Stamp Duty - FTB just over the threshold...

bobbadog

Hiya

My partner and I have found a flat we love, we put an offer in at £175,000 but had it rejected, so we've finally agreed on £179,950 and we've completed our mortgage offer. Just waiting to talk to solicitors.

Now, we will owe Stamp Duty at 1%, a total of £1795. BUT the flat is being sold to us with ALL the white goods, oven, blinds and radiator covers. I'm wondering if , as the flat is probably worth less than £179,950, whether we can pay less stamp duty to make up for the difference with the value of the items being less? We couldn't add the stamp duty to our mortgage, as we are borrowing at the top of our threshold - and it will eat up all our leftover money.

Apologies for asking, we're waiting to be given the actual name of our solicitor (going through the mortgage company) and I was just wondering.

Many thanks...

mbga9pgf

Tell the sellers you will pay the EA fees and conveyancing for them. That, combined with white goods towards fixtures should put you under the limit.

Oh, and dont tell the taxman.

bobbadog

Thank you for your reply - lady we're buying from IS an estate agent though, so not sure if we can offer to pay her the fees...

debtfreein4years

what about paying for the white goods seperatly and seeing if that makes a difference? i wouldnt expect the price to come down much unless they are top of the range appliences.

LadyIndecisive

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/sdltmanual/sdltm04010.htm

This link is useful

bobbadog

Thank you very much for that link and advice thus far - anything reduced is a big bonus for us.

My last question - do I discuss this first with my solicitor (when I speak to them) or to the estate agent (whom the lady selling the house actually works for?) Thanks

Premier_2

Unless you can convince the seller the white goods & blinds are worth almost £5k (which I doubt, you can probably buy them new for less) then it's not worth worrying about.

You realise, if you do get the price down below £175k, this is the value that will be used for the mortgage LTV, so you'll need to find the extra £5k yourself.

You really should have done this negotiation as part of the offer. It's never good to go back and start re-negotiating. However, if that's what you want to do, you need to do this with the EA; your solicitor will only want to know what you are buying and at what agreed price.

bobbadog

Thanks PRemier. The vendor wouldn't go any lower than £179,950, so albeit I think we're stuck paying it - we were happy to get the flat for that price anyway.
Many thanks

mbga9pgf

Pay the conveyancing fees and get them to write off the rest as fixtures and fittings

ginvzt

Well, if you say you will pay separately for carpets (are there fitted carpets?), white goods, curtains, etc, you might make up to £5k, no? Is there a fire in the house? Can you put that one in the list as well? If you can find extra 3.3K (not full £5k, as you already should have money for stamp duty), it is worth trying to talk with the vendor.

LadyIndecisive

Premier wrote: »

Unless you can convince the seller the white goods & blinds are worth almost £5k (which I doubt, you can probably buy them new for less) then it's not worth worrying about.

It is HMRC that the buyer needs to convince.