Stamp Duty Threshold Increased to £125,000

Tassotti

The solicitor is supposed to be working for you!!!!

TELL her this is what you found out..If she doesn't know, sack her!!!!

I have used sooooo many solicitors but only found one dood one..If you find that one stick with them

Tass

MORPH3US

Have just had a reply from the solicitors stating that our solicitor has been told by the partners of the firm that they "should have no involvment with fixtures and fittings whatsoever unless stamp duty is paid on them" because "they are a grey area" and thet if the IR saw reviewed the file, saw the original offer for £126k and then saw the actual purchase price of £125k + £1k for F+F, that they "could go to prison for fraud"!

I'm quite shocked by that! Don't know what to do next! She said that if I wanted to take it further that I could speak to a senior partner but if thats what she's been told then I doubt they will change their mind.

M

donna

Yey, i've just saved £1240.00

bylromarha

mentat wrote:

Well, I was hoping to sell for £128k, that's just not going to happen now, so the way I see it is I've lost £2k. Not alot to some, but possibly the difference between being able to buy somewhere else or not. And it's in a very good location, so it definetly would have sold for it. My neighbour sold hers for that last year. :sad:

So, I'll just have to bite the bullet and see what I get or hope I get a buyer who doesn't watch tv, read the paper, listen to the radio or talk to anyone. :eek:

We've just accepted an offer on our house...marketed at £129,995, offer accepted at 127,500.

people will buy just above the stamp duty threshold if it's the property they want....an extra £1300 isn't going to make much difference to a buyer if they want it.

xela_17

MORPH3US wrote:

Have just had a reply from the solicitors stating that our solicitor has been told by the partners of the firm that they "should have no involvment with fixtures and fittings whatsoever unless stamp duty is paid on them" because "they are a grey area" and thet if the IR saw reviewed the file, saw the original offer for £126k and then saw the actual purchase price of £125k + £1k for F+F, that they "could go to prison for fraud"!

I'm quite shocked by that! Don't know what to do next! She said that if I wanted to take it further that I could speak to a senior partner but if thats what she's been told then I doubt they will change their mind.

M

It seems like you've got a firm of solicitors that are rigid about sticking to the letter of the law. However, I think you have a good case for arguing the "chattels" differentiation. Just because Joe Public calls things like white goods etc "fixtures and fittings", it doesn't mean they are (in fact they are quite definitely not and ARE quite definitely chattels). I would really push this one as obviously others' solicitors know the differentiation and have no problem in eg 125 for house and 1k for chattels. Sorry if waffling but seems unfair that you have to pay more when others don't.

zag2me

bylromarha wrote:

We've just accepted an offer on our house...marketed at £129,995, offer accepted at 127,500.

people will buy just above the stamp duty threshold if it's the property they want....an extra £1300 isn't going to make much difference to a buyer if they want it.

I beg to differ, I think if I was a buyer and it was only 2000 difference, I would offer 125,000 and nothing more if the contracts hadnt been exchanged. 1300 quid is alot of money.

Jay1b

But Zag it depends on the house.

The house i'm looking at buying is £125500, all the other houses in the road (in lesser condition) have been selling for £130K, its just this family are in a hurry and therefore wanted a ftb. Now they've agreed to do it £125000 + £500, but i would of still brought it if they hadnt. Hey i was prepared to buy it before, why should that change? What else would i do? Buy a house worth £5K less to save £2K?

Obviously if your buying a house that isnt cheap, then it makes a difference.

bylromarha

zag2me wrote:

I beg to differ, I think if I was a buyer and it was only 2000 difference, I would offer 125,000 and nothing more if the contracts hadnt been exchanged. 1300 quid is alot of money.

Glad it's not you buying my house then as we would never have accepted your offer!

Our buyers know they're getting a bargain (next door- identical to ours sold 6 months ago at £134k, other houses on the estate without the ensuite selling for £128k). We got a FTB by having the lower cost...we get to move quickly (with baby on the way v. important to us)...and they get a 3 bed house + ensuite for £127500 + 1275 to GB.

towseriv

Well our sellers dropped the price of thier house two weeks before from 125000 to 119950 to be below stamp duty. Then we offered (after a few increments) 113k and got it the day that GB said he was raising the level. Worked out good for us since otherwise they would not of dropped and we would never of been able to make an offer that looked sensible. So for once (and I am sure it will be the only time) thanks GB