Second home buyers up to £15,000 on their tax bill
24 May 2021 • 12:50pm
Second home buyers and buy-to-let investors could potentially save thousands of pounds due to the stamp duty holiday.
All property buyers benefit from the tax break announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak last summer, which was recently extended and tapered until September.
This means that those buying additional properties, such as a second home or as an investment, only pay the tax at a rate of three percentage points on the first £500,000 of a property s price.
Outside the holiday, these buyers would pay this surcharge on the first £125,000, after that they were charged 5pc on the next £125,001 to £250,000, with the rates increasing as the property value did. It applies to homes purchased in England and Northern Ireland.
More money was spent on buying homes in England and Wales in the year to March than in any 12 month period since before the global financial crisis, new data has shown.
A total of £274.8billion was spent during the past year on properties in England and Wales, which was 8.1 per cent higher than the £254.1billion spent in the year to March 2020.
The number of homes sold during the period was 1.06 million: 1.6 per cent higher than the previous year.
A spike in house prices - as well as in market activity - was responsible for the increase and a recent ONS report showed property prices up 10 per cent over that period.
Universal Credit, PIP and other benefit payment dates affected by next week s Bank Holiday
Payments are usually paid early if they fall on a public holiday - and there s one looming
Linda Howard
Some benefit recipients may be paid earlier than scheduled this month because of the bank holiday (Image: Getty Images)
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Alan Birtwistle is considering becoming a landlord for the first time
Credit: JULIAN SIMMONDS
Landlords have been ditching properties in their droves after changes to taxation, a ban on evictions and ever-increasing regulation.
Many have sold up as house prices soared amid demand for bigger homes. Despite all this, Alan Birtwistle is considering becoming a landlord for the first time.
Mr Birtwistle, 56, recently extinguished a 29-year career as a fireman, retiring in 2019. He now lives and works at a campsite near Orpington in Kent during the summer and wants to escape to the Canary Islands during the winter.
After a divorce in March last year, he has £280,000 in bank accounts, earning little or no interest, and no property. “I chose not to buy a home so I could travel,” he said.