Stamp duty threshold

jkl1983

Hi guys! Wish i'd found this site a couple of weeks ago but c'est la vie!
Anyway i was looking for a little advice on stamp duty...basically i made a number of offers on a property which was priced at £129,950, my final offer was £124,700 but it was rejected, anyhow i left it at that and decided to look for a different property...after viewing a few i found that nothing was capturing my attention like this first one so I went back with a revised offer of £126,500…which obviously means that I would be paying stamp duty of £1265 which is a right pain when I'm so close to the threshold. I'd asked for advice off the estate agent about keeping it under the stamp duty threshold but they said there was nothing that could be done…if the vendor wanted more than £125,000 then I'd just have to put up with the stamp duty. However, after reading this forum I've seen a lot of people talking about negotiating a separate price for fixtures and fittings which brings the actual purchase price below the threshold. My question is, is this something I can now do retrospectively even though my offer has been accepted?? That is, can I approach the vendor and ask that we reduce the price to say £124,950 and I then pay her £1600 for her to leave the fixtures and fittings (i.e the brand new carpets that have been laid all through the house and were included in the asking price, plus the curtains), or is this not allowed? Its just such a pain to be throwing away this £1200 when I could be spending it on some actual furniture (I'm a first time buyer by the way).

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer, i will be eternally grateful!

emeraldbugle

You need to be careful, as solicitors and the government would probably check all those sales at the stamp duty thresholds. The list would have to be specific for the fixtures and fittings. Why not make an appointment to view the property again and speak to the vendor?

payless

do check out http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/so/dar/index.htm

you never know it may be exempt to £150K

jkl1983

Thanks i had checked that out and we're not in a disadvantaged area (just the cheap north east :j )
Like i said, i'm only actually £1500 over the threshold and the house has full new carpets (and its a huge victorian house), new curtains and also a lot of the original features (doors/fire surrounds and hearths etc), so the value of these would easily add up to £1500

Addiscomber

Doors, fire surrounds and hearths are integral to the property and therefore fixtures. what you are proposing is, unfortunately, bordering on the illegal. Not so sure about the carpets, but the curtains should be OK as they are clearly removeable.

toonfish

you might get away with "carpets & curtains" - you need to speak to your solicitor. As long as the amount is reasonable it should be OK.