Keystone Buy to Let Mortgages has set Friday 29 January as a cut-off date to beat the 3% stamp duty surcharge coming in from 1 April 2016.
Keystone Buy to Let Mortgages has set Friday 29 January as a cut-off date to beat the 3% stamp duty surcharge coming in from 1 April 2016.
According to Keystone’s own data it takes an industry average 95 days to take a case from start to completion. As of today there are 86 days until the stamp duty surcharge kicks in.
While the lender refused to guarantee that all purchases will complete in the timeframe it will prioritise all applications submitted before the end of January.
David Whittaker, managing director of Keystone said: “Since the surcharge was announced we have been preparing for an increase in applications, making sure that systems are in place and staff are ready. We have also been working closely with our valuers and solicitors to ensure that they too are prepared for what we anticipate will be a very busy period.
“Getting purchase applications over the line before 1 April is our priority. It will save borrowers thousands of pounds. The deadline will give us a little over eight weeks to take cases from submission to completion. In most instances, that will be do-able – even for limited company applications which, because they require a greater underwriting skillset, can take longer to process.”
