Avoiding stamp duty?

Generali

If you wanted to go along the route of using brown envelopes, the only way to ensure you got the cash would be to get some sort of written statement about the stamp evasion. That way if the buyer refuses to pay, you have a hold over them.

I definitely don't reccomend this though.

Generali

If you wanted to go along the route of using brown envelopes, the only way to ensure you got the cash would be to get some sort of written statement about the stamp evasion. That way if the buyer refuses to pay, you have a hold over them.

I definitely don't reccomend this though.

irnbru_2

ds1980 wrote:

Whole different ball game if its not.

It's a FOAF.

Now, what if the OP has approached the vendor directly? The EA might not be due a fee. So the vendor is saving even more money.

PoorDave

ds1980 wrote: »

The point was it was between friends.

Whole different ball game if its not. £1300 is a lot of money and if it is between friends then it is no hassle at all.

It actually says a friend of a friend, so i think that's different, otherwise the OP wouldn't have phrased it like that.

If i was the vendor i'd want the £4k upfront, or at least some of it.

If you go down the listed fixtures & fitting route, be aware you can't put down a 14" old TV as being worth the same as a brand new plasma, so the advice might be to keep it vague enough that scrutiny won't reveal too much. If it's carpeted, then the price/value of those soon adds up (having recently carpeted most of my house i am almost too well aware of this!)

What about garden stuff i.e. expensive looking plants that the vendor "was going to take" until you asked for them to stay?

merg

Thanks for the debate.
In reply to the discussion about not delivering the extra payment, we are the ones who will be buying and I can guarantee she will receive full payment. The seller is a friend of a friend however I do trust my friend, and have met the seller on a number of occassions outside this situation.

We have spoken to our solicitors on this matter. They have said if we chose to go down this route it would have to be a private agreement and they would not be interested in discussing the matter further.

Someone did mention about the 'tax man's' right to investigate suspicious lump sums of money that just so happened to be deposited in the sellers bank account around the time of a sale. Would it help to split money into cash and cheques and ask her to deposit the money over a period of time. Or am I just being daft because the lump sum will still be there?

Wow this isn't easy!

drowningnotwaving_2

Our buyers paid the money in two lump sums into two separate bank accounts. Yes, it was evasion and I know it's not legal, but we've paid £18k in stamp duty in the last 4 years so I'm not going to get upset about it.

david29dpo

our ex next doors money is still in a coffee tin under the bed, being used to buy, er coffee....

stphnstevey

If you draw up a legal agreement, the goods would have to be at a fair market value.

Also, the mortgage company would need to do a valuation - this is normally the asking price if nothing unusual and then all but fixes the price you buy for. As explained earlier, you then won't be able to borrow more than the asking price, meaning you have to foot the extra yourself.

If this is between friends, surely a gentlemans agreement can be reached. As this is a freind of a freind, maybe the mutual friend could hold the amount needed to ensure it's below the stamp duty threshold till completion.

benood

drowningnotwaving wrote: »

Our buyers paid the money in two lump sums into two separate bank accounts. Yes, it was evasion and I know it's not legal, but we've paid £18k in stamp duty in the last 4 years so I'm not going to get upset about it.

DNW it wasn't you who broke the law was it, just a friend of yours, or better still a guy you met once down the pub.

for the OP, as long as you can justify the difference in price don't worry unduly. Your justification can include carpets, curtains anything movable really, and I guess that it could also include an allowance for saving the vendor time and trouble in sourcing replacement items ie they were prepared to pay over the odds for fittings because you've got impeccably good taste - on that basis £5k on a £125k sale should fall within the bounds of a reasonable payment.