A MAJOR change to stamp duty rules tomorrow will see first-time buyers having to fork out thousands of pounds more.
Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) is a one-off payment you have to make if you buy a property or piece of land over a certain price.
It is paid by households in England and Northern Ireland.
Since 2022, a temporary stamp duty holiday has been in place meaning the thresholds at which the tax has to be paid have been higher.
The government brought in the change in part to stimulate the housing market post-coronavirus.
Currently, first-time buyers don't have to pay stamp duty on homes worth up to £425,000, a rise from £300,000 pre-2022.
Meanwhile, for properties costing up to £625,000, first-time buyers currently pay no stamp duty on the first £425,000, then 5% on the £200,000 in between these amounts.
For non-first-time buyers purchasing a property, stamp duty thresholds have been hiked from £125,000 to £250,000.
However, from tomorrow (April 1), these thresholds are reverting to their previous levels.
It means home buyers will have to fork out potentially thousands of pounds on the tax when they wouldn't have needed to before.
The upcoming deadline has also seen house prices surge across the UK, as buyers looked to buy beforehand.
Flying Eze exclusively revealed the 20 locations where first-time buyers will have to fork out up to £5,805 in stamp duty. You can see the map of locations below.
How to figure out what you'll pay on stamp duty
If you don't live in one of the above areas, you can figure out how much stamp duty you'll pay from tomorrow yourself.
You pay stamp duty as different rates based on the cost of the property – there isn't a flat rate.
These rates can be found via www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax/residential-property-rates.
For example, from tomorrow, a first-time buyer buying a £500,000 home will pay 0% stamp duty on the first £300,000 and 5% on the remaining £200,000 – £10,000.
A non-first-time buyer purchasing a property will pay a 2% rate of stamp duty from £125,001 to £250,000 then 5% from £250,001 to £300,000.
This will see you hit with a stamp duty bill of £5,000.
There are also a couple of free online calculators you can use to figure out how much stamp duty you'll owe from tomorrow.
You can use the government'sMoneyHelper tool via moneyhelper.org.uk/en/homes/buying-a-home/stamp-duty-calculator.
Or, you can visit stampdutycalculator.org.uk.
You can figure out what you'll pay based on whether you're a first-time buyer, moving home or buying a second home.
You then simply have to type in the value of the property and it will tell you the amount.
Anyone looking to pay stamp duty from tomorrow has to pay it within 14 days of the completion date.
You can pay it online via www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-stamp-duty-land-tax#when-to-pay.
How to get the best deal on a mortgage
There are different factors that go into getting the best mortgage rate. Chris Sykes, technical director at broker Private Finance explains what you need to know.
- Bigger deposit
The larger the deposit you have the lower the rates you’ll have access to.
The different deposit tiers offered by lenders are generally 0-1% deposit, 5%, 10%, 15%, then generally it skips to 25% and finally cash or equity of 40% or more.
There are some exceptions in between but these are usually the bands.
Lenders then set different rates for each of these tiers, rather than having one rate for a 12% deposit and another for 14%, for example.
With a deposit above 40% there is usually no price fluctuation, which means you'd get the same rate with a 50% deposit to a 40% deposit.
- Keep your credit score healthy
A better credit score doesn’t necessarily mean more competitive deals, but a negative credit could mean worse deals.
For example, there may be some people with not a lot of credit as they’ve never had a credit card, or loan, will get the exact some deal as someone who has more credit history and a better credit score.
However, a bad credit history or score starts to limit your lenders and means you may need to move off high street to a more specialist lender which tends to offer higher rates.
If you have poor credit, look for easy ways to improve it.
- Look six months before your fix ends
It's best to look at deals six months before a current rate ends. This might be to just have a chat with a broker and get things moving.
It might be that you can get a deal lined up and locked in that protects against movements in interest rates – for example if rates were to go up over the following six months. And you can also then improve the rate within that six months if rates were to go down.
- How to find a good broker
A good mortgage broker is invaluable for navigating the options available to you.
The best way to find a good adviser is through personal recommendations, everyone has a friend or family member who will have recently bought or refinanced – ask them who they used and if they were happy with the service.
You can also lookup reviews of that person online to find other customer experiences too. Unbiased.co.uk is one place where people can offer their reviews.
- Sort your paperwork
IF you are looking to buy or remortgage, contact a broker nice and early, as they can then guide you through what the expectations are from lenders.
This gives you plenty of time to make sure your accounts are up to date if you're self-employed and you can see if it is worth filing tax returns early.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
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