How Will House Selling Change Under the New Government?

For the last 11 odd years we have bought and sold our homes under a Labour government, and the new rules that they have imposed upon us, perhaps most notably the Stamp Duty Land Tax (aka stamp duty) and the Home Information Pack.

As we all know, now we must get used to house selling under a coalition government of the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrat party. For those planning on buying or selling a home this could be an area of uncertainty. So, how will selling a home be different under the Conservatives and Lib Dems?

The immediate answer is, no different at all, at least not straight away. Looking into the future it is a different story. It is never easy, in fact it is nigh on impossible to predict the actions of any government, but a merger between the right and the left is a quandary 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. EPC’s will remain however.

The latest on this was last week, reports that a suspension order had been signed and would be passed this week — so far nothing.

There have also been reports of another piece of housing legislation thought to be tabled by the government very shortly. A source close to the Conservative Party’s housing team has said that the government is planning on putting forward legislation to make it easier for people in social housing to move around the country.

According to the source the bill would include making it mandatory for social housing landlords to keep a portion of their accommodation vacant for people wanting to move in from elsewhere in the country. The source said that they are considering having the legislation announced in the Queen’s speech.

Outsiders looking in may speculate that this is to help the economy, by allowing workers to move where their skills are needed in the labour market. Plumbers to move to an area where there is a shortage of plumbers, hairdressers to where there is a shortage of hairdressers.

This is especially likely because it is apparently coming from the Conservative camp, whereas the Lib Dems would likely pass it because they see the social benefits of the bill. For instance, a more skeptical 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 selling a house 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 (why does that ring a bell?) 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 selling a house under the new government, except that we will not have to have a Home Information Pack to do so.