Clock’s ticking – as from this morning, Friday, 10 September, homebuyers will have just 21 days to complete the transaction on the place they want to buy and save themselves thousands of pounds in property tax.

The race to move house in the English shires will certainly put pressure on property lawyers and conveyancers.

From Friday October 1, the present stamp duty holiday will finally be phased out and revert to pre-pandemic rates.

Stamp Duty on property sales is organised like income tax.

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The amount of the levy tots up as it moves through a series of price bands.

Last July, to reduce the cost of moving and boost the house market, the government raised the starting figure of the tax paid by buyers from £125,001 to £250,001.

As from the beginning of next month it will be back to the old days with purchasers clobbered by the sales tax as soon as the price of their future home exceeds the original pre-Covid tax free ceiling of £125,001.

So hats off to 34-year-old Emma Lee and her fiancé Rob for getting their skates on six months ago.

By fast forwarding their plan to move upmarket this year, the parents of two-year-old twins have saved themselves thousands of pounds in stamp duty.

Emma explains: “We were after a four-bedroom detached house but wound up buying a three bed semi in Chalfont St Giles.

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“We sold our previous three bedroom cottage in Chalfont St Peter in March. Since then we have been renting in Gerrards Cross until the larger three bedroom semi we’ve bought in Chalfont St Giles has been renovated.

“The house is so full of character and has really beautiful views but it needs to be stripped back to the bare bones. I’m documenting the project on Instagram.

“It was originally out of our price bracket but as luck would have it the price was dropped and we completed in March saving £15,000 in stamp duty. It was a great game changer for us, a massive help.”

*Average price of a house in the UK is now a record high of £262,954, up 7.1 per cent on a year ago, according to this week's report from the Halifax.