On Wednesday 8th July Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a temporary holiday on stamp duty on the first £500,000 of main home property purchases in England and Northern Ireland until March 31st 2021, along with savings across the board for people buying second homes, buy to lets, and investment properties. This move has been welcomed by the property industry and home movers who will be able to save up to £15,000 in tax.

If you’re a hoping to take advantage of this saving and you need to sell your current home then time is of the essence.

Though there are many variables that affect the time it will take you to find a buyer (location, property type, condition) according the Post Office’s Rate of Sale tool the average UK property currently takes 114 days to sell. The conveyancing process to complete the sale and purchase can sometimes be a relatively quick turnaround of two months, but in more complex transactions or long chains this timescale can easily stretch to four months.

That means a total time scale of around 7 months should be allowed for. The stamp duty holiday lasts just under 9 months, which means if you’re still thinking about selling you need to move quickly and get your property on the market.

We would recommend that you instruct us as your Solicitors as soon as you list your property, we can then put you in the best possible position to achieve an early completion.

For buyers without a property to sell, you should still instruct us as soon as possible once you’ve had your offer accepted as we expect the next 9 months to be extremely busy. Conveyancers will undoubtedly become inundated with cases following Christmas – all wanting to complete by 31st March!

To get moving please call 01524 386500 or email enquiries@bsglaw.co.uk for a free no obligation conveyancing quote.