Announced as part of former chancellor Kwasi Karteng’s now infamous ‘mini budget’, the threshold at which buyers must start paying the tax has risen from £125k to £250k and from £300k to £425k for first-time buyers.    

Rightmove reports this means that a third of all homes currently for sale in England are now exempt from paying any SDLT at all. What was billed by the government as a boost for the housing market, however, has been met with trepidation by some who fear a return to the unprecedented surge of work seen during the 2020/21 stamp duty holiday. 

Is such a move likely? And with recruitment issues dogging the industry after many conveyancers quit due to burnout, would it be sustainable?  

Permanent move 

A key difference this time around is that the chancellor’s measures are not a temporary ‘holiday’ but a permanent change. Consequently, we’re unlikely to see the same levels of activity. 

The turmoil in the financial markets will also undoubtedly dampen many people’s enthusiasm for moving. Unless prospective buyers were in the enviable position of having a lengthy fixed-rate mortgage locked-in prior to the  mini budget announcement, rising interest rates may well now change their minds. 

While the pressure on conveyancers during the pandemic unfortunately led to people walking away from the profession, there were some positives to be taken from it too. At a roundtable discussion of industry experts hosted by the CLC last year, the general consensus was that it had accelerated the adoption of technology by at least five years.   

Huge strides have been made in digitising and, in doing so, speeding up the process of buying and selling a property. These include digital identity checks which are widely regarded as being more convenient, cost-effective and secure. 

Last year, HM Land Registry introduced its ‘Safe Harbour’ scheme – a digital identity standard for lawyers to confirm that clients are who they say they are. The process combines a number of technologies including biometric verification, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, ‘liveness’ tests where technology is used to detect a genuine presence on the other end of the device, and cryptographic checks, where only the sender and recipient can view the message. These reduce the risk of human error and also mean information can be encrypted and stored digitally which, in turn, reduces the risks associated with physical storage and management of documents.  

So confident is it of the standard’s effectiveness that HM Land Registry says it will not take action against conveyancers who adopt it in the event of a fraudulent transaction as they will be deemed to have properly carried out all the necessary checks.  

The government has also confirmed plans to draw up new legislation making virtual forms of ID accessible via a phone app or website for instance, as trusted and secure as physical documents. The CLC is supporting a pilot ‘MyIdentity.com’, that seeks to exploit the benefits of the coming legal framework to streamline provision of ID in property transactions, potentially saving considerable time and money in property transactions.    

No going back 

Attendees at last year’s CLC roundtable agreed that the pandemic and SDLT holiday put incredible stress on the sector, but what was also clear was that the market had moved on and there was no going back. Firms forced into adopting technology had begun to realise the benefits in terms of improved efficiency and resilience in the face of threats such as cyber attacks.  

Making optimal use of technology requires continued review and investment, but it is this which will help conveyancers to weather any future storms.  

This year’s roundtable called for the government to mandate reforms and help streamline the home-buying process, which has actually slowed as the market continues to recover from the post-pandemic boom. If and when the official mandate will come is unknown, but for now the best course of action for conveyancers is to ensure they manage clients’ expectations.  

According to a recent report by Smoove’s Home Movers, the typical time it takes to complete a transaction has risen 23% since 2019, from 124 to 153 days. Anyone tempted to promise clients they will be in by Christmas this year may find themselves struggling to deliver. 

Stephen Ward is director of strategy and external relations at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers