Lobby your MP over stamp duty holiday extension, agents told

Propertymark - still reeling over two senior resignations in less than a week - says its lobbying sessions with politicians are influencing policy.

It now wants to build on that by encouraging individual agents to write to their MPs seeking an extension to the stamp duty holiday, still scheduled to end on March 31.

Propertymark’s chief policy advisor Mark Hayward, the surviving senior staff figure in the organisation, says he is holding lobbying sessions online several times a year with Westminster, Holyrood, Cardiff and Northern Ireland administrations and politicians of all parties in a bid to put forward the organisation’s policies.

In a video he has made, Hayward says it is clear that one of the big factors influencing politicians’ interest at any one time is the postbag they receive from constituents. Of late, the property issue of greatest interest has been the stamp duty holiday.

The organisation says, in a message to member agents: “Propertymark continues to outline our concerns to the UK Government on the dangers of ending Stamp Duty relief on 31 March 2021. We recently sent a briefing to members ahead of the debate on the issue, triggered by an e-petition.

“Support our call for an extension to the Stamp Duty Holiday and help us put further pressure on policymakers. Writing to your local representative is an effective way for making your views known.”

Tips put forward by Propertymark include writing a concise email to local MPs rather than housing ministers, to make the correspondence as locally-specific and personal as possible to stop it being dismissed as a ‘copy and paste’ letter, to ask for a response, and to use statistics to bolster the case.

It also suggests emails are constructed using the EPIC format - that is E to Engage your MP with a statement or fact; P to state the Problem; I to Inform the MP of the solution you suggest (for example, extend the stamp duty holiday for existing buyers); and finally C to Call for action - explicitly saying what you want the MP to do, such as vote for an extension or contact the Chancellor on your behalf.

Here is the Hayward video explaining the Propertymark lobbying process.