Tag Archives: budget

Budget 2020: Conspicuously absent of any reforms on the parlous SDLT escalator, apart from a much unneeded surcharge for foreign buyers

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Here was a golden opportunity missed by the new Chancellor, to get the Residential Property Market off its knees, by reviewing the Stamp Duty Escalator, imposed by former Chancellor Osborne, in 2014.

According to the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility), Osborne claimed that the Stamp Duty Receipts in 2014 i.e. £14.5billion would, as a result of his reforms, be £19.5billion in 2020, but instead, turned out to be a paltry £12.5billion.

In effect, that these measures cost the Treasury £1billion in lost tax and was an eye watering 50% prediction error, which is an unacceptable overstatement. Continue reading →

What the residential property market needs now, is less Imodium and more a blast of stewed prunes

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Anyone who doesn’t reside under a stone and can barely colour in newspaper pictures, must have heard mutterings about the imminent Budget regarding resurrecting the Mansion Tax corpse. As if this wasn’t alarming enough, it may be topped up with a possible raid on what’s left of private pensions.

I was a little confused about the former Chancellor Sajid Javid’s mindset. We were all confident that he would ‘break the economic mould’, rather than end up being covered in it. For instance, where is the clarity on the 3% surcharge which could be slapped on international buyers of UK residential property? Does this mean that at the higher end SDLT could be an eye watering 18%?

The new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, needs to make this clear in his first Budget, which I hope will still be in early March. Continue reading →

It’s official – Osborne’s outrageous Stamp Duty hikes are costing the UK £1billion per annum!

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The ‘reasons’ underpinning the former Chancellor’s draconian hikes on Stamp Duty in the autumn Budget of 2014 are widely known. Now, we can see that the full devastating and distorting effects on the Residential Property Market have come to pass, particularly in London. Quelle surprise!

Pour yourself a strong fortifying beverage before reading on

You’d better pour yourself a strong fortifying beverage before reading on. With prices down by 25% and activity deflated by a disastrous 70%, certain sectors of the market are practically gridlocked. Frustratingly, this DIY recession is self-imposed, costing the Treasury and UK taxpayer £1billion per annum and rising.
Continue reading →