You are here: Home - News -

Petition to extend stamp duty holiday considered for Parliament debate

by:
  • 18/01/2021
  • 0
Petition to extend stamp duty holiday considered for Parliament debate
The petition to extend the stamp duty holiday for a further six months from 31 March is likely to be debated in Parliament.

 

The petition has collected almost 40,000 signatures in less than a week taking it past the 100,000-barrier required to secure consideration for a House of Commons debate.

More than 110,000 people have now signed the petition and the petitions committee of MPs, made up of six Conservative, four Labour and one Scottish National Party representative will decide if and when to bring a debate.

While not guaranteed, a notice on the website explains that petitions which reach 100,000 signatures are almost always debated.

A petition may not be put forward for debate if the issue has already been debated recently or there is a debate scheduled for the near future.

MPs may also consider a petition for a debate before it reaches 100,000 signatures, it adds.

The news comes on the same day property firm Rightmove revealed that it believes around 100,000 transactions will miss the stamp duty headline.

Pressure has continued to mount on the government to grant some form of an extension: last week conveyancing trade bodies joined forces warning that completions were now becoming a lottery.

And Hampshire Trust Bank became the first lender to publicly say it was no longer accepting cases which needed to be completed by the 31 March deadline.

However, the government has said on several occasions that it does not intend to extend the holiday, although it has acknowledged it is watching the situation.

Jonathan Steel created the petition. He said the new-build property he is planning to purchase is set for completion in March but if it is delayed, he will miss out on the tax break and be unable to afford it.

 

This article was updated to clarify that the petitions committee will decide if and when a debate is to be scheduled.

 

There are 0 Comment(s)

You may also be interested in