The £125,000 threshold for when you start to pay SDLT was introduced again on 1 January 2010. The previous starting rate was £175,000 – for purchases made between 3 September 2008 and 31 December 2009.

If you buy a property in the UK over a certain purchase price you have to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). This is charged on all purchases of houses, flats and other land and buildings.

If you buy either a freehold or a leasehold property and the purchase price is more than £125,000, you pay SDLT of between one and four per cent of the whole purchase price. If the purchase price is £125,000 or less you don’t pay any SDLT.

See the table below for more detail.

SDLT Disadvantaged Areas Relief

If you buy property in an area designated by the government as ‘disadvantaged’ you may qualify for Disadvantaged Areas Relief. In this case the threshold for SDLT is £150,000.

Disadvantaged Areas Relief did not apply for residential property purchases between 3 September 2008 and 31 December 2009 inclusive. The threshold during that period was £175,000 which is higher than the previous Disadvantaged Areas Relief threshold. You can check the HMRC website to see if the property you are buying is in an area designated as disadvantaged.

A new independent survey has found IFAs are rated by consumers as the “most fair” of the financial services professions.

The ‘Fairness Index’, produced by the Financial Services Research Forum at Nottingham University Business School, looks at consumer perceptions of fairness with regards to financial services. The Index takes into account a wide range of measures including impartiality, familiarity, courtesy and communication.

The Index found IFAs enjoy by far the highest ratings on overall fairness, with an index score of 84 out of 100, significantly higher than the industry average of 72. When the data is broken down further, IFAs also rate the highest across each of the fairness measurements.

Brokers/advisers were followed by building societies (75), investment companies (73), Life insurers (72), and general insurers (72). Banks (68) and credit card companies (63) received the lowest ratings.

Chris Cummings, Director General of AIFA, commented: “AIFA strongly welcomes these impartial findings on fairness from the Financial Services Research Forum, and believe they provide a strong endorsement of the IFA profession.

“Not only is the profession the most trusted, but it is also regarded as the most fair – this is no mean feat given the recent economic conditions. It also further reaffirms that the public recognises the IFA profession’s core value: ‘The guiding light is to do well by the client’.”