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First-time buyers are rushing to buy homes before the stamp duty they have to pay rises.
The threshold at which first-time buyers start paying stamp duty will drop from £425,000 to £300,000 from April 1 this year.
For first-time buyers, this could mean that instead of paying no stamp duty on a purchase valued at £425,000, they will soon pay £6,205.
A first-time buyer purchasing a home worth £625,000 currently pays £10,000 in stamp duty. But from April 1, that figure will rise to £21,250, an increase of £11,250.
While the change also affects home-movers, first-time buyers who find themselves dragged into the stamp duty net due to the rule change will pay more as the threshold is higher.
The removals threshold is falling from £250,000 to £125,000, meaning the maximum additional charge for those who miss the deadline is £2,500.
The proportion of homes bought by first-time buyers across the UK rose to 31.8 per cent in November and December 2024, the highest figure on record, according to estate agent Hamptons.
Final rush: Stamp duty will change on April 1 – and this could cost a first-time buyer up to £11,250 in extra stamp duty
The changes will return stamp duty thresholds to the level they were before September 2022, when the Conservative government made a temporary amendment.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, says: ‘First-time buyers are racing for the finish line before stamp duty bills rise in April.
‘We have seen a particular rise in purchases over £425,000, with new buyers facing the biggest tax increases.
‘Removal companies, on the other hand, are in less of a hurry and have generally been more successful in negotiating deeper discounts to mitigate an increased tax bill of up to £2,500.
“With an average lead time of about four months, many of those accepting sales are now seeing good results.”
Race against time for first-time buyers
The window to secure completion before the stamp duty changes is rapidly closing, with less than 11 weeks remaining until the April 1 deadline.
The average time for transfer is 12 to 16 weeks, followed by an additional 28 days for exchange and completion, according to Zoopla.
Historically, only 29 percent of agreed-upon sales were completed within three months, according to a Hamptons analysis, and that figure fell to 13 percent within two months. Only 6 percent are completed in a month.
Cash buyers who purchase a home and are not in a complicated chain are more likely to meet the deadline. Meanwhile, apartment buyers could see their sales extended by up to an extra month due to the more complicated process of transferring a lease.
Only 4 percent of mortgaged purchases are completed within a month, compared to 13 percent of cash-financed sales.
However, first-time buyers are more likely to complete the purchase on time than those moving into a similar property, mainly because they tend to be at the end of a chain.
Can I buy a leasehold property on time?
According to Government estimates, there are around 5 million rented homes in the UK; many of them will be apartments.
Because of the extra paperwork required for rental properties, only 4 percent of apartments are completed within a month, according to Hamptons, compared to 6 percent of all homes.
Leases vary greatly in length and complexity depending on when they were written.
Advice on the content of a lease can be complicated and, in some cases, may involve additional work such as variations and extensions.
“Many leases need to be amended to suit the new buyer or mortgage lender and this process can take many weeks, and often months,” says Chris Barry, director at law firm Thomas Legal.
‘Leases of buildings over five floors or 11 meters are governed by the construction safety law, and this process has proven very slow since its start in February 2022 due to the amount of confirmation and information required by third parties, as owners and management companies.
‘Management packages are required and, in larger buildings, there may be one or two master tenancies requiring multiple management packages from different companies to ensure that all information relating to the operation of the building is captured.
“Some companies are inherently slow in producing this information and responding to queries, adding further delays.”

No time to waste: Hamptons head of research Aneisha Beveridge says the next few weeks will be crucial for those hoping to avoid higher stamp duty bills
What about freehold ownership?
According to Barry, buying a freehold property, as most houses are, is more likely to be completed in time.
He adds: “When buying a freehold property, there is usually legal title and whilst this may contain restrictions and clauses that need to be investigated, there is usually limited third party involvement, reducing the need to rely on others. which gives the buyer’s attorney more control over time scales.
“Given the extra work involved in purchasing a leasehold property, we think it is fair to say that it may be too late to buy a leasehold property before the April 1 deadline, where to buy a freehold property can still be realistic.”
How long does it take to get a mortgage?
A typical lead time from application to mortgage offer is three to four weeks, according to Chris Sykes, technical director at mortgage broker Private Finance.
“The simpler the case, the faster the process will be,” Sykes says.
‘On rare occasions, if the mortgage valuation of the property is done digitally and the income is digitally certified, we have seen offers instantaneously or within days.
“A more complex case with a specialist lender or regional building society can take four to six weeks, so specialist cases may not give solicitors time to complete the transaction quickly.”

Busy: Private Finance mortgage broker Chris Sykes says his business has seen a surge in activity due to this deadline.
How long does the legal process take?
For most people trying to beat the stamp duty deadline, the mortgage is less likely to cause problems than the transfer.
The transfer is the legal aspect of the move.
When someone buys or sells property, they will need a conveyancer or solicitor to complete the conveyancing process so that legal ownership can be transferred from one person to another.
The conveyancing process varies from case to case, but from drafting contracts to completing local authority searches and surveys, it can often end up being the longest part of the moving journey.
On average, the move takes between 12 and 16 weeks, according to My Home Move Conveyancing.
This timeline can vary significantly depending on several factors, including how many issues are revealed during the survey process and how responsive a buyer or seller is when it comes to providing and signing vital documents along the way.
Alistair Singer, director of My Home Move Conveyancing says: ‘Conveyancing is an essential part of buying and selling a home. It can also be quite a complicated and sometimes stressful process.
‘Most transfer obstacles and delays can be avoided if everyone is informed and on the same page. But if a major problem occurs, don’t worry.
“Listen to the advice of your professional experts and do some personal research to learn how best to overcome the challenges that come your way.”
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