Loan to pay stamp duty

geoffky

dmg24 wrote: »

So if the seller pulls out (not everyone is desperate to sell), the OP has lost out on their legal fees to date, which might not be not far off the £1500 they need. Stupid much?

What do you suggest?:cool:

lauzt1987

Thanks for the advice everyone. Our in laws have offered to lend us the money!

ReadingTim

Glad you've found the money, and I appreciate it's always a stretch when purchasing a house; but if you really couldn't have found £1,500 for stamp duty, can you actually afford to buy a property...?

Post-purchase, will you have any kind of emergency fund for when the car breaks down or is written off, and the boiler/washing machine packs up in the same month? Or work slows down for your other half's business? Or you fall pregnant and are on SMP until you return to work (common practice amongst law firms)?

Sorry to be harsh, but my personal opinion is that if you're having to worry about stamp duty at the 1% threshold, you're dangerously overstretched...

HappyMJ

ReadingTim wrote: »

Sorry to be harsh, but my personal opinion is that if you're having to worry about stamp duty at the 1% threshold, you're dangerously overstretched...

I don't think that was the case here. They thought they were exempt budgeted for it but found they had to pay it. A 20% deposit is good. I'd have put it on the credit card and paid it off ASAP. The first year for anyone in a new house is the hardest due to as you say the need to restore the emergency fund back to where it really should be.

lauzt1987

ReadingTim wrote: »

Glad you've found the money, and I appreciate it's always a stretch when purchasing a house; but if you really couldn't have found £1,500 for stamp duty, can you actually afford to buy a property...?

Post-purchase, will you have any kind of emergency fund for when the car breaks down or is written off, and the boiler/washing machine packs up in the same month? Or work slows down for your other half's business? Or you fall pregnant and are on SMP until you return to work (common practice amongst law firms)?

Sorry to be harsh, but my personal opinion is that if you're having to worry about stamp duty at the 1% threshold, you're dangerously overstretched...

Thanks for your opinion, and I do appreciate your comments. However we will have built up an emergency fund after only a few months as my partner is bringing in a lot more than our outgoings and saves every penny. We just don't have any extra at the moment as we have put all the savings we have in to the deposit, fees etc. It really just was a case of un unforseen expense at the wrong time.

Thanks for your comments everyone. Buying a property really is stresful!

daniellebel

well done! And hope that the rest of the process isn't so stressful

grunk

Is it just me, or is there something fundamentally wrong with having to pay interest on a larger loan due to having to pay a tax?

Seems a bit harsh really, given that over the course of a mortgage you pretty much pay back double the cost of the loan, and hence you'll be paying double the stamp duty.

Or can you claim the interest back if you file a tax report?