Stamp Duty Holiday - Back Dated?

steve9932

Should be backdated a couple of months.....for the period of the lockdown. I completed 6 days ago.   Feel ripped off.  Where is the petition? 

ngc123

I paid £4,500 2 weeks ago in stamp duty and I absolutely believe it should be backdated until lockdown. I support the govt decision obviously to lockdown even though it meant I had to pay thousands in rent as construction work stopped on my house. I was one of the ones who completed the sale paid the stamp duty and now I feel I’m being penalised because it just so happens work on my house was slightly ahead of schedule after restrictions were eased.

I know there has to be a cut off but surely since most if us in the same boat couldn’t complete our purchases because the govt forced lockdown it seems very mean spirited to say tough luck you should have waited.

[Deleted User]

I completely agree and resonate. We completed on our new house two weeks ago. The process went quickly due to Covid, with slight delays but not as long as it usually takes, so if it had been the usual time frame, we would’ve just saved £11,850 😩. I really am happy for others that they’ve made this decision, but this does need to be reviewed and backdated. 

unkle

It's a really tough pill to swallow if you had just completed. But it is just life i'm afraid and a line has to be drawn somewhere.
If the chancellor announced that from yesterday the Stamp Duty was increasing, would all those who'd just completed in the last few weeks be asking if it would be backdated as you'd like to pay the extra?
Look on the bright side, you're property has probably just increased in value!

payingtaxesforfun

Absolutely devastated. Kept our chain going under the motto of supporting the UK economy and because it felt like the right thing to do so ended up completing at the end of May after the market re-opened. The government's reward is a £15k tax bill. Depressing.

[Deleted User]

unkle said:

It's a really tough pill to swallow if you had just completed. But it is just life i'm afraid and a line has to be drawn somewhere.
If the chancellor announced that from yesterday the Stamp Duty was increasing, would all those who'd just completed in the last few weeks be asking if it would be backdated as you'd like to pay the extra?
Look on the bright side, you're property has probably just increased in value!

I do agree with parts of what you’ve said, however this decision has been made purely due to the pandemic and the repercussions the housing market is facing. Usually if legislation was being changed we would all be given a date and so we would have a good idea of exactly when to prepare for. If I had known that I had to wait two weeks and then saved myself over £11k I would’ve most definitely held out. 

If the housing market has suffered throughout the lockdown period, but those who have luckily continued to sell and buy to help the economy and housing market not depress, why shouldn’t this be reviewed and see if there is room for adjustments? 

But a great point you mentioned, property price increase is great! 

confused1973

But surely people didn't buy and sell to help the economy,  they bought and sold because they wanted to move house.

chantallvclarke

I’m in a similar situation of having to push our completion through to make sure the mortgage offer didn’t expire 3 weeks ago. I am on maternity leave and my partner is a self employed electrician and lost 90% of his work. We had to borrow money from family to make the completion of our first home which was so important as we just welcomed our first child. With all this it seems so unfair that they are not considering those from the beginning of lockdown. I would like to join or start the campaign / petition to get this reviewed, is there a link? 

davidmcn

tparker90 said:

unkle said:

It's a really tough pill to swallow if you had just completed. But it is just life i'm afraid and a line has to be drawn somewhere.
If the chancellor announced that from yesterday the Stamp Duty was increasing, would all those who'd just completed in the last few weeks be asking if it would be backdated as you'd like to pay the extra?
Look on the bright side, you're property has probably just increased in value!

Usually if legislation was being changed we would all be given a date and so we would have a good idea of exactly when to prepare for. 

No, usually when stamp duty is changed it's with immediate effect. If there had been a lead-in period then everything would have ground to a halt. 

eidand

payingtaxesforfun said:

Absolutely devastated. Kept our chain going under the motto of supporting the UK economy and because it felt like the right thing to do so ended up completing at the end of May after the market re-opened. The government's reward is a £15k tax bill. Depressing.

let's be fair, you did not buy a property to support the economy.  You bought it because that made sense to you and your personal circumstances. Everyone has to pay that tax, except for a limited number of transactions which manage to complete in the next 6 months. There's no rip off here.