Proposed changes to how stamp duty land tax is paid are ‘unworkable’ according to a local estate agent.

Peter Bellamy, director at Northwood, was responding to Yorkshire Building Society’s call for the government to make sellers, not buyers, liable for the tax in order to help more people onto the housing ladder.

The building society believes changing the property tax rules in this way could save first-time buyers in the UK, excluding Scotland, an average of £3,791.

But although Peter admits he agrees with the sentiment, he is unconvinced it would be successful in practice and would instead add extra cost to house prices.

He says: “Most, if not all sellers, will simply add the extra cost onto the asking price thus pushing house prices further out of reach of those that it is intended to help.

“If lenders and the government want to help then a more sensible approach would be to lower the stamp duty rate, increase the exemption threshold or even abolish stamp duty altogether for first-time buyers.

“Any of these alternatives should reduce the cost of buying a home for first time buyers without pushing up house prices.”

According to the Yorkshire Building Society, a total of 225,555 first-time buyers paid stamp duty between June 2015 and June 2016, having purchased a property above the £125,000 minimum threshold, representing 75% of all first-time buyers.

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