The government announced on 23rd September 2022 that a permanent change has been made to the English Stamp Duty Land Tax legislation. It applies to;

• First Time Buyers whereby the exemption level has been raised from £300,000 to £425,000 this means that tax will not be payable until the purchase price is over £425,000 for this group

• The value on which First Time Buyers can claim relief is now raised from £500,000 to £625,000

• The nil rate threshold has been raised from £125,000 to £250,000 which means the threshold you start to be assessed for tax now starts at £250,000 (additional property surcharges still apply, see Government website for details).

The Welsh Government also announced some changes to their Land Transaction Tax which came into effect on the 10th October 2022, full details can be found here. 

The Stamp Duty charge is not payable until the point at which the property completes, this means that if your case is in progress and has not yet completed the new rates will apply to your property purchase and will become payable on the day of completion.

As the government changes have increased Tax thresholds, for most clients, this will likely result in Stamp Duty Land Tax remaining the same or saving on your previous calculation.

No, good news we are already updating our systems to reflect the changes and you will be contacted in due course with the new calculation (if applicable).

Threshold Details and a Stamp Duty Land Tax Calculator can be found on the Government website.

The best way to check the progress on your case is to use our online case tracker – you should’ve received your log in details with your initial paperwork. If you can’t find the update you need on there, then please contact your case manager directly.

The conveyancing process varies from anywhere between 3 and 6 months depending on the complexity of your sale or purchase. For example, leasehold, new build, and shared ownership will typically take longer than a freehold file due to the extra parties involved. If you are in a chain of people remember we are also dependent on many others.

The general searches we submit are environmental, water, and local authority. We may need to do others depending on your location, such as mining searches, or limestone searches. On average, searches can take between 2 to 3 weeks, sometimes longer as we are dependent on your local council.

If you are buying, once we have received all initial paperwork, ID, searches are returned, mortgage offer (if applicable) is in and checked, all signed paperwork including contract, transfer and mortgage deed are returned, all enquiries have been answered by the sellers solicitors and proof of funds has been approved and lender checks (if applicable) have been made, we can set a date.
If you are selling then we are reliant on your buyer going through the above process.
Please remember that if you are in a chain, we rely on all the other people in the chain to be in the same position.

Sale funds will be usually with you the working day after completion, at the latest.

Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer. Just answer to the best of your knowledge, and the buyers will then have to rely on their own investigations.

You need to sign in the box where it says “seller/buyer”.

Unfortunately not, we need the original signed copies to be sent to us in the post.

You can make a secure payment online by going to www.oneillpatient.co.uk/payments.

Your Case Manager will be in contact when we are ready to request the deposit – this is usually one of the final things we need to do, just prior to exchanging contracts.

Proof of funds is a legal requirement, in order to check that you are able to purchase the property. We need to see where the money is coming from, whether that be savings, proceeds of sale of a property, inheritance, premium bonds etc. We would need bank statements and evidence to support the original source of funds.

You should close your ISA down once we’re within sight of exchange of contracts, towards the end of the whole process.

This depends where you are in the chain, and is subject to the seller’s solicitor confirming they have received the funds from us. We will send funds as soon as we are able in the morning, and we will call you to let you know once the seller’s solicitors confirm completion (they will await the funds). Depending on the complexity of your transaction, you may not get keys until later in the day.

Another member of the team will continue to monitor emails of anyone who is out of office, so please continue to email as normal and the relevant person will respond.

Anyone who aged 18 or over, not related and does not reside at the same address can be a witness a document. This could be a neighbour, or colleague, for example.

One form of photo ID such as driving licence or passport, along with proof of residence. Proof of residence needs to be a utility bill or bank statement dated within the last three months. Please note, we cannot accept a driving licence as proof of residence. Bank statements should always display your name. If you reside abroad, these requirements will vary. Please consult the welcome letter.

We work on a no completion, no fee basis. However there is a charge to pay upfront in order to conduct searches from the local council, and this is non-refundable.

The buyer’s solicitors will likely request that you purchase an indemnity insurance to cover the buyers in the instance of missing documents. They will let us know if they feel that this is necessary – we would not agree if the work has been done over ten years ago.