Need to know

• The government is weighing up replacing Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) with proportional property tax.

• Instead of buyers paying SDLT, sellers of homes worth over £500,000 could end up footing the bill.

• Lawyers could face a wave of renegotiations as contracts, completion funds and advice could all get turned upside down.

Welcome to TSL’s Weekly Edge, whether you’re aiming for a regional or high-street practice, or just want to get a feel for how law works in the real world beyond textbooks, you’re in the right place. 

No corporate jargon, no massive deals, just real useful information designed to give you that extra edge in your legal journey.

🧠Wilson’s Weekly Wisdom

I was talking to someone recently who had just completed their LPC and they were nervous about their results. There’s a special kind of stress that hits after the exam or after you’ve hit submit on that application…the waiting.

I always replayed everything in my head. Overthink every sentence in the question, I maybe, possibly, definitely messed up. That nervous energy can feel like something’s wrong, but really, it is normal and just means you care. You showed up, gave it your best, and now the outcome’s out of your hands.

Do you want to know a hard truth? The waiting never fully goes away. Even as a trainee solicitor and exams happily behind me, the waiting doesn’t stop. Only this time, it is waiting on client instructions, court outcomes, or partner feedback. But I have got better with waiting and ironically it is something which comes with time.

So next time you’re stuck in that limbo, remember: the nerves mean you’re invested. And that’s a good thing. It means you’re in the right place.

💡Spotlight Article

Picture this: you’ve finally decided to downsize, cash in on your home’s value, and swap city chaos for something calmer. 

You’ve done the maths, planned the move and then you discover you’ll have to hand over tens of thousands of pounds - just for selling. 

Sounds unlikely? Maybe not for much longer. 

🔎What’s happening? 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly exploring a radical shift in property taxation. Instead of buyers paying Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), the government is considering a proportional property tax levied on sellers of homes worth over £500,000.

What exactly is SDLT?

Think of it as His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) toll gate on the road to homeownership. Buy a property above a specific value in England or Northern Ireland, and you’ll pay a percentage in tax. The higher the price, the steeper the toll. 

Stamp duty has long been accused of blocking the market - discouraging movers, pricing out “second steppers”, and leaving family homes underused. However, by switching the burden to sellers (often those cashing out of decades of rising house prices), ministers believe they can free up the supply for younger buyers. 

But here’s the catch: this isn’t law. Not yet.

What we have is a leak, and that alone is enough to shake the market. Mark Slade, a director on the Conveyancing Association Board, warns that the rumours could already stall property purchases as sellers wait for clarity in the Autumn Statement. And in conveyancing, months of wait and see can kill momentum faster than you can say completion date! 

At the same time, Propertymark’s Timothy Douglas is cheering the idea, calling stamp duty a “barrier to moving”. He argues that if this is evidence-led, it could stimulate transactions and ultimately boost the economy. 

So… chaos bracers on one side, reform fans on the other!

❓ Why it matters to high street firms

This isn’t just policy chatter in Westminster; it’s directly relevant to the bread-and-butter work of regional and high street conveyancers and solicitors.  If this leak becomes law, here are some of the implications: 

• Transaction chaos: Leaks like this can freeze the market. If sellers think they might owe tax soon, they’ll hesitate. If buyers believe they might avoid SDLT by waiting, they’ll stall. 

Conveyancers and solicitors sit in the middle, juggling anxious clients and crumbling chains.

• Advisory risks: Firms could face negligence claims if clients feel misadvised during this limbo period. Because even saying “wait and see” has risks if the tax lands differently than expected. 

• Equity-rich, cash-poor clients: Imagine elderly homeowners in the South East. Their properties may be valued well above the regional average, yet their liquid savings are limited. 

Suddenly being taxed on selling could leave them scrambling for funds. This is just a teaser of the sort of human problem a high street solicitor must address with creativity and care. 

• Overlap with other areas: A proportional property tax doesn’t exist in isolation. This measure bumps against estate planning, wills, and even family law (think divorce settlements where one spouse may suddenly owe more than expected). 

High street firms thrive on cross-practice awareness, and if this becomes a reform, said awareness is key!

Chain

In property lingo, this is a sequence of interdependent sales.

One buyer’s purchase relies on the seller above them completing their deal, and so on. Disruptions, like a sudden change in who pays SDLT, can freeze the entire chain.

In short: one wobble at the top and everyone’s stuck waiting.