The last eleven years we have been buying and selling households under a Labour government. The consequences of their legal modifications concerning Stamp Duty Land Tax & the introduction of Home Information Packs have without doubt had an impact on the UK real estate market place and house prices in general.
We all know, currently we must sell our houses under a coalition government between the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrat party. Undoubtedly we are going to go though a transitional phase of uncertainly as we wait and see exactly what variations are made upon the landscape of the present property selling procedure. So, how will selling a house differ under the Conservatives and Lib Dems?
The immediate answer is, no difference whatsoever, at the very least not straight away. Examining the future it’s a different story. It is certainly not easy, in fact it is nigh on impossible to second guess the actions of any government, but a merger between the right and the left is a problem all of us own.
Luckily, or unluckily, the housing sector seems to be one area that the two are particularly close on. Already they have shown their desire and ability to speak with one voice, by announcing that the Home Information Pack would be abolished under their government.
So a fundamental house selling requirement is going to be removed from the equation (a good thing I think because it will probably encourage a lot more vendors in to the current market). The latest information we have is that HiPs may well be a thing of the past (along with the organizations that provided them) as early as the start of the Summer. Home Information Packs will be scrapped but EPC’s will stay (nevertheless, the cost of an EPC will undoubtedly rise greatly from the current £50-£70 price range ).
There are also reports of yet another item of housing legislation thought to be being tabled by the government very shortly. A source from within the Conservative Party’s housing team has mentioned that the government is planning on putting forward legal guidelines to help make it easier for people in social housing to relocate around the country.
According to the source, the bill would include making it compulsory for social housing landlords to maintain a portion of their property vacant for people wanting to move in from elsewhere in Britain. The source said that they are contemplating having the legislation reported within the Queen’s speech.
Outsiders looking in may speculate that this is to help the economy, skilled workers and tradesmen etc will be able to move to where the work is. Teachers will be able to move to where they are most needed for example. Surely a good thing?
This is especially probable because it is apparently coming from the Conservative camp, whereas the Lib Dems would likely pass it because they are aware of the social advantages of the bill. For instance, a more sceptical person can look at it as the Conservatives seeking to bring cheap labour in to areas where it is needed by big business.
Whatever the reason, this is all we have to go on, in order to look into the minds of our new government and determine what home selling under it will be like, in 6 months, a year and beyond.
We can really only tell what we already knew: the Conservatives — like any government — will seek to do right by its core supporters. In the Conservatives case, this has always been the wealthy and upper class elements of society.
So, we may see things like stamp duty being brought back down on higher value properties (Labour increased stamp duty to 5% on properties over 1 million in value).
On the other hand, David Cameron is New Conservative (sounds familiar doesn’t it?) and we have the Liberal Democrat angle to consider. So, I will end it as I started, there is no way of knowing or even guessing what it will be like to sell & buy property under the new government, except that we will not have to have a Home Information Pack to do so.
