The 2014 Budget – Property Focus

In this article Julien Pritchard focuses on the Property announcements made in the 2014 budget.As we all know on 19 March 2014, Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, delivered the 2014 Budget. Whilst the changes made to savings and pensions grabbed most of the headlines, most property practitioners will find the following points of interest:

• The extension of the Help to Buy equity loan scheme to March 2020 and the continuation of the mortgage guarantee scheme to 31 December 2016. The reform of the planning system to include a review of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 (SI 1995/418).
• The 15% SDLT (Stamp Duty Land Tax) rate applied to residential properties, purchased by certain non-natural persons, will be applied to properties valued above £500,000, with effect from 20 March 2014.
• The increase in funds available for flood repairs.
• The housing regeneration measures intended to improve the lack of housing in the South East, the principal measure of which is the creation of an Urban Development Corporation for a new garden city in Ebbsfleet, Kent.

The 2014 Budget will not reduce the concerns raised by the 2013 Budget that house prices could rise as a result of the Help to Buy scheme, leading to the creation of another housing bubble. Indeed, in London, prices are increasingly steadily on a weekly basis. There was also no attempt to change the residential SDLT bands, which may be an intentional ploy to try and contain house prices.

While the Ebbsfleet garden city proposals for 15,000 new homes will be welcome by those seeking additional housing in Kent, this is a mere drop in the ocean considering the high demand for housing in the South East.

Interestingly, there is no mention of increasing housing stock in the north of the country or indeed anywhere else, though there are proposals to establish a £150 million fund to kick start the regeneration of large housing estates.

We work closely with a number of tax specialists, if you have any tax queries relating to this or any topic we would be happy to put you in touch with the best person to fulfil your requirements.

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This article was written by Julien Pritchard, a Partner in our Company & Commercial Team. This article is only intended to provide a general summary and does not constitute legal advice. Specific legal advice should be taken on each individual matter. This article is based on the law as at March 2014.