After a petition of more than 110,000 signatures was presented to the government in support of extending the stamp duty holiday, the House of Commons have confirmed that there will be a debate held in Parliament.
The stamp duty holiday was initially introduced as a temporary relief to stimulate market activity and is set to end on 31 March 2021. This is now only 10 weeks away. At various stages, the government have stated that they had no plans to extend the temporary relief. However, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been under growing pressure to extend the holiday as buyers are concerned that they will miss the deadline and all those involved in the sales process from solicitors, mortgage lenders to surveyors are working against the clock to keep the process moving forward.
The petition to extend the holiday by a further 6 months, until September 2021, was started back in October last year and parliament has to consider all petitions that garner more than 100,000 signatures for a debate.
The outcome of the debate will prove to be interesting news for home buyers as any agreed extension will likely be met with applause from buyers and those working in the property sales process. It is also conceivable that an extension will stimulate another uptick in the number of sales agreed, possibly following a similar pattern to the upturn in house sales that we saw when the stamp duty holiday was first introduced.
We’ll continue to follow developments as they unfold this week.
In the interim, if you are planning to move house and would like further information on our home moving and storage services; our website is full of information and resources and our advisors are on hand to assist you on 01902 714555 and sales@burkebros.co.uk.
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