Firm demands urgent review of “UK’s outdated house-buying process”
The managing director of bespoke property search firm Index West Midlands says the government must urgently review the UK’s ‘outdated and antiquated’ house-buying process.
Kate Bould says next week’s (3 March) Budget is the perfect opportunity for the Chancellor to announce a review of the country’s house-buying process.
Kate Bould says:
“Today’s (24 February 2021) announcement that the Chancellor will use next week’s Budget to announce an extension to the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday until June is exactly what the residential property sector needs right now.
“Ending it on the 31 March as was originally planned would have been catastrophic for the sector, threatened the completion of around 60,000 property sales caught up in the residential property log-jam, and given thousands of people an unexpected bill for Stamp Duty.
“However, such a positive signal of government support must be a first-step. The Chancellor should use the SDLT announcement as the turning point for the residential property sector, and commit to a long-overdue overhaul of the UK’s antiquated and outdated house-buying process.
“Such a review should include a study of the house-buying and search models in other countries, which are much more relevant to today’s digital-first world, are paperless and benefit from the latest developments in technology.”
The Chancellor’s stamp duty land tax holiday means all homebuyers in England and Northern Ireland buying homes valued at up to £500,000 don’t pay any stamp duty on the purchase. The SDLT holiday was the subject of a Parliamentary debate in February, led by Elliot Colburn MP, a member of the Petitions Committee, and Jesse Norman MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
Last month, a poll carried out by Index Property Information revealed that around 56% of conveyancers want the extension to the Stamp Duty holiday.
Around 1000 professionals took part in the poll, which also revealed that a quarter of conveyancers want a gradual reintroduction of SDLT and not an overnight return to the Stamp Duty charges – 14.5% want it reintroduced over two years, and 10.5% want a 12-month reintroduction timescale.
Index West Midlands provides conveyancing searches, including reports and property transaction solutions such as environmental risk factors, HS2, utility and telecommunications reports, for commercial and residential property lawyers, real estate and agriculture lawyers, across Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the Black Country. For more information: https://indexpi.co.uk/offices/westmidlands.html.
Kindly shared by Index West Midlands
Main article photo courtesy of Pixabay
