A firm of tax accountants has warned that purchasers of second homes and buy-to-let properties who exchange on properties over the next few weeks in order to beat the 3% Stamp Duty surcharge are doing so with their eyes shut.

Separately, an estate agent said that purchasers in a hurry could be buying at a premium, while yesterday conveyancers said they anticipated a particularly pressurised first quarter to the year.

Stephen Barratt, private client tax director at accountancy firm James Cowper Kreston, said: “The fact that the new rules are intended to apply to completions on or after April 1 will mean that many purchasers will be exchanging contracts now without knowing what the final rules will be.”

He said that the new rules would create uncertainty, introduce many anomalies and take a long time to bed down.

He also said that a consultation currently out now might make the statute books intact.

He said: “Whilst the document is only for comment at this stage, the fact that it is so comprehensive and time is so short suggests that the Government has produced something which they plan to place on the statute books relatively unchanged.”

If that does happen, Barratt said the rules would be complex.

He said: “The additional 3% SDLT surcharge is intended to apply where a purchaser owns more than one residential property at the end of the day of the transaction.

“The main exemption is where the new property is intended to be occupied as the main residence, but with the additional requirement that it is replacing a main residence.

“That is all well and good if the old home is sold first.

“If the old home is sold second, the surcharge will apply unless it is sold within 18 months of purchase, in which case the surcharge can be recovered. Beyond that time, it is a sunk cost.”

Complex rules will apply to married couples and civil partners who will be treated as one ‘unit’.

Barratt said: “If, as is quite common, one or both own a home before they marry/enter into a civil partnership and then buy a home together without selling their previous homes, say, for rental purposes, it seems that the surcharge will apply unless all existing residential property is sold.”

The proposed rules will also catch out people who own property outside the UK, such as a holiday cottage in France.

“The surcharge will only apply to residential properties purchased in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but if a property is already owned anywhere else in the world a new residential property will be considered an additional property and the surcharge will apply.”

A number of estate agents have reported a rise in the usual number of buy-to-let purchasers, who wanting to do deals that complete before the 3% Stamp Duty surcharge comes into force on April 1.

Jeremy Leaf, in north London, said: “On the ground, we have already noticed investors keen to buy before the middle of February so that they can complete by April.

“Because of the tight time frame, there is more risk in buying a property in a chain because of the chance of fall-through.

“Inevitably, we have seen examples of vendors taking advantage of landlords’ desperation to complete before the April deadline, with some being greedy on the price.”

The Conveyancing Association yesterday said it expects a “very busy quarter one” this year as buy-to-let landlords and second home purchasers try to complete before April 1.

Eddie Goldsmith, chairman of the Conveyancing Association, said the rush would fuel an increase in house prices over the short to medium term.

This is how EYE earlier this week warned on the 3% surcharge hitting those who buy without selling their first home within a strict deadline of 18 months.