Conveyancers across England and Wales have breathed a sigh of relief as the effective deadline for transactions ahead of the new SDLT passes.
While CHAPS operating hours are set to be extended in the coming months, today the service closed as usual, despite transactions being eligible for lower SDLT until midnight.
Many conveyancers have reported longer working hours this month, with some predicting workloads could drop next month by anyhere from 20% to 30%
Conveyancing property stamp duty deadline over thank you Mr Osborne for all your help #hadenough
— Mark Lomas (@MarkLomas10) March 31, 2016
And breathe…..The SDLT deadline for conveyancing completions is nearly over. Our Property team have done wonders for our clients
— McHale Solicitors (@mchaleandco) March 31, 2016
Right down to the wire, but we’re done. Every file we set out to complete, has gone. I’m dead now. Conveyancing is very bad for your health
— Victoria (@morleybonez) March 31, 2016
All completions done, the conveyancing team have been amazing this past 2 weeks saving our clients nearly £100k in stamp duty #teambmd #fab
— BMD: Law Solicitors (@BMD_Law) March 31, 2016
We have beaten Mr Osbourne!! All clients that wanted to Complete by today have!! #SDLT #stress #deadline #gov #wedidit #goteam
— Maria (@Maria21Mariaaa) March 31, 2016
Well done to our conveyancing team who have had a VERY busy day #sdlt
— Charles French & Co (@CFrenchandCo) March 31, 2016
Rob Hailstone, founder of the Bold Legal Group, said: “Well the Chancellor has played a blinder this time. At least one major lender is struggling to cope with the SDLT deadline. Set out below are a few of the emails I received yesterday afternoon from some of my members.”
“I have been on hold virtually all day chasing funds for a completion today that I requested for yesterday and the phone says “due to unforeseen circumstances we are not able to take your call”. My client is obviously desperate to complete before by the end of the month! You get cut off when you have been on hold for an hour so have to join the back of the queue.”
“I have been told that any advance requests dated 24th March onwards will not get monies until April now!! They are now so busy as they do so much BTL business, they just cannot cope.
“What we needed yesterday is extended CHAPS times!
“The bigger problem of course is that any chain that these type of transactions are in are in will be affected from top to bottom. That is likely to be a huge percentage of the transactions currently taking place. I do hope things get better as the final day progresses, but I have my doubts.”
