Stamp Duty on main residence

TrickyDicky101

If you want to avoid the additional SDLT, why don't you sell your flat?

AdrianC

Dunmore wrote: »

Ok I understand, but doesn't the fact that it will be my main residence count? I am just replacing the main residence i sold 8 years ago.

From the gov.uk article linked after that flowchart, and from which it came...

2.9 Delay between sale of a previous main residence and purchase of a new one The government appreciates there may be circumstances where an individual sells a property which was their only or main residence, but there is then a period before they purchase their new main residence. The government does not want to disadvantage people in those circumstances.
The government believes that there should be a maximum 18 month period between sale of a previous main residence and purchase of a new main residence for the purpose of determining whether the higher rates apply.
The government is of the view that this is a sufficient period in the vast majority of cases.

Eighteen months. A year and a half. You are not just outside that period, you are currently closing rapidly on five and a half times that period.

Dunmore

AdrianC wrote: »

From the gov.uk article linked after that flowchart, and from which it came...




Eighteen months. A year and a half. You are not just outside that period, you are currently closing rapidly on five and a half times that period.

Thank you! So unless I have a good case to argue as to why I waited 8 years, then I pay the higher rate. I am now clear. Thanks for everyone's help.

marksoton

Dunmore wrote: »

So unless I have a good case to argue as to why I waited 8 years,

I don't imagine HMRC will even entertain a "good case " .

Mainly because i can't imagine a scenario that constituted one.

kinger101

Dunmore wrote: »

Thank you! So unless I have a good case to argue as to why I waited 8 years, then I pay the higher rate. I am now clear. Thanks for everyone's help.

The rule is 3 years, and not 18 months. The 18 months was at the draft stage of the legislation.

However, you have no case to argue. Even 3 years and 1 day would be too late. It's not a negotiation.

AnotherJoe

Dunmore wrote: »

Ok I understand, but doesn't the fact that it will be my main residence count? I am just replacing the main residence i sold 8 years ago.

You get three years grace for that. You have missed that by five years.

Dunmore wrote: »

Thank you! So unless I have a good case to argue as to why I waited 8 years, then I pay the higher rate..

LOL. No.

booksurr

i suggest you read the official guide I linked to at #5 for answers to your questions. This is now law, you do not "negotiate" what you would like it to mean, you read the law and you follow the rules and definitions set out in it.

the document at#4 was the consultation stage where at there was indeed still some room for discussion. That ended on 1 April 2016 with the enactment of the law, and the guide was issued to set in stone the outcome of the consultations. One aspect of which was the 18 month period referred to in #13 (I wished people would stop quoting that link, it is irrelevant now) was extended to 36 months, because the Govt accepted the feedback that an 18 month overlap was unrealistic as it could take longer to sell in many cases.

So, what is now unequivocal, is 3 years means 3 years. Not 3 years + another 5 years afterwards as you seem to think it should be in your case. You failed to dispose of (that is the official word, not "sell", as explained in the guide, a flowchart is a simple picture so Sun readers can understand things, you need words to ensure full understanding) your main home within the allowed 3 year period.

You are therefore now going from owning 1 flat to owning a flat and a house, you are therefore adding to your property list and are exactly the sort of person the tax raising is aimed at - if you can afford to add extra properties to the list of those you own, you are (in the eyes of The Sun readers to whom politicians must pander) someone who should be made to pay tax for the "extravagant" lifestyle (it appears) you can afford.