News
Updated 4 June 2010
HIPs are History
This was how the new Government presented the suspension of the requirement for a Home Information Pack to be commissioned before you can put your home on the market for sale. Sellers will therefore be spared the cost (typically around £300) of ordering a HIP but they will still need to have arranged, and committed to pay for, an Energy Performance Certificate. We can arrange this for you.
First time buyers, however, will now be faced with the additional cost of the searches which were part of the Home Information Pack but which will now have to be carried out by the Buyer.
Existing Home Information Packs are still valid and house hunters should ask the Estate Agent or Seller if there is a HIP for the property they are thinking of buying.
Stamp Duty Land Tax
The temporary concession previously made for first time buyers whereby no Stamp Duty Land Tax is payable on a property purchase where the price does not exceed £250,000 still stands. However the definition of a first time buyer is quite restrictive since it only covers a person who has never owned a property before anywhere in the world. Where there is more than one buyer ALL of the buyers must fall within this definition.
22 June 2010
That is the date set for the first Budget Statement of the new Government. It is widely anticipated that the budget will increase some taxes, particularly Capital Gains Tax, and if anyone is disposing of a chargeable asset, such as a second home, at a significant profit over its cost price it might make sense to try to exchange contracts on the sale before the 22nd June in the hope that the existing rate of tax and allowances will apply.
View the summary of the main budget changes.
22 June 2010
