Scottish agents are having an enormously problematic time of Stamp Duty Land Tax changes.
They face two sets of market-changing alterations within under five months. They will have gone from the old regime, to George Osborne’s new, and then to their own by April 1 next year.
By way of explanation, from midnight last Wednesday, the new SDLT changes swung into force north of the border, as abruptly as everywhere elsewhere in the UK.
However, these changes will last only until April 1 when Scotland replaces SDLT with its new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax.
Under Osborne’s reforms, the tipping point – at which buyers will pay more under the new regime than the old – is £937,500.
In Scotland, from next April 1, the tipping point will now be just £254,000.
The previous tipping point – between the old SDLT rates and the new LBTT – had been £324,000.
To put this £254,000 in perspective, that buys you a good two-bedroom flat in Edinburgh. It gets a pretty ordinary family home in Glasgow. The money does not go that far in Aberdeen.
The Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre calculates that the buyer of an average three-bedroom home in Edinburgh will pay £3,256 more when the new Scottish regime kicks in next April.
Even allowing for the fact that Scottish house prices – according to Nicola Sturgeon herself – are £100,000 less than those in England, that is quite a difference. Still, that’s devolution for you.
Not surprisingly, Scottish agents are predicting a highly-charged market over the next six months as sellers of ordinary family homes and even smallish flats scramble to find buyers before higher tax rates kick in.
Equally not surprisingly, Tory politicians in Scotland are pressing for changes to the Scottish reforms which seem to have been wrong-footed by those coming out of Westminster.
Comments (2)
Message – think long and hard before moving to Scotland!!The "Scottish Government" are going precisely where many suspected – much higher taxes. The thin end of the wedge!! i.e on £450,000 sale current stamp duty is £12,300 under the new Scottish tax it will be £22,300. On a £750,000 sale the tax will be £52,300 i.e £25,000 more than in England!
Charges in Scotland are designed to be tax neutral and helpful to the lower end of the market. Changes South of the border certainly not tax neutral but then if it keeps the market moving the government may still gain overall. Presumably also designed to wrong foot calls for a mansion tax – which we clearly now have in all parts of the UK.