Avoid stamp duty with house swap? (With top-up)

hazyjo

They will also still have to pay their EA if you saw the house for sale via their window/board/advert. You should be okay, depending on your EA contract (if yours is up for sale yet).


Jx

foxy-stoat

Maruka wrote: »

Ah, thank you. That's a shame. How is the value of my house calculated though? I don't understand - surely if I wish to sell my house for £1.00, that's up to me?

If you own the property with no mortgage, you can sell if for how much you like yes.

Is your house mortgage free?

foxy-stoat

Maruka wrote: »

As for "any good patriot" - taxation is theft. I'm happy enough to pay my taxes each month for various public services and the welfare of the less fortunate, but I find SDLT an appalling, brazen cash grab from the state. Why should a private transaction between me and another allow HMRC to milk off nearly £20k? It is doubly immoral because we will need a mortgage - we're being forced to borrow money privately to pay off the state, at threat of violence. It stinks.

If you think Taxation is theft and SDLT appalling then you need to live somewhere else where they do not have neither.

No one is forcing you to move or borrow money....who is threatening you with violence?

Maruka

Currently my house is mortgage free, yes. It seems as though I cannot sell it for whatever I like though, given that even if I sell for £1 and the vendor sells for £245k, we'll still have to pay SDLT on the basis of the original "value" of the house (as if anything has an inherent value anyway...)

Re. tax, this isn't really why I started the thread...! But: We cannot afford to buy the property in cash, we will have to take out a mortgage. We will therefore have to extend the mortgage to cover the SDLT, hence we are being forced into more debt than we would require in order to pay this particular tax. If we were to dodge the tax and were discovered, we'd be potentially imprisoned (or fined, with threat of prison if we didn't pay the fine), which is where the violence comes in.

Stamp Duty was originally levied by the monarchy in order to fund war with the French. I'm not quite sure why it's now deemed acceptable to simply demand a big chunk of money because we are choosing to transfer assets/money - it has literally nothing to do with the state, or shouldn't.

Pixie5740

You have a house you don't need to buy this other house therefore you don't need to take on debt or pay SDLT. You want the house so you are choosing to pay the SDLT and get a mortgage. Does any country not charge a tax when buying land/property?

You can sell your house for whatever you like providing you can find a buyer. However, what you are proposing is a linked transaction so SDLT will be based on the market value...all explained in the HMRC link booksurr provided.

Arthritic_Toe

It used to be the case that you would only pay stamp duty on the differential, but they changed the laws a good few years ago so that it is now collected in full.

noh

Maruka wrote: »

Currently my house is mortgage free, yes. It seems as though I cannot sell it for whatever I like though, given that even if I sell for £1 and the vendor sells for £245k, we'll still have to pay SDLT on the basis of the original "value" of the house (as if anything has an inherent value anyway...) ...........................

.

You can sell your house for whatever you like as can the vendor of the larger house. It's when they become connected transactions that the stamp duty is assessed on the market value.

davidmcn

Maruka wrote: »

Stamp Duty was originally levied by the monarchy in order to fund war with the French. I'm not quite sure why it's now deemed acceptable to simply demand a big chunk of money because we are choosing to transfer assets/money - it has literally nothing to do with the state, or shouldn't.

I don't really follow why this tax is "worse" than others, other than the fact it becomes due in hefty lumps. What does, say, earning a salary, or buying goods or services have to do with the state?

Cornucopia

What about renting each other's houses?


Taxation is not theft, it's merely inconvenient.

Maruka

I accept that (begrudgingly!). Is there some official way to determine the (supposed) market value of my house, or is it done by any old estate agent?

No one is going to persuade me that cash grabs like this are morally justified. That every country does it does not make it right. And neither is it up to the state to decide the difference between what I need and what I want. But I realise this is an ideological position not everyone will hold!