Second Home Stamp Duty Question

Sagey

I am very confused with second home stamp duty. I lost my Dad nearly 3 years ago and he didn't have a will, so sorting out the state has taken considerable time, requiring Grant of Administration etc and it is still on-going. My sibling lives in the property as has never left home. At some point I will inherit a 50% share of the property, it might be next week, it might be in 5 months time. My problem is that I am wanting to buy a property in the near future, however, whilst I know that there is a 3 year exemption for inherited properties, I cannot get a definitive answer on when that period started, due to the fact that it was intestate.

Is it date of death, date the grant of administration occurred or date I take a 50% ownership in property.

I don't want to be hit with a shock additional 3% in stamp duty if any completion date was delayed etc.

Thanks

AnotherJoe

IANAL but it seems unlikely it can be anything other than the date it is officially yours.
You couldn't sell your half now could you, because you don't own it. So if you don't own a second house, how can you be liable ?

Sagey

No currently I don't own the 50% share but it will go through in say 6 months.

Problem lies with the wording in HMRC documentation

he date of the inheritance for these purposes is the date that the individual becomes entitled to the interest. An interest in an unadministered estate is not a major interest in land and so usually the date the individual acquired the interest is the date the interest is transferred to them. Although, see Capital Gains Manual at CG30700 onwards for the situation where the residue of an estate has been ascertained and the personal representative holds the residue of the estate for the beneficiary absolutely.

But the next line of the document states
In jurisdictions where property devolves directly on heirs, the date of inheritance will be the date of death.

Now I am not sure, as my father died intestate whether we full under devolves directly on heirs, as we can legally do nothing until the Grant of Administration occurred, as no will etc, which took quite some considerable time after his death.