Buying a house is usually surrounded by the exciting feelings of moving to a new beginning in a new house whether it’s your first home, a larger family home or downsizing to a smaller home for you to look forward to retiring in.
However, we still need to budget as well as understand all the facts and processes before purchasing a property to ensure we make the right decision and plan what to expect when it comes to timescales, formalities and importantly how much it costs. According to figures released at the end of September 2015 the amount of stamp duty raised from British home sales hit its highest level since the financial crisis. From the stamp duty paid by British house purchasers the Government raised £7.5bn in 2014/15, a considerable amount of money!
With so much tax at stake, it’s important you know how much you might have to pay when looking for your next property. New rules introduced on the 4th December 2014 mean that Stamp Duty is now calculated on the part of the property price within each tax band which has replaced the old single rate on the entire property price. As demonstrated in the table below:
| Purchase Price | Stamp Duty Tax Payable |
| Residential | |
| Up to £125,000 | 0% |
| Up to £250,000 | 2% for the slice |
| Up to £925,000 | 5% for the slice |
| Up to £1.5m | 10% for the slice |
| Over £1.2m | 12% for the slice |
| Commercial | |
| Up to £150,000 | 0% |
| Up to £250,000 | 1% for the slice |
| Up to £500,000 | 3% for the slice |
| Over £500,000 | 4% for the slice |
With so much to think about when purchasing and moving to a new property we understand that sometimes you just need someone to talk the details over with. Here at PowellsLaw we offer an initial, free, no obligation discussion with a member of our Property team who are experts in their field and who will help guide you as smoothly and swiftly as possible to your new home. Contact us for a chat on 01934 623 501 or email helpforyou@powellslaw.com
