Help!!! 3% Stamp duty causing stress! Advice please!

sideysid

Hi Guys,

After going on offer in January and buying a house at £250k which was on the market at £265k, after six months of the seller umming and arring about his house price, our buyer had enough and pulled out.
The house was next put back on and sold again for over the threshold in a day!

We were extremely gutted. We picked ourselves back up and dusted off, and have since got another buyer for a slightly higher price than originally.

We then have found another 3 bed house at £265k in the area, that ticked all of our boxes (more so than the first even) and we have fallen in love with it.

We offered £250k again, only to hear that was far to low and the lowest they would even consider is £258k.

With the Chattels loophole out of reach to £8k the only option is to cough up the 3% stamp duty. My girlfriend has the said to the estate agent that our maximum we could scrape to would be £256k.

An arguement insued, as I felt if £254k was offered it could maybe still be considered in the chattels as they have got a lot of nice stuff. Now £7.5k stamp duty looms, that would seriously bust our balls, and me and the girlfriend are falling out about it.

Is there anyway that we could divvy up 6K in paid EA fees, Chattels, dogs cats etc. My girlfriend iss very straight laced and wants to do everything straight down the line (which is fair enough).

Its absolutley criminal that we get taxed on the same money again and again for living, dying and everything in between. I feel its daylight robbery by the goverment that 1k could potentionally mean about 10k more in charges.

Advise anyone, apart from walk away? Our hearts can't go through losing another house!

lilyann1

This stamp duty is killing us too,as no one wanted to pay us more than £250k for our house and then we found someone who did pay the asking price of £270k.
We are buying a property, which mean we have to pay over £12k in duty!!!!!
Sodding government ,it breaks my heart to throw this money away.
If you really want this house then you have to go for it.We were advised by our agent that we could do a deal on fixtures and fittings up to about £5k,so just ask their advise and see what you can come up with.Perhaps offer £250k and then ask for £5k on fittings????
Don't know what else to say, it all depends on how much you want this house.

Jorgan_2

Speak to your solicitor rather than the estate agent, they will be better versed in what you are able to do.

meanmachine_2

WHy is your estate agent advising you on "how much you can borrow"?

Big mistake.

Never tell the estate agent your financial situation. Anyway, they're not *your* agent, they're working for the vendor.

All of this is called fiscal drag, and it's why the govt loves high house prices.

sideysid

Jorgan wrote:

Speak to your solicitor rather than the estate agent, they will be better versed in what you are able to do.

When consulting the solicitor about f&f charges, she said we could do it, but she would be no part of it. It would be up to us to arrange it ourselves.

xela_17

I don't get these people who put their houses on at £260/265. Don't they realise that their offers will be below £250? Not really sure what to advise you OP. If the vendors say they'll take 258 and you offer 250 + 5 for f+f, maybe you can then stress your good position, already being under offer and any other good points you can think of!

sideysid

Does anyone know the exact process of 5k through chattels?
I've read that fixtures and fitting are now considered as 'part of the house' and are therefore taxable. But chattels are moveable so can be paid for.

The thing Im worried about is the goverment are like a fly around poop, when houses are at the 250k mark. So would I need a genuine 2nd hand valuation for everything I choose to buy off them in chattels to make up 5k? How do I get these valuations? How realistic is 5k through this?

Do you need to prove it with reciepts etc? I know that a self assessment form will have to be completed, and Im going to need to keep it watertight, so I'll be glad of all the info possible...

Cheers so far guys

jonnydoe

Yes , I would be very interested if there are any tips to get around the 3% stamp duty also.. Would like to buy a house for about £260k-£270k.. Anyone managed to get advice from a solicitor yet?

Also could someone explain the chattels loophole?

Thanks

JD

lynzpower

As I understand it from what Ive read here

Basically, the government will be sniffing around pretty much all transactions near this figure. If you offer 5k for the chattels, it has to be 5ks worth, not an old fridge and a few knackered lightfittings.

Have a good look around this question has been asked quite a few times over the last few weeks

sportbeth

We had this same problem to. Wanted the vedndor to help us out and they want to sell. So we've offered £4k over the asking price (of 299,000) They are paying the stamp duty so effectively they get 295000 for their 299 asking price, and the stamp duty comes out at the end of it via the mortgage company and solicitors.

Worth looking into. It was the only way we could do it as we're effectively first time buyers

Jorgan_2

sideysid wrote:

When consulting the solicitor about f&f charges, she said we could do it, but she would be no part of it. It would be up to us to arrange it ourselves.

Sounds like they don't want to be 'implicated' in this. The problem with valuing chattels is that the value one person puts on an item is different to the value somebody else could put on it.

Lets say it costs 3k to carpet a property, after 2 years what are the carpets worth? To someone moving into a property that intends to keep them for 6 months, until they sort themselves out, the carpets have a value. On the open market, they have very little value.

OP, have you approached the relevant bodies if there are any guidelines laid down for valuing such items?