Autumn Statement could bring more property tax changes

Recent years have seen many changes to property tax and it appears this is unlikely to stop as Community and Local Government Secretary, Sajid Javid, has hinted that more could come in this month’s Autumn Statement.

Speaking at an industry conference in London, Javid informed the delegates, made up of developers, consultants and agents, that Chancellor Philip Hammond has the opportunity through the Autumn Statement to address any changes he wished to make, particularly as this will be his first statement in post.  Javid went on to re-enforce his own interest in the stamp duty changes that have been made this year, and confirmed that the Treasury would be keeping “all taxes under review to make sure they are efficient in achieving what was intended”.

Former Chancellor, George Osborne, introduced a number of changes to property taxes; in 2014 he reformed stamp duty in terms of how much was to the be paid for properties and in April of this year he introduced an additional stamp duty surcharge for ‘additional homes’ such as holiday  and buy-to-let properties.  One Osborne initiative is still due to be implemented; namely the phased reduction in landlords’ mortgage interest tax relief, which is to begin in April 2017 and be spread over the next 4 years.

Sarah Brooks, Residential Conveyancing Partner, commented, “The Autumn Statement this year will be an opportunity for Mr Hammond to address the reforms made by his predecessor and the consequences of those.  It’s crucial that he realises any decision he makes regarding property tax will have a significant impact on the housing market, which is now showing signs of improvement following the Brexit decision earlier this year. It would be highly unfortunate if any announcement slowed down this progress of continued confidence in the market.”

If you have any questions about your property and the associated taxes, you can contact or the Residential Conveyancing team by visiting their section of the website here or emailing conveyancingquote@warnergoodman.co.uk.

ENDS

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