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Hundreds of thousands will be scrambling come April

Britain’s housing market will drop off a cliff edge when the stamp duty holiday comes to an end in March, leaving home movers poorer and causing sales to collapse, property professionals have said.
Approximately 350,000 buyers are expected to miss out on the tax saving – in many cases due to circumstances beyond their control, such as lockdown delays and difficulties getting mortgage approvals.
Aside from losing a tax break worth up to 15,000, they will also lose money already spent on surveys and mortgage approvals as deals fall through. A property market collapse would damage the country’s fragile economy, causing businesses that rely on house sales to lose money and putting thousands of jobs at risk.
This is why The Telegraph has launched a campaign, Stamp out the Duty, which calls on the Government not just to extend the tax break so that people do not miss out unfairly but to make the holiday permanent. If you believe you are going to miss out on the March 31 deadline from no fault of your own, you can help our campaign by emailing [email protected] with your story.
As our property correspondent Melissa Lawford reported, many buyers have been unable to make the most of the stamp duty holiday because of issues such as expensive leaseholds and dangerous Grenfell-style cladding that have made it difficult to sell their current home.
Cladding victims will be particularly frustrated, as a solution that could free them from their troubles could be announced next month. This will be too late for them to benefit from the stamp duty break.
Some have been unable to transact because of restrictions on mortgages. For example, self-employed people are being asked by bank Santander for a minimum deposit of 40pc – even if they have been unaffected by the pandemic.
Buyers who miss out on the tax saving are likely to negotiate with their sellers and try to shave thousands off their offer price. This will derail the soaring house price growth homeowners enjoyed last year.
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