News update: Budget November 2025

Budget November 2025

Summary

The budget has finally been announced (albeit leaked a little early). We welcomed some positive news that despite many rumours that there would be a stamp duty reform that spooked the market, especially those offering homes over £500,000. This is not reality, and the budget did not introduce any changes to the current residential SDLT rates. The rates remain as there were from 1^st April 2025. There will however be a high-value council tax surcharge for homes worth more than £2,000,000 from 2028.

Residential Property Tax (SDLT):

Price of Property                                                                         Stamp Duty Rate ( from 1^st April 2025)

• First-Time Buyers: First-time buyers are exempt from SDLT on the first £300,000 of a property purchase, provided the total cost is no more than £500,000.
• Second Homes: An additional 5% surcharge on top of the standard rates applies for those purchasing an additional residential property.
• High-Value Council Tax Surcharge: A new annual surcharge on properties in England worth more than £2 million will be introduced, collected alongside Council Tax from April 2028.

Renters Rights Bill

The renters rights bill received the Royal Assent on the 27^th of October 2025 and briefly mentioned in the budget. Further information about the renters rights bill can be found via the below link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act#overview-of-act-measures

Key Dates for landlords so far: (Further dates still to be confirmed)

• 27^th December 2025 – The first implementation wave takes effect, with new rules on tenancy agreements starting to be confirmed and prepared.
• 30^th April 2026 – This is the final day a landlord can serve a section 21 notice.
• 1^st May 2026 – The main reforms come into force, including the abolition of section 21 evictions and the creation of a new assured periodic tenancy system.
• 31^st May 2026 – All landlords must send out communications and guidance to their existing tenants about changes by this date.

Budget at a glance

• Cap limiting households on Universal Credit for a third or subsequent child scrapped.
• Personal NI and income tax thresholds to remain for three extra years beyond 2028. This will mean that more people will be put into higher tax bands over time.
• Amount under-65’s can put into cash ISA’s capped at £12,000 per year, with the rest of the £20,000 annual allowance reserved for investments.
• Basic and higher income tax on property, savings and dividend income to increase by 2% in April 2027.
• Property in England worth more than £2,000,000 to face a council tax surcharge of between £2,500 – £7,500 from April 2028.
• Legal minimum wage for over 21’s to rise to 4.1% in April, from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour.
• Wage for 18 – 20-year-olds to go up 8.5%, from £10.00 to £10.85 per hour.
• Basic and new state pension payments to go up by 4.8% from April, which is more than the current rate of inflation.
• Salary sacrifice to avoid paying NI on pension contributions capped at £2000 per year from 2029.
• Temporary 5p cut in fuel duty on petrol and diesel extended again, to September 2026 before it rises again over six-month period.
• Introduction of a mileage-based tax for EV and plug-in hybrid vehicles from 2028.
• Tax Exemption for small packages from overseas retailers’ worth under £135 scrapped from 2029 following the complaints that it hinders UK businesses.
• The cost of prescriptions in England has been frozen at £9.90 for another year. Remaining free in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It is predicted by the OBR that the UK economy will grow by 1.5% this year, upgraded from 1% forecast previously mentioned back in March. Inflation is predicted to average 3.5% this year, 2.5% next year and then 2% in 2027 which was the governments target.

Our final thoughts…

Overall, we believe that now the budget has been announced, home movers can now move forward with their plans and we welcome the opportunity to support you with your next move. Should you be thinking of moving you can arrange a market appraisal with us by visiting https://www.mannsandmanns.co.uk/face-to-face-valuation/ or call us now on 02380 404055.

To view the homes we currently have available, you can browse online by visiting https://www.mannsandmanns.co.uk/search-results/

Manns and Manns

Disclaimer: Although we have taken care to provide information as accurately as we can, please note that we are not responsible for any mistakes or omissions. We advise that readers should make their own enquiries and check the facts provided within our news update with the relevant professionals.