People who are looking to buy a home this year will be facing the governments new stamp duty rates increase that will be coming into force April 1 2016.

Stamp duty land taxes must be paid if you buy a property over a certain price in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The new Stamp duty rates are due to add 3% surcharge onto people who are looking to purchase a home.

What you should know about stamp duty rates

HMRC have released a table which demonstrates how the new stamp duty rates will affect residential homeowners.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

Changes made since 2014

Before 2014, there was a “slab structure” in place with buyers paying a rate that was based on the whole property purchase price.  The new rates are now only payable for a portion of the property price, which falls within each band.

New stamp duty rates slated

It has also been found that the new stamp duty rates will unfairly charge first time home buyers who are jointly purchasing a home with someone who owns a property.

The new stamp duty rates have been highly ridiculed, with claims that the new stamp duty rates could potentially harm homeowners more than help them.

One residential conveyancing company claimed: “The ridiculously complex way they are planning to introduce the scheme will end up harming many of the very homeowners it is meant to help, and lead to widespread confusion among home buyers. We are already being contacted by distressed home buyers who have worked out they will be caught by it, and not be able to buy the home they want to.

“Rather than push ahead with a well-intentioned but dangerously flawed scheme, it should go back to the drawing board and put it right.”