Consumer group slams stamp duty proposals

A consumer group which supports the notion of a stamp duty charge of second homes and buy-to-let accommodation has moved to brand the Government’s upcoming proposals as ‘dangerously flawed.’

The HomOwners Alliance has said it is open to policy on second homes, but that the forthcoming changes in legislation are, ‘so flawed that the Government must go back to the drawing board.’

Assistance

In principle, the group said it welcomes the Government’s ambition to assist home owners and recognition of home ownership in the stamp duty system.

However, in its submission to the Treasury consultation regarding the surcharge, the HomeOwners Alliance said that the way the plans have been introduced as over-complicated and flawed. As a result, the group claims that there will be huge consequences.

Consumer group slams stamp duty proposals

Ridiculous

Chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, Paula Higgins, said that the scheme envisaged by Chancellor Osborne is, ‘ridiculously complex,’ and may damage the people it is intended to assist.

Higgins said, ‘we are already being contacted by distressed homeowners who have worked out they will be caught by it and not be able to buy the home they want to. Rather than push ahead with a well-intentioned but dangerously flawed scheme, it should go back to the drawing board and put it right.’[1]

As means of a consultation response, the HomeOwners Alliance called on a simpler system than the one proposed by the Government.

‘It is really simple-no one should pay the stamp duty surcharge if they are going to buy a home to live in and homeowners need confidence that will be the case. However, if you are buying a residential property for any other purpose, you should pay the surcharge,’ Higgins concluded.[1]

[1] https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/1/consumer-group-hits-out-at-dangerously-flawed-stamp-duty-surcharge