Brown scraps stamp duty for eco-homes

07 December 2006

Stamp duty is to be scrapped on carbon neutral homes, Gordon Brown announced in his pre-Budget report.

Many buyers were hoping that the chancellor would increase the threshold at which the tax is paid, but instead he chose to remove the burden on houses making no impact on the environment.

Initially the decision will make little difference to home buyers as very few newly-built homes meet the carbon neutral standards and newly built properties as a whole only make up only 0.8 per cent of the UK's housing stock.

However, Mr Brown also revealed that the government was aiming to make all new homes in the UK carbon neutral within the next decade, which could lead to a major change in building practices in Britain.

Meanwhile, homeowners installing micro-generation facilities will not be subject to income tax on surplus electricity sold back onto the national grid.

Good news for Log homes which by nature of their build are allready eco friendly anyway