Articles From the Team

Stamp Duty Changes….Will this have a knock on effect in the recruitment of residential property professionals?

According to this Stamp Duty Reforms document, 98% of people who are buying a new property will see the benefits of the stamp duty reforms.

The new rules came into force on the 4th December and will be in place in Scotland until the 1st April 2015 when the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax replaces stamp duty. With these changes I am keen to see what effects this will have on the recruitment of residential property professionals moving forward. Will this slow things down or will more people be in a position to buy a house, especially first time buyers? Chantel Gallagher, Consultant with BCL Legal in Birmingham offers her opinion on appraisals in the work place.

It could well be that recruitment has slowed down ever so slightly within residential property as we are nearing the end of the year and everyone is slowly slipping into the mind set of Christmas and New year festivities; or it could be that due to these changes firms want to assess their current recruitment needs and see where they are in the New Year.

I personally think that it is due to the Christmas period arriving and everyone is winding down after what has been an extremely busy year within residential property and I expect the market to go crazy again next year; however I expect to see an even bigger increase in first time buyers. It’s great to see that these changes have come into place as from reading a recent article on RICS News most people will see savings in relation to stamp duty; albeit the savings will depend on the price of the property but for an average family home you could be saving up to £4,500 which could be the equivalent of 9 months savings if you were to save £500 per month. This will have a knock on effect on how quickly people can buy which is then going to have a knock on effect for the need for residential property professionals as more people start buying.

Whether we see the effects in the first few months of 2015 is too difficult to predict but I suspect that by April when the new Tax year starts we are going to see a massive increase in instructions as firms will have their budget for the next twelve months. 2015 is going to be another interesting year in the residential property market!

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