The government has today announced that the temporary stamp duty holiday in England and Northern Ireland has been extended until the end of June.

The news will hopefully come as a relief to those buyers and sellers who have been desperately trying to get their sale completed in time to meet the previous deadline of 31st March.

What is the temporary stamp duty holiday?

The temporary stamp duty holiday, first announced by the government on 8th July last year, means that if you are buying a home up to the value of £500,000 you will not pay any stamp duty.

The extension means you now have until 30th June to complete on the purchase to make the stamp duty saving.

Then, to smooth the transition back to normal, the nil rate band will be £250,000, double its standard level, until the end of September.

It will return to the usual threshold of £125,000 on 1st October.

There hasn’t been any further update from Scotland on any extension to the Land & Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) holiday, which is currently due to end on 31st March 2021.

In Wales, temporary Land Transaction Tax reductions are also set to end on 31st March.