Stamp Duty Calculator and Q&A discussion

Tori0152

Hi, wondering if anyone can offer guidance to my scenario:
I own an apartment which I always bought with the intention of keeping as a rental, since moved out of this and I am now a landlord. Due to complete on a house purchase as my main residence with my partner next week, I always thought I would have to pay 2nd home stamp duty but a recent article on The Times suggests not:
Another option could be to buy your second home first. According to the wording of the rules set out by the Treasury, if you can prove that the second property you buy is a main residence, and not an additional one. 
I've sent this and queried twice with my solicitors and they believe I must pay the 3% surcharge fee. Does anyone have any advice on this?
TIA

AnotherJoe

howy686 said:

Yes - we would be selling our main residence & purchasing another one....but we also own another house which was inherited and have rented to tenants since 2019. So we wandered if this would 'hike-up' the rate of stamp duty we would pay on the purchase of our new main residence.

you probably know this by now but no it wouldnt

SDLT_Geek

Tori0152 said:

Hi, wondering if anyone can offer guidance to my scenario:
I own an apartment which I always bought with the intention of keeping as a rental, since moved out of this and I am now a landlord. Due to complete on a house purchase as my main residence with my partner next week, I always thought I would have to pay 2nd home stamp duty but a recent article on The Times suggests not:
Another option could be to buy your second home first. According to the wording of the rules set out by the Treasury, if you can prove that the second property you buy is a main residence, and not an additional one. 
I've sent this and queried twice with my solicitors and they believe I must pay the 3% surcharge fee. Does anyone have any advice on this?
TIA

The Sunday Times article is based on a scenario where someone sells their home and at that point owns nothing else at all.  They then buy a property not intending to live in it as their only or main residence.  That escapes the 3% surcharge as it is the only property owned at that point (one has to watch out for spouses etc).  If a new home is bought afterwards, but within three years of selling / moving out of the original home, then that purchase could also escape the 3% surcharge. That is because all of the conditions for the "replacement exception" are likely met.  You will find the five conditions set out in SDLTM09800.

meister112

Hi all,
I wonder if someone can clarify if I'll have to pay the extra 3% stamp duty...

In September 2013 I bought my first home (property A). Then in April 2015 I moved in with my girlfriend who owned her own house (property .
I switched property A to a buy to let mortgage and started renting it, and started contributing to the payment of the mortgage of property B.
In March 2021, my girlfriend and I sold property B and are now renting as an interim as we search for a house to buy together. When we do find somewhere to buy (property C) will we have to pay the extra 3% stamp duty?

Help with this matter would be gratefully received.

meister112

And for some reason in my last post "B" was replaced with ! 

grumiofoundation

meister112 said:

Hi all,
I wonder if someone can clarify if I'll have to pay the extra 3% stamp duty...

In September 2013 I bought my first home (property A). Then in April 2015 I moved in with my girlfriend who owned her own house (property .
I switched property A to a buy to let mortgage and started renting it, and started contributing to the payment of the mortgage of property B.
In March 2021, my girlfriend and I sold property B and are now renting as an interim as we search for a house to buy together. When we do find somewhere to buy (property C) will we have to pay the extra 3% stamp duty?

Help with this matter would be gratefully received.

I am sure SDLT_Geek will be able to give the definitive answer but I would suspect it will depend on if you can 'show' property B has been your main residence*. You say you contributed to the mortgage - how was this done? were you added to the mortgage/deeds?

If property B was your main residence* then you would be replacing a previous main residence (if you buy within 3 years of March 2021) and then would not need to pay the +3%. 

*for clarification replacing main residence means you had to own the previous residence (in this case property B ), not just live there. 

meister112 said:

And for some reason in my last post "B" was replaced with ! 

I have help with this! Its when you post a capital B next to a bracket - need to leave a space B )

SDLT_Geek

@grumiofoundation is right in saying that you only escape the 3% surcharge if you owned a share in Property B.  Contributing to the outgoings while you lived there is not enough in itself.

What was said during the conveyancing process of the sale of Property B about its ownership could be relevant.

lmad19

Hi, I currently own my house but would like to sell and then buy a property with my partner, he is a first time buyer. 

How will the stamp duty work, will he benefit at all from not paying it as a first time buyer or does he lose that benefit because I’m not a FTB? Does it work on a percentage?

SDLT_Geek

lmad19 said:

Hi, I currently own my house but would like to sell and then buy a property with my partner, he is a first time buyer. 

How will the stamp duty work, will he benefit at all from not paying it as a first time buyer or does he lose that benefit because I’m not a FTB? Does it work on a percentage?

Unless all buyers count as first time buyers, FTB relief is not available for the purchase at all.

Raving_Mad

Any advice welcome on my situation.
 In 2006 I sold my main residence in England and did not buy another house as I moved into someone else's house. Prior to 2006 I had bought a small place in France which I had intended to renovate, which I still own and use for holiday breaks. It still needs a lot of work done.
Now circumstances have changed again and I am getting back on the property ladder in the UK. I am told that if my French property is worth > £40k my new purchase in England counts as a 2nd property so I will have to pay extra stamp duty. This seems so unfair, as it means I will have to pay more SD than if I was a non-UK resident!! And this rule  penalises anyone renting in the UK but owning a cheap holiday home abroad, whereas the same stamp duty penalty would not apply to a UK house owner with a holiday home abroad.
I am planning to sell the French property next year. Does the 3 year rule apply to enable me to claim back the 2nd home stamp duty? The annoying thing is that the property isn't worth much more than 50000€ so it's very borderline in any case.