During his 32-year career as a salesman for the American food giant Del Monte, Malcolm Clare was affectionately known by his friends as the man who liked to say yes, after actor Brian Jackson in the company’s advertisements, who approved of the fruit he used: “The man from Del Monte says yes.
Today, Malcolm, 79, from Swindon in Wiltshire, is long retired and looks back on his career fondly, happy to share photographs of himself dressed in all his pomp as the Del Monte Man.
However, like many homeowners of his generation, Malcolm is now firmly in the position of ‘no’ rather than ‘yes’ – that is, ‘no’ to stamp duty, the cost of which has recently prevented him from downsizing to a smaller property. about a mile from where he currently lives with his wife Lynne, 76.
“The Government should encourage us golden old people to get out of our big houses,” he says. “But it has made downsizing an unviable financial proposition for many of us.”
It is a question he has raised with Justin Tomlinson, Conservative MP for North Swindon, who paid attention to it.
Most homeowners consider stamp duty to be an iniquitous tax, a form of double taxation. It is also an impediment to moving house.
And it is an issue that many Tory MPs now firmly believe Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt should address in the Budget next Wednesday.
In short, they are calling on the Chancellor to abolish stamp duty for those wishing to downsize in retirement.
Members of One Nation’s 107 Conservatives, a group of “moderate” Conservative MPs, believe such a bold move would free up the housing market, allowing people to move up and down the property ladder; increase the number of transactions; and give a boost to the economy.
Earlier this week, the prestigious Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that, although there were “weak” economic arguments for tax cuts, stamp duty on property purchases was “particularly damaging” – and should be ” on the front of the “Queue of pro-growth cuts”.
The calls from One Nation and IFS follow a campaign launched earlier this month by Money Mail to abolish stamp duty, a move we believe would be welcomed by young and old.
It would also confirm the Conservative Party, which is struggling in the polls, as the leading proponent of home ownership.
Most homeowners consider stamp duty to be an iniquitous tax – a form of double taxation. It is also an impediment to moving house, because the rate increases as the purchase value of a property increases.
Currently, a removal company pays stamp duty on transactions over £250,000. The rate is 5 per cent on the value between £250,001 and £925,000; 10 per cent from £925,001 to £1.5 million; and 12 percent on any surplus.
So, for example, someone who buys a house for £500,000 currently pays stamp duty of £12,500, although from April 2025 this would rise to £18,750 if the nil rate band falls back to £125,000, as the Government has said. .
For a buyer of a £900,000 property, the respective stamp duty costs are £32,500 and £38,750. This tax charge is in addition to other moving costs such as estate agent fees, solicitor fees and the rental of moving vans.
I can’t move: Anne Savory and her husband Ted want to sell their West Suffolk home and move closer to their children
For Malcolm Clare, stamp duty is an “insidious” stealth tax, a “national scandal” that turns downsizing into a “financial failure.”
This despite the fact that he and Lynne, a former secretary to the chief accountant of a financial services company, were desperate to move.
The Clares live in a four-bedroom house; It has been their home for 37 years. But now they want to move to a bungalow. “We’re not getting any younger,” says Malcolm, “and the stairs in our house are going to become a challenge sooner rather than later.”
They thought they had struck gold last month when they saw a three-bedroom bungalow for sale less than a mile from where they live. “The bungalows on the market here are as rare as hen’s teeth,” she says.
They also attract buyers among young and old, which leads to premium prices.
It meant the bungalow would cost more than the price the Clares could get for their larger home: £435,000 versus £400,000.
As well as finding the money to cover the shortfall, the Clares would have had to pay stamp duty of around £9,250 plus estate agents’ fees ranging between £5,250 and £10,000, as well as other costs.
“The move didn’t make financial sense,” says Malcolm. A couple of weeks ago, he wrote to his MP Justin Tomlinson, who responded by saying that he, and the wider Conservative Party, supported changes to stamp duty that would allow people like him to downsize and free up “family” homes again in the country. market.
However, it is understandable that he could not give any guarantees about when changes would occur.
“Next Wednesday would be nice,” Malcolm says.
It is an opinion shared by other readers. Anne Savory, from Kedington in West Suffolk, lives in a three-bedroom bungalow with her husband Ted.
They are both retired, in their 70s, and love the house they have lived in for the past eight years.
“We have a huge garden with the River Stour in the background,” says Anne, a retired accountant. “But we’re getting to the point where we can’t manage it and the house is too big for us.”
Anne and Ted would love to get closer to their children, three of whom live in and around the border of Essex and Hertfordshire.
Malcolm and Lynne Clare, from Swindon, Wiltshire, are desperate to move out of the four-bedroom house they have lived in for 37 years.
But the cost of houses in these places is discouraging.
For example, a two-bedroom bungalow in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, where one of his children lives, would cost around £450,000, with a stamp duty bill of £10,000.
Although her Suffolk home is valued at more, Anne says stamp duty and all the other moving costs would be financial “killers”. “If stamp duty were abolished or reduced, that would make a difference,” she adds.
“The property market would also get a big boost and the bungalow we live in could become a family home again.”
Ray Martyn, from New Milton in Hampshire, also wants to downsize. Now, in his 70s and recovering from cancer, the former civil servant lives with his wife Louise in a three-bedroom bungalow with large gardens in front and behind, the maintenance of which is “becoming an arduous task.”
They recently viewed a two-bedroom apartment in a new development nearby which would have cost around £600,000 to purchase.
But they resisted paying the £17,500 stamp duty they would have incurred, plus other moving costs which Ray estimated at around £12,000.
Like the Savorys, the Martyns could free up capital through a staff reduction (around £100,000), but Ray says the money would go towards their three children and six grandchildren. “I’m opposed to paying £17,500 in tax to move house,” says Ray. ‘The Government should think a little outside the box.
‘If you reduced or abolished stamp duty for downsizers, you would still receive value added tax (VAT) receipts for invoices collected by companies involved in the moving process – solicitors, estate agents and removal companies. As things stand, we are not moving. It’s time to look for a good gardener.
Chris Roberts, a former airline pilot from Great Bookham in Surrey, says the availability of suitable housing for movers to move into is also a key issue that needs to be addressed.
The 79-year-old says: ‘Where we live, many houses that 30 years ago were suitable for downsizing are no longer suitable because they have been extended and extended. The result is that instead of moving, we move into our five-bedroom house.’
Fingers crossed for next Wednesday and some good news on the stamp duty front. Let’s get the real estate market moving (if you know what I mean).
jeff.prestridge@dailymail.co.uk
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