Stamp Duty Land Tax Form

panda21

I am a first time buyer purchasing a property under £250,000, the property is a leasehold with 95 years left on the lease. I was under the impression that I would not be paying any stamp duty on this purchase. This morning I received a pre-completed SDLT form from my solicitors, on question 9 "are you claiming relief?" they have ticked "no". Does that mean I am liable to pay stamp duty? Is this a mistake by my solicitor? I tried to contact them today but unfortunately they're not available till Tuesday. Any help would be appreciated.

googler

panda21 wrote: »

I am a first time buyer purchasing a property under £250,000, ......I was under the impression that I would not be paying any stamp duty on this purchase. This morning I received a pre-completed SDLT form from my solicitors, on question 9 "are you claiming relief?" they have ticked "no". Does that mean I am liable to pay stamp duty? Is this a mistake by my solicitor?

If you're claiming the exemption on SD because you're a first-time buyer (because normally it would be paid between £125k and £250k) then you ARE claiming relief, and it should have been ticked Yes, I would have thought..... and sounds like solicitor's mistake.

panda21

googler wrote: »

If you're claiming the exemption on SD because you're a first-time buyer (because normally it would be paid between £125k and £250k) then you ARE claiming relief, and it should have been ticked Yes, I would have thought..... and sounds like solicitor's mistake.

Thanks for the reply. That's what I thought, I can't believe they've made such a basic mistake. I'm just wondering if a really good solicitor would make such an error, makes me worry about them a bit.

agrinnall

panda21 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. That's what I thought, I can't believe they've made such a basic mistake. I'm just wondering if a really good solicitor would make such an error, makes me worry about them a bit.

Very unlikely that a proper solicitor filled in the form, maybe the conveyancing solicitor but more likely some office flunkey, and then the solicitor either didn't bother to check or did it badly.

G_M

And to think some conveyancers charge extra for doing the SDLT form, rather than treat it as part of their basic conveyancing fee as they should (cos it's so complicated!). I trust your firm isn't doing this?

Scully38

It sounds like an error, as you are exempt from paying SDLT because you're a FTB. If the property you're buying was say £25,001.00 you'd be liable, but anything under you're not due to the new rules. Just explain to your solicitor on Tuesday and say you've been sent the form for SDLT and your exempt as you're a FTB, but they should be aware, but maybe not that you're a FTB.

panda21

G_M wrote: »

And to think some conveyancers charge extra for doing the SDLT form, rather than treat it as part of their basic conveyancing fee as they should (cos it's so complicated!). I trust your firm isn't doing this?

They're charging me £90 for the completion of the SDLT from, I could've done it better myself. I'm also worried that this will be another hold up in the process. Both myself and the vendor are looking to exchange contracts next week, seems there's no chance that will happen now. I'm still waiting on the answers to the additional enquiries even though the estate agency are saying that the vendor solicitors supplied these answers weeks ago.

G_M

panda21 wrote: »

They're charging me £90 for the completion of the SDLT from, I could've done it better myself. I'm also worried that this will be another hold up in the process. Both myself and the vendor are looking to exchange contracts next week, seems there's no chance that will happen now. I'm still waiting on the answers to the additional enquiries even though the estate agency are saying that the vendor solicitors supplied these answers weeks ago.

The SDLT form is not completed until after Completion so will not hold you up.

£90!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I hope their base conveyancing fee is cheap enough to reflect this rip-off.

And I wonder what other 'extras' you'll find on their final bill.........

Jeffrey_Shaw

Note that someone who believes him/herself to be an FTB might not count as such for SDLT purposes.