Today’s moan is all about rip off stamp duty.

Get real, this ain’t a duty, it’s a tax (and an unfair one at that). So call it that and be honest, at least we’ll all know where we stand.

Unless you’ve just arrived from Planet Dot, you’ll know that the price of an average UK house has grown substantially in recent years, pushing many more of us into the £250K+ buying bracket. Let’s face it, £250K doesn’t get a whole lot these days, but jump up to £275K-£300K and you’ll get yourself an extra bedroom or a better postcode, or maybe both (if you’re lucky).

Let’s face it, if you’re stretching to £275K or even £300K, then you’re far from rich - although the British Government has you labelled as a cigar chomping capitalist, surrounded by mounting piles of cash; a modern day Cyril Sneer if you fancy. It’s 1% stamp tax for house purchases between £120K – £250K and 3% for purchases between £250K and £500K. How sickening that if you buy at £250K you pay £2,500, but have to stump up £8,250 at £275K.

The knock on effect is that it’s not just us buyers whom they have by the balls, it’s the sellers too. Price your house at £250K-£275K and you’ll rarely find a buyer who doesn’t expect you to either drop to the 1% threshold or contribute in part or in full to the 3% stamp tax bill - and you can understand why.

Get rid of this out of date dinosaur of a tax and replace it with something that fairly reflects our real ‘duties’ as homeowners.