A large number are unsure of the impact but, perhaps unsurprisingly since the new system was introduced from midnight on the 3 December, many more haven’t realised the change has happened yet.
Our duty is to inform all clients reactively and proactively of the changes and how this affects their purchase. This is no mean feat given the size of Blacks’ pipeline of business. We will also need to make changes to our case management system and our online quotation system, Blacks Connect, so that brokers are able to give the correct information to their clients.
The reality is that a change such as this had to be implemented by the Chancellor immediately as any delay would have had a severe impact on the volume of housing market transactions. The downside is for all those people who completed on their purchases last Friday (28th November) – the last Friday of the month is always the busiest – and most of those people will have lost out.
The positive, and critical point, going forward is that the new system will largely eradicate the impact the previous system had on house prices. Large house price gaps were created by the slab system, for example, few houses were placed for sale priced between £250k and £275k or £500k to £575k as sellers knew they would have to sell beneath the previous stamp duty limits or substantially above them. This is now likely to change.
The range of property prices coming to market will now presumably be much smoother than before with no ‘clumping’ effect at the margins of the stamp duty thresholds. All in all this is a good move for the market but a considerable amount of short-term work for conveyancers, such as ourselves, in order to ensure we get things right.
Nigel Payne is a consultant at Blacks Connect
