Martin Lewis was back at the helm of Good Morning Britain today (September 21) to offer his expert advice amid the cost of living crisis. The Money Saving Expert founder was set to appear alongside Susanna Reid on the ITV news programme every Monday throughout September to to host ‘Martin’s Money Mondays’.
The special segment aims to provide viewers with up-to-date knowledge on the crisis each week whilst holding politicians to account. However after ITV changed its TV schedule following the Queen's death on September 8, the money-saving guru appeared on the show last Wednesday and today.
On today's show, Martin addressed the potential stamp duty cut as part of Prime Minister Liz Truss' attempt to help more young people get onto the property ladder.
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It is rumoured that the government is expected to announce a cut in the stamp duty tax that homeowners have to pay as part of the 'mini budget' that will be unveiled by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, September 23, reports The Times.
Reacting to the news, Martin issued an urgent message for anyone that is currently in the midst of buying a house ahead of Friday's pending announcement.
The host advised Good Morning Britain viewers: “You could say 'any chance we could hold it off until next Monday', just in case, if you were due to pay stamp duty.
"Exchanges is not part of this, it’s the effective transaction date, but they can be earlier than completion if it was a substantial transaction i.e. 90 per cent of it was completed, but it wasn’t fully completed."
Susanna Reid then added: "I think a lot of people involved in selling might be quite nervous."
Martin then added: "Speak to your solicitor is the best advice. If you are thinking about doing that, talk to your solicitor first to see what the impact would be. But if it does drop on Friday there are a lot of ifs and buts."
Many viewers took to Twitter to share their reaction and concern amid the news of a potential stamp duty cut.
@amandagibby33 tweeted: "@MartinSLewis please please help. We are about to complete on a house move tomorrow - some of the chain are wanting to wait! #stampduty."
Martin Lewis responded: "I'm not sure I can help. This is just an unconfirmed leak - we don't know if it'll happen. Even if it stamp duty is cut, we don't know when it'd be from. Stamp duty generally crystallises at completion though, so I understand why with the rumours some may want to wait until Fri."
@92tombennett replied: "I'll be fuming if stamp duty is cut or scrapped, paid £9250 3 months ago, biggest scam in the world."
@paulcurtinuk said: "In a way waiting for stamp duty reduction is a waste of time if you already have a sale and purchase going through and already have a mortgage offer you're happy with. Wait for stamp duty reduction and you risk much higher mortgage payments or a seller increasing their price."
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