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Hackney Residents Unlikely To Beat Stamp Duty Deadline

Recent research has suggested that with only weeks until the end of the stamp duty holiday, residents in Hackney have the lowest chance of completing their purchases in time to benefit from the tax levy.

My London reports that analysis from online mortgage broker Mojo Mortgages of the average conveyancing times for the purchases of a home, which are often dictated by the time taken for local authority searches to be returned.

A local authority search is a query into the local area and land where a property for sale resides. They are a vital part of the conveyance process which describes the legal process of transferring property from one owner to another.

According to the research by Mojo, Hackney Council had the lowest turnaround time for searches in the Uk, in some cases taking more than six months. This means that many potential homebuyers in Hackney will miss out on the stamp duty holiday, which ends on 30 June.

From that date, the threshold when buyers must start paying the tax will drop to £250,000 until 30 September and then return to normal levels from 1 October. 

Richard Hayes, CEO at Mojo Mortgages, said: “Although these times are average and theoretical, they do help people realise how long things can take, and how tight it could be.

“If they do think they are at risk, it’s really important they speak to their conveyancer about no-search indemnity insurance.”

To compare, at the other end of the scale, Ashfield District Council in Nottingham had the shortest wait time for returning searches, with an average of five days, leading to an average conveyancing time of 10 weeks, a relatively short wait compared to Hackney’s 45 weeks.

If you’re looking for estate agents in Hackney central, get in touch today.