Is the housing market walking into stamp duty deadline disaster?

Property search firm claims too many agents and home movers don't realise the urgency of the situation despite the cut-off date being five months away.

The housing market sleep-walking into a potential disaster as many home movers realise they could miss Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday deadline, despite it being five months away.

That is the view of former estate agency and property search specialist Mike Stainsby, who says that unless the industry acts quickly thousands of sales will miss the March 31st cut-off deadline to complete before the stamp duty holiday ends.

His comments follow calls from the UK’s two key conveyancing organisations last week for agents and home movers to be ‘patient’ as their Covid-weakened members struggle to handle the sales boom that followed the re-opening of the housing market.

DUCKS

Stainsby, who works for Property Searches Direct, says agents need to urge their buyers and vendors to be more proactive and line up their ducks as early as possible to be ready to complete in time.

“We are mindful that the Conveyancing Association now believe 50% of people will be disappointed by the stamp duty holiday and want to make strides to help prevent this happening,” he says.

His company has now made several key conveyancing forms available online for free to agents and home buyers to download via its website, in a bid to help movers be one step ahead.

Possibly for the first time in the UK, this includes the Property Information Form (PIF TA6), Fixtures & Content Form (FFQ TA10) and Leasehold Information Form (TA7).

“Also, we are enabling agents to get their vendors to buy searches and complete these forms as they go onto the market not weeks, sometimes months later,” says Stainsby (left).

“We believe that estate agents are the key to this process and need to be more proactive in helping to avert what is going to be a serious threat to pipelines and dash the hopes of tens of thousands of home movers.”

(as seen in The Negotiator 27/10/2020)