John Shallcross

John is an experienced real estate lawyer with a background in agricultural and landed estate property work. He has developed a specialisation as an adviser on the stamp duty land tax implications of property transactions and now spends most of his time in this area.

Main areas of practice

His focus is now on SDLT (Stamp Duty Land Tax) -particularly the 3% surcharge for additional residential properties and SDLT on leases and development transactions.

He is a regular commentator in the media and contributor to the Zoopla web page on the 3% surcharge here, which explains the outline of the surcharge and has links to other resources such as the legislation and HMRC guidance.  John answers questions posted on the forum there and the linked Zoopla pages for:

• the exception from the surcharge for the replacement of an only or main residence
• the granny flat rules (properties with a subsidiary dwelling)
• a commentary on further guidance produced by HMRC
• the deadline of 26 November 2018 when some transitional provisions ended and three-year rules came into play

John also produces a number of SDLT guides online, as well as stamp duty case notes, intended as short pieces on quirky SDLT issues which arise from day to day.  These might be of interest to a variety of people, but are mainly aimed at other property lawyers.  An increasing part of John’s practice is acting on a consultancy basis to support conveyancers who advise on SDLT, but sometimes need specialist input.

Clients

John’s clients are mainly those needing SDLT advice, including home buyers and those dealing with complex property transactions.

Expertise

• Stamp Duty Land Tax Advice
• Agriculture and Rural Business
• Residential Property

Career

John qualified in 1991 and joined the firm in 2002, having been a partner at Hewitsons. He is a property lawyer with over 25 years of experience in a wide variety of property-related issues.

Starting from 2008 he developed an expertise in Stamp Duty Land Tax, quickly becoming the primary advisor on SDLT at Blake Morgan LLP. He got to grips with the higher rates of SDLT for additional properties (the 3% surcharge) from its announcement on 25 November 2015, responding to the official consultation and analysing the legislation which came into effect for transactions starting 1 April 2016. He was involved in the consultation process for amending the HMRC guidance; the much improved amended version was published on 29 November 2016.

John is frequently instructed by both private individuals and by other law firms to provide advice on the 3% SDLT surcharge, which includes frequently writing reports on the implications of SDLT on transactions. He often provides training to other lawyers on the 3% SDLT surcharge and spoke in July 2017, 2018 and 2019 at the PCP Stamp Duty Land Tax conference chaired by Patrick Cannon on the 3% SDLT surcharge.