Property price at stamp duty threshold

tcall · 1 June 2005 at 9:32PM

The property I am hoping to buy is around £125k and the agent is asking the interested parties for final offers on the property.
As this is the stamp duty threshold, are there any ways to basically pay a slightly higher amount, but avoid stamp duty?

garysletters · 1 June 2005 at 11:55PM

in a nutshell...no
people used to offer lower and pay extra for fixtures and fittings, but with new rules and working practices brought in to stop this, you would be hard pressed to find a solicitor who would allow this to happen.
also, if you offer lower and promise to pay extra outside the transaction, someone else is bound to offer just above the SD threshold, just to try to get the property, so you would probably lose out again.

donsaini · 2 June 2005 at 10:28AM

i doubt this house will sell for more than £119500. people can still offer for fixtures&fittings. i think £119k plus £2k for f&f, very reasonable.

or get the vendor to pay the stamp duty, EA will discuss this with vendor, as more lokely to get asking price, ie £5k more at a cost of £1.2k to them. plus extra interest from all parties

tcall · 2 June 2005 at 11:19AM

Tbh I doubt very much that this is going to go for less than the asking price. It has only been on the market for a week and is about the cheapest property in the area. Static homes around here sell for over 100k

katyjarvis40 · 2 June 2005 at 11:27AM

Have you checked to see if the property is stamp duty exempt up to £150,000 a lot of areas are exempt now up to that amount:

You can check following this link:
http://www.easyconvey.com/stampduty/default.asp

The house we are buying for £149,995 is in Staffordshire is exempt.

tcall · 2 June 2005 at 11:31AM

No, it's not exempt

The property around here is being whipped up by investors. It's not as if its a deprived area or anything.

garysletters · 2 June 2005 at 12:02PM

donsaini wrote:

i doubt this house will sell for more than £119500. people can still offer for fixtures&fittings. i think £119k plus £2k for f&f, very reasonable.

Sorry, I think I was misleading there, people can still pay for F+F's, but not as a way of avoiding paying Stamp Duty. No solicitor would allow it.

1% of £125K is £1,250. What do you think the property is worth to you? How much would you pay?
I dont think asking the vendor to pay your stamp duty is a good idea because all the other buyers offers would then increase by probably 5 or 6 thousand.

Offer what you feel it is worth, and add the Stamp Duty as an extra expense. It will still cost less in the long run than having to up your bid by £5K because everyone else has done.

zag2me · 2 June 2005 at 5:50PM

Offer £120,000k and explain the the EA what position you are in to buy i.e. if you are a first time buyer with finance in place make it known to the seller.