The Scottish Property Federation has welcomed new revenue raising powers for the Scottish Parliament contained in the Scotland Bill, which received its First Reading in the House of Commons Tuesday.

Described by the UK government as “the biggest transfer of fiscal power to Scotland since the creation of the United Kingdom”, the bill will hand control of some taxes and powers from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament. Included within this will be the ability to control Stamp Duty Land Tax, worth some £250million a year.

The SPF argued that a reform of SDLT could spark millions of pounds of investment in the Scottish economy by encouraging institutions such as pension funds to invest in the private rented sector.


Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “This Bill offers Holyrood the opportunity to simplify and improve the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) code in ways that industry has been asking for, north and south of the border, for years. At a general level, we would encourage it to look at simplifying the rules for property investment partnerships and at abolishing the distortive “slab system” that can triple the amount of duty payable if the price goes up by £1.

“The Scottish Government should also use its new powers to disaggregate stamp duty on bulk purchases of residential property, which is a significant barrier to large scale commercial investment in the private rented sector.”

Malcolm Naish, chairman of the Scottish Property Federation, commented: “Control of stamp duty must be used wisely and with a view to simplifying and improving the current tax system which has become excessively complicated for commercial transactions and with some serious distortions.

“Above all the Scottish government must be guided by the need to ensure Scotland is viewed as an attractive place to invest, and SDLT facilitates rather than impedes economic activity.”

(GK)