When the clock struck midnight and we welcomed in the new year, albeit slightly differently to how we may have welcomed the dawn of a new year before, the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) final furlong was moving ever closer into sight.
Since the announcement of the SDLT holiday in July 2020, you have all been working tirelessly to ensure your property transactions are continuing to move through the pipeline.
At times you’ve been met with aggression from clients who are eager to make the most of the holiday and are unsure as to why the transaction is taking so long, with misconceptions about the conveyancing process, and the meticulousness of the profession. And not forgetting, challenges from other stakeholders in the transaction pipeline, which have resulted in searches taking longer and mortgage valuations and applications taking longer to complete to name a few.
Now, with the 31 March deadline approaching, no SDLT holiday extension, or even news of the holiday being tapered off at the end of March this pressure cooker is only going to get more intense.
We featured a candid video from Philip Armstrong, who spoke publicly about the frustrations he and his team were facing, but we know that these are not isolated incidents.
On her first day back at work for the new year, conveyancer Sarah Dwight, took to LinkedIn to share her thoughts to the industry. She wrote:
“Happy New Year to all. So 2021 starts and us conveyancers know what it is going to be like….the pressure to get people moved by the 31st March. Already the fear of seeing how many emails are waiting for us in the morning. And the onslaught of getting people moved – easy to tell people that they cannot be in their new homes for Christmas compared with the financial implications of not completing by the end of March.
“So just one thought…remember the ten working day period for serving notices to complete. Just a small point, but very important in order to manage clients and their expectations, especially if things go wrong. Let’s work together – kind words, be helpful, no unnecessary enquiries so you can say you are waiting on the other side, but mainly be kind and respectful. We are all in this together.”
I would like to echo the sentiments of Sarah and speak on behalf of everyone here at Today’s Conveyancer, we are here for you and want to help you in all of the ways that we can.
