Stamp Duty Avoidance

dudes_2

Is it illegal for you to offer to pay for the house (£175k), and because you want a quick sale, their estate agent fees and solicitors fees (£5k)?

Davesnave

If all else fails.....gazunder them.

Richard_Webster

Also remember the loan to value ratio of any mortgage is calculated on the £175K.

confused31_2

just tell them, you will pay 5000 pound direct to them through the bank, ive transefered 1000's pounds between people direct through the bank without any soclicitor.

terryw

confused31 wrote: »

just tell them, you will pay 5000 pound direct to them through the bank, ive transefered 1000's pounds between people direct through the bank without any soclicitor.

The problem here is that this is definitely a provable attempt to defraud the tax. The penalties are not worth the risk.

terryw

Matty0682

schoey123 wrote: »

Hi All,

We put in an offer of 175k on a house the vendors want to sell for 180k.

They rejected 175k saying the will not go below 180k. Having considered this we are now happy to go to 180k as we love the house.

However I would like to avoid paying Stamp duty by completing on 175k and coming to some agreement on the remaining 5k.

Can anyone provide any advice on how I can legally get round this ?

If you are prepared to pay £180k, I would only do so if the seller agrees to pay the stamp duty.

So the seller would get £180k - £1.8k = £178.2k. Therefore both parties are better off

pawpurrs

Davesnave wrote: »

If all else fails.....gazunder them.

Thats rarther out of character :eek:

Davesnave

pawpurrs wrote: »

Thats rarther out of character :eek:

Not really. [strike]The sellers aren't 'selling to buy' and [/strike]the offer is around 9-10% under, which isn't out of the way, as you and I know, so in this instance it might actually be doing the sellers a favour. i.e. saving them from themselves! [strike]Probate sales are notorious, and OP is lucky s/he's only dealing with two people, not a committee[/strike].

I always try to see things from both sides. Here, I admit, I don't know the full circumstances. ie whether the £180k represents a reduction which is 'final.' OP has not told us there's a previous history of reduction, so I'm assuming not.

I still think the best solution is Doozergirl's, but as a last resort, and if the OP is struggling, I don't see the amount of 'pain' which would be inflicted as excessive. Unlike others, I'm not suggesting something illegal either!:A

ETA: I have just realised that I've muddled this house up with another one on the 'To those selling....' thread! They are similar, but this one isn't a probate sale. I still think the OP is sensible to be avoiding Stamp Duty and that the vendors are so close to the threshold this will happen again and again.

mel19632

you can offer to pay their estate agency fees - on a 175k sale including VAT this will be £2,000-£3,000 depending on the fee they are being charged. hopefully this should be enough, if you are on good terms with the vendor/agent you can always have 'a gentlemans agreement' for the additional cash.