The Scottish Government has proposed reforming the stamp duty system, to introduce taxes more closely related to a property's value, as of 2015.

Consultation on the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax was opened by Finance Secretary John Swinney yesterday in Holyrood, and welcomed by landowners and estate agents.

Stamp duty control was transferred from Westminster in the Scotland Bill.

The Scottish Property Federation, which represents property-owners, said the reform would end a "distortive slab approach".

David Melhuish of the body said yesterday’s announcement was a "promising start".

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He said: "Much detail remains to be identified including the rates and treatment of commercial leases, but in our view the consultation documents sets the right direction for engagement with the property industry on how to replace SDLT in Scotland. In our discussions with officials we have emphasised that from a commercial perspective it will be important to ensure that investors and developers are reassured that a competitive, simpler and fairer tax is under consideration. Equally we are pleased to see the continuance of hard fought concessions from SDLT such as the disaggregation of residential portfolios so individual homes are charged at the correct rate in order to support larger scale investment in the private rented residential sector."

David Mackie of the National Association of Estate Agents said: "We applaud the Scottish government for recognising the important role that housing provides in the wider economy and call on Westminster to follow suit."

(NE)