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The only argument for stamp duty extension is second lockdown – Star Letter 11/12/2020

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  • 11/12/2020
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The only argument for stamp duty extension is second lockdown – Star Letter 11/12/2020
Each week Mortgage Solutions and its sister title Specialist Lending Solutions pick the top comment from our readers.

 

Both of this week’s comments came under the article: ASTL and FIBA warn government over stamp duty cliff-edge.

Sox kicked off the discussion, saying: “I think going with the ‘valid offer in place’ option is a fair and reasonable one.

“Only those already in the pipeline really deserve to be assured of receiving the benefit of the relief. Those starting the process in January should not expect to make it anyway and brokers should be advising of the same and ensuring they have the funds available for the additional cost.”

They added: “But those who have received an offer now and in some cases have had one for a long time should be assured.

“This would have to apply to complete chains though, for example, you can’t just have one person in the chain with an offer dated before December.

“You could possibly extend that to the middle of January at the latest, just to account for the Christmas shut down.”

 

Pandemic considerations

“But really, this genius government incentive was not thought through, as problems caused by lockdown and even social distancing in work spaces has meant that increased demand was met with a compromised workforce that was always going to struggle, so this should be accounted for in some way,” Sox said.

Arron Bardoe added: “The government did make it clear the deadline of the 31 March 2021 when the stamp duty land tax holiday was announced in July, so everyone has had almost nine months’ notice.

“The only argument for an extension is the second lockdown, which was not suggested when the tax holiday was announced. This disruption has caused some councils and lenders to incur further delays as they fail to get their staff back to work.”

 

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