08-July-2020

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has now confirmed a stamp duty holiday for main homes effective immediately.

The Chancellor has said “i’m announcing temporary measures to increase the stamp duty threshold to £500,000 in a bid to boost the housing market”.

The UK Government will temporarily increase the Nil Rate Band Of Residential SDLT, in England and Northern Ireland, from £125,000 to £500,000. It will apply from July 8th, 2020 until March 31st, 2021. This will save buyers as much as £15,000, if they are buying a property at £500,000 or more. Those in London will see the tax-free threshold increase by another £50,000.

Landlords and second home buyers are also eligible for the tax holiday, but they will still have to pay the 3% of stamp duty they were charged under the previous rules.

The stamp duty you will now pay is, if the property purchased is your main residence you won’t have to pay any stamp duty on it at all if it costs £500,000 or less.