Woman 'desperate' to move before stamp duty change

Florence Stokes is waiting to collect the keys to her new home

A single mother who has temporarily moved back in with her parents before buying her own home has said the upcoming change to stamp duty is "worrying".

Florence Stokes, 37, is waiting to get the keys from a house in Bussage, Gloucestershire, after facing multiple difficulties with previous deals falling through.

The project manager is concerned her move could be delayed past 1 April when the amount of stamp duty paid by some buyers increases, possibly costing her an extra £4,000.

"It's huge, especially with just my son and me," she said.

Ms Stokes was living and working in London, but decided to leave her "tiny" one-bed house in the capital after switching to remote working.

She has temporarily moved back into her childhood home with her parents while waiting to find a bigger house.

'I'm still here'

"I was planning for it to hopefully be just for a few months before I could buy somewhere else, but two years later, I'm still here," she said.

Since moving home, Ms Stokes said she has seen three property purchases fall through.

Now on her fourth attempt, she is facing delays as the people she is buying her new three-bed house from are being held up in a chain.

"I'm expecting [to exchange] in mid-March, but I'm worried it could be later," she said.

In April, house buyers in England and Northern Ireland will start paying stamp duty on properties over £125,000.

First-time buyers currently pay no stamp duty on homes up to £425,000, but this will drop to £300,000.

The changes were announced by the government as part of the budget last year.

The stamp duty changes will come into force from 1 April

Alex Kell from financial advisors Quayside Wealth Management in Gloucester, said he thinks the stamp duty change is "going to impact a lot of people".

"I think it'll encourage people to get on and move before the changes come in, or make them think about whether they're going to move at all," he added.

James Birt, marketing director of estate agent Naylor Powell, said he is not worried that the changes will "stop the market".

"I think they're going to speed up this first quarter and they're going to make people move," he said.

"Once we get over the initial disappointment of people missing the April deadline, we'll probably return back to a more normal market again."