With an increase in stamp duty coming into force in April, prospective house buyers and sellers are being urged to act quickly in order to avoid the extra costs that will be imposed on some purchases after that time.

An additional charge of 3% of the purchase price will be levied on all purchases of second homes and investment properties. This will add thousands of pounds to the cost of buying these properties.

Keith Spencer a partner in the firm of Newland Rennie said “there is still time to beat these increases but buyers and sellers will need to act fast to complete purchases before 1st April”.

He went on to say “the stamp duty on an investment purchase of a £150,000 property will increase from £500 to £5,000 and this is sure to dampen demand and make them more difficult to sell, so anybody thinking of selling a house that might be bought by an investment buyer, typically any property up to about £180,000 would be well advised to put the property on the market as soon as possible to give themselves the best chance of completing a sale by the end of March”.

With the increase also applying to second homes even if they are not let for investment, it will also impact on the holiday cottage market and with many of these being worth over £300,000 the extra tax could amount to another £10,000.

“We might well see a rush of business in the immediate future followed by a significant fall off in the spring just when then property market normally comes to life” said Mr Spencer “but at least with 2016 being a leap year we have one extra day to get sales completed!”

The advice is not to waste that day and act now.