Labour plans Stamp Duty discounts for first time buyers
27/04/2015
Labour has announced plans to help first time buyers in the UK by abolishing Stamp duty for them on all houses under £300,000.
If Labour is elected into power in the upcoming general election, they will introduce this policy to help falling home ownership and low house building levels. They also announced that local residents would get “first call” on half of new homes in their area for a time, to stop properties from being snatched up by investors from overseas.
During a planned speech in Stockton, Teesside, Ed Miliband will claim that these measures will help to get more young people on the housing ladder. He will say:
"There's nothing more British than the dream of home ownership, and home ownership is out of reach for so many people in our country.
"It's the right thing to do to enable people to get back on the housing ladder and that's what a Labour government will do."
Labour has claimed that the policy would cost £225 million and would be paid for via a clampdown on landlords who avoid tax, a cut in tax relief for landlords who fail to maintain properties and increased taxes for foreign property investors.
The Conservative party has claimed that the policy is “panicky” and would cost twice as much as Labour has claimed. The Conservatives have pledged discounted homes for first-time buyers, a £1bn fund to "unlock" sites for 400,000 brownfield homes and an extension of the help-to-buy scheme aimed at first-time buyers.
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