'What is a first time buyer? Stamp duty reduction...' blog discussion

ant_wood

we signed on the 23rd we are 24 years old first time buyers and both self employed and struggling, tue do the credit crunch. we had to pay £1400, hmrc said it is not refundable as it is not retrospective, one whole year holiday, followed by three months reinstatement then a 2 year holiday i feel this is penalising the very people than need the help! and ajoke to boot, we need to get anyone who completed between 31st december and 25 march their money back!!!

amocat

ant_wood wrote: »

we signed on the 23rd we are 24 years old first time buyers and both self employed and struggling, tue do the credit crunch. we had to pay £1400, hmrc said it is not refundable as it is not retrospective, one whole year holiday, followed by three months reinstatement then a 2 year holiday i feel this is penalising the very people than need the help! and ajoke to boot, we need to get anyone who completed between 31st december and 25 march their money back!!!

My husband and I completed on the 25th of January 2010, and had to pay the stamp duty tax, as the Goverment were clear that the stamp duty" holiday" ended. Three months down the line, the Goverment decide to offer another 2 years SD holiday. We were first time buyers, and contributed to the Uk's economy by buying a house. What did we get in return? A 1% tax. So, if the Government doesn't repay the stamp duty paid by FTB for houses under £175000, between 1/01/10 - 25/03/10, it contradicts their equal opportunities policy I think, as all FTB should have fair chances when buying a house. Would Martin Lewis be interested in putting a case forward for all the FTB that bought in Jan-March 2010 to get their SD money back??

MSE_Martin

amocat wrote: »

My husband and I completed on the 25th of January 2010, and had to pay the stamp duty tax, as the Goverment were clear that the stamp duty" holiday" ended. Three months down the line, the Goverment decide to offer another 2 years SD holiday. We were first time buyers, and contributed to the Uk's economy by buying a house. What did we get in return? A 1% tax. So, if the Government doesn't repay the stamp duty paid by FTB for houses under £175000, between 1/01/10 - 25/03/10, it contradicts their equal opportunities policy I think, as all FTB should have fair chances when buying a house. Would Martin Lewis be interested in putting a case forward for all the FTB that bought in Jan-March 2010 to get their SD money back??

I'm afraid there are no 'rights' when it comes to taxation - its not a consumer contract its law of the land.

This is a purely political decision - i try and stay out of those partisan political issues it isn't appropriate (and im not necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with your point here) ultimately they are ultimately elected and I am not.

John_Pierpoint

What if a first time buyer is buying with 10 people who’ve previously bought? This extreme example makes it interesting, would they all get the tax relief, would it be linked to just one person?

Am I right in thinking that only 4 or fewer people can legally own land?
More than that tehy have to create a trust and nominate 4 or fewer to own the land as their trustees - that is how the UK avoids the French problem of 15 members of the family arguing over the repairs to the farm house , while the roof falls in.
pwn iple u

mustrum_ridcully

Read the government PDF and from the wording it sounds like someone who inherited a house together with their other siblings and then sold it on wouldn't be classed as a first time buyer? Depends on what they mean by 'aquired' and 'major' I guess...

starxtrouble

I too am annoyed about this exemption. I read somewhere that the Chancellor thinks that this will help 9 in 10 first time buyers. I really cant see the figure being that high.

My partner and I are currently purchasing our first house. However as I am self employed for just over a year and have a lot of uni debt the banks wont touch me. So my partners parents are very genrously helping us by coming in on the purchase with us, putting some of their savings down as a deposit and because they want to technically own part of the property to safeguard their money, my partner is not eligble.

There are so many ppl these days who are having to get help from parents, friends etc just to get on the property ladder and the Gov make out like they are helpnig them, but I dont think this quite reflects the reality of most ppls situations.

John_Pierpoint

Perhaps you two could buy it and the parents could put an option on it for a pound that gives them the right to buy it off you for xxx,xxx.00 GBP where that price is the market price less the bit you (the couple) are financing?
Alternatively they could have a second mortgage on the property?
Or perhaps just a legal charge?

I suppose it all comes down to trust in the final analysis.

starxtrouble

We looked into this type of thing when we were working out what we could afford. Unfortunately our mortgage lender wont allow my partners parents to have a 2nd charge on the property. Its mostly too late to change it now anyway as the solicitors are looking at exchanging contracts in couple of weeks. Just annoying :S

alsy01

In Australia where there has been a first home buyer grant the main result is that it has pushed up house prices by the amount of the grant.

I can see the same thing happening in the UK as a result of the stamp duty changes.

hockeyguy

Hi everyone, we were first time buyers and supposed to complete in December. Long story short it didn't happen and we got stung with the Stamp Duty. I know that this is the case for quite a few people, is there anyone who is trying to claim this back? Are there any possible legal routes that we'd be able to follow?