51: Comment of the week. Wise words.
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Populist clap trap. If clients paid the right fee for the best agents to give the right advice they would get their transaction through.
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While I wholeheartedly support the calls for an extension to the SDLT holiday, my concern is that the maths of government debt are so far against it as to make it a practical impossibility. That’s why it is vital that alongside lobbying, agents really focus on getting their transactions through before end March. We are aiding this by introducing a new express service and doing more transactions for partner agents where we act on both sides (which CLC regulated law firms can do) often bringing transaction times down to a few weeks.
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An agent complained about your “fast service” last week and he claimed it was atrocious. You ignored his comment. Apparently you were on both sides of the transaction.
Ever thought about using a PR company?
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I is the agent’s responsibility to give compelling reasons why a vendor would want to use them if they charge a higher fee than a competitor. As i developer I have used Savlls and Hamptons and paid 1.5% and also small local independents who have charged no more than 1% and have got a higher price than was quoted by larger more expensive agents and have driven the sale through.
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If clients paid the right fee!
if agents valued properly so as to avoid price reductions too hmmm then they might get paid properly but let’s get back to SD, how does it benefit the buyer when some of you deluded souls are selling the idea that where there is a saving there is an angle to inflate house prices so much so that the saving is more than wiped out and after the initial honeymoon the desperate of you plead, beg, demand and petition for an SD extension when all you do is abuse its actual benefit, I’m looking and the 15k I’ll save is lovely until you all bump the prices and now all I see is the odd one selling and loads coming back to me as prices reduced, what a terrible mismanagement of clients or just chancer opportunists you are and I am talking about 30% of you, the rest have to follow or lose out, I read this every day and a lot of you really are your worst enemies and I have to talk to and deal with your drivel more often than I would choose yet most of you are good and decent but unable to break away from the underhand opportunists that also dare to call themselves estate agents.
We were once called and a lot of us are still regarded as professionals but there were and still are today, a growing amount that drag us down.
No doubt you will say, market forces, best for client etc but we all know that you are abusing the system and any benefit of money/tool that comes along you only use as an aid for self profit and to hell with the public who feed your business, yes as said above, you have had it good from the government but now a lot of you want more! Shame on you
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You voted for Brexit !
We caught Covid
The government is borrowing massively because of Covid ?
No the government is borrowing massively for both Covid now, the vaccine to come, the economic recession from Covid
But also
The massive recession caused by a no deal Brexit as well (and the icing on the Cake)
Keep the stamp duty holiday by all means, that way the voting public are too busy moving house to realise what a Sh1* storm is coming our way !!!!
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