CML - Stamp duty changes could have been simpler

Changes in the charging of stamp duty, which were announced by the chancellor in last week's Budget, could have been simpler, it has been claimed.

Alistair Darling announced that the threshold at which the duty is applied has doubled from £125,000 to £250,000.

However, the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) has said that by applying the increased threshold only to first-time buyers, it will be more difficult and more expensive to administer.

According to the organisation the difficulty lies in how the government is going to determine who is a first-time buyer.

"In our view, it would have been simpler – although admittedly more expensive – to exempt all properties under £250,000," the organisation said.

"Our own data on the first-time buyer market illustrates some of the practical problems in identifying genuine first-time buyers and differentiating them from 'returners' – that is, people who are making the transition from the rented sector into owner-occupation, but who have been home-owners at some stage in the past."

CML data shows that approximately one-fifth of first-time buyers are people moving from rented accommodation to owner-occupation having previously owned a home.

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