Stamp duty thresholds - will they ever change?

MascaraMinx

Apologies if this post seems a bit ignorant - I am not very informed when it comes to stamp duty. What I do know is that we are buying a flat which is 1p under the £250k threashold. I believe that if this threshold wasn't there, this flat would have sold for at least 10k more.

So I'm interested to know whether there has been any debate/ whether it is likely that the £250k may be moved at any point in the future? When we come to sell it, it would be difficult for us to make a profit on it if the threahsold barrier is still there and house prices level out as some people are predicting.

Thanks in advance for your views

TJ27

I thought that the thresholds were moved in the not too distant past?

They probably will move again but I've no idea when. Your guess is as good as mine.

david29dpo

if the government lose money? not a chance!

RHemmings

david29dpo wrote:

if the government lose money? not a chance!

If house prices go up, then the number of houses on which SD is payable goes up. The governent can then move the thresholds up a bit, and still earn lots of ££££ from it. The interesting thing is if house prices fall. Then the government will lose money. What will they do then?

thelawnet

RHemmings wrote:

If house prices go up, then the number of houses on which SD is payable goes up. The governent can then move the thresholds up a bit, and still earn lots of ££££ from it. The interesting thing is if house prices fall. Then the government will lose money. What will they do then?

tax us somewhere else???

RHemmings

thelawnet wrote:

tax us somewhere else???

With house prices going up, the government is getting a whole lot of tax it never did before. If prices go down, things would be returning to the way they were before. But will the government act to "lock in their gains" by some method?

Sparky29

Stamp duty is one of Gordon Browns stealth taxes and he has got no intention of raising the threshold. Every month house prices rise he gets more money to waste by doing nothing to harm his political reputation. He isn't going to raise it to an acceptable level as its not a vote winner (more likely to be inheritance tax but thats another debate). I'm glad I don't live inside the M25 where you have got very little chance of escaping it.

MascaraMinx says that she got a house for £10K less than its value. I wouldn't pay the extra £5800 stamp duty plus the extra £10K and I doubt she would either. Better off buying a house for under £250K and putting £15800 towards renovating/ extending/ improving. You would get a better return on your investment on the right property in the right area. If somebodys house is worth £260K they may be in for a long wait waiting for somebody willing to go slightly higher than the threshold and give Gordon extra cash so you probably got a good buy there.