Stamp Duty & March 2016 Budget

We are still getting lots of phone calls from people who are planning on renting out their own property with a view to buying an additional property TO LIVE IN, not knowing they will be paying higher stamp duty on this purchase even though it is a property for them to live in NOT an investment property. Basically if you buy another property and do NOT replace your own home, whether in a company or not you WILL pay the higher tax, the refund clause has changed slightly as below. Stamp Duty Land Tax as of today: Additional properties – As announced at Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, the government will introduce higher rates of SDLT on purchases of additional residential properties from 1 April 2016. The higher rates will be 3 percentage points above the current SDLT rates. Following consultation, there will be no exemption from the higher rates for significant investors. Purchasers will have 36 months rather than 18 months to claim a refund of the higher rates if they buy a new main residence before disposing of their previous main residence. Purchasers will also have 36 months between selling a main residence and replacing it with another without having to pay the higher rates. A small share in a property which has been inherited within the 36 months prior to a transaction will not be considered as an additional property when applying the higher rates. If you are unsure how this could affect your plans please get in touch we would love to help. Properties ARE selling really well at the moment so if you were considering "removing yourself from a chain" as you were worried about a slow sale you really shouldn't be concerned. Correctly priced properties are selling. Here is a property we listed YESTERDAY and sold TODAY! : http://hathways.co.uk/property/parc-panteg-pontypool/ We need good quality properties so if your thinking of moving let us know! Any queries get in touch!