Expats Buy Now? Extra 2% UK Stamp Duty Warning
Published / Last Updated on 15/12/2020
The UK has a stamp duty holiday on residential property purchases up to £500,000 that ends on 31st March 2021.
That said, for both UK resident and non UK resident buy to let investors, there is still the 3% additional stamp duty rate on buy to let, holiday let and 2nd home purchases.
The withdrawal of the stamp duty holiday on 31st March conicides with a new stamp duty levy of non UK resident purchasers of 2%.
This means that Expat and non-resident UK property investors face a premium of an additional 5% stamp duty when compared to UK residents buying their main residential home.
The message is clear, if you are expat and are considering buying UK property, you have window of 3 months – with zero normal stamp rates during the holiday, just the 3% surcharge and before the extra 2% starts. Combine this with a weak pound, if your earnings/savings are in stronger foreign currency, then the exchange rate will also be favourable should you ‘buy now whilst stocks last”.
