Multiple Dwellings Relief Abolished from Today

In the Spring Budget 2024, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed that Multiple Dwellings Relief (MDR) would end on 31 May 2024 and be abolished on 1 June 2024.  MRD still applied to transactions where contracts were exchanged on or before 6 March 2024 but must have completed on or by 31 May 2024.

Multiple dwellings relief was a reduced level of stamp duty that property buyers (mainly landlords) paid when purchasing a property/land when more than one “dwelling” including both leasehold and freehold formed part of a single purchase.

This means that landlords will no longer get a reduction for lower rates on individual smaller properties rather than paying the much higher stamp duty land tax rates on higher value properties and land.  This will safe the Treasury some £385m (according to the Treasury).

Our view

There is a housing crisis that this government and no doubt any future Labour government will not solve.  Why would you disincentivise landlords from buying and developing sites for residential use to provide multiple dwellings for occupation?

In our opinion, a strange decision indeed.