‘Stamp duty is trapping families in small houses’

FAMILIES are stuck in “cramped” homes because stamp duty changes are stopping them move house, the body representing hundreds of property companies says today.

Separately, in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, more than 30 developers and builders say the changes to stamp duty have inadvertently hit pensioners’ savings.

Melanie Leech, the head of the British Property Federation which speaks for 423 property firms, urged Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, to cut stamp duty and reverse changes brought in by George Osborne, his predecessor, two years ago.

Ms Leech said the changes, while ostensibly hitting those with homes worth more than £1million, affected everyone because sales were slowing, or failing to happen at all. She said: “It makes it harder for people to move to take up better jobs. It also makes it harder for people who need to move to accommodate their growing families or to care for elderly relatives and who face cramped conditions.”

Ms Leech’s comments came as 36 chief executives of the UK’s biggest property companies warned in a letter that the changes had “impacted” on people’s pensions and savings.

The Daily Telegraph has launched a campaign calling on Mr Hammond to review stamp duty. Mr Osborne’s original reforms replaced the “slab” system, which saw buyers charged a percentage of the full purchase price at certain thresholds, with a “slice” approach, with different percentage rates charged to each portion of the price.

An HM Treasury spokesman said: “Property prices are affected by a range of different factors including wage growth, exchange rates and the availability of mortgages.

“Ordinary people across the UK are benefiting from our reforms which froze or reduced stamp duty for almost 800,000 house buyers in their first year.”