Shared Ownership - First Time Buyer?

Kratos666

Hello all

My wife and I are in a very particular position regarding moving home. I currently own a 25% share in our current home - a shared ownership scheme which initially helped us onto the property ladder.

We are looking to move homes and have found a property - sadly however I think we may be exempt from the first time buyer scheme regarding the payment of stamp duty. (note my wife has never owned/bought property - the current 25% is in my name only).

Could anyone clarify if there is anything we can do to take advantage of the first time buyer scheme - it seems absolutely bonkers that for my 25% ownership of home means the difference of literally thousands of £££££'s.

Is there any thing we can do in a sense to save money on the process to moving home?

Mark

M2808

Because you are married, no. Even if your wife bought it in her name, because you're married you are counted as one.

I think she can still use a help to buy ISA, but that's about it. Stamp duty isn't massive on cheap houses

UpTheBlades89

I'm in a very similar situation. My dad put the family home in to a trust fund, so although I'm not the home owner I'm still classed as a beneficiary owner and apparently that exempts me from FTB status.

Are you discarding your share in the ownership? As I also believe it means your new property will count as additional therefore there's the higher rate surcharge on stamp duty (could and hope I'm wrong).

lena_halo

No, I!!!8217;m in the same position as I just sold my 40% of a shared ownership flat. My partner has never owned anything. We were not classed as FTB because I technically have owned property as have you, so no relief applies and you need to pay full stamp duty.

SDLT_Geek

It is not as simple as saying that a married couple are treated as a single unit for SDLT.


If both spouses buy the new property then first time buyer's relief will not be available. OP is one of the joint buyers and has previously acquired a major interest in a dwelling. All of the joint buyers need to qualify for first time buyers relief if the relief is to be available for the transaction.


That might be the end of it for this particular case. But what if (unusually) OP's spouse becomes full the full owner of the new property with OP having no share at all? There is nothing in the legislation on first time buyers' relief treating a spouse as a joint buyer.

There is an "override" of first time buyers relief if the higher rates of SDLT apply. But they would not apply here if OP is selling the shared ownership property. Yes, for the purposes of assessing whether the higher rates are due OP would be treated as a joint buyer of the new property. But that will not trigger the higher rates as OP will by then own no other property.

Kratos666

Thank you all for your advice - I thought we were exempt from this fantastic opportunity!

As a young family - both of us working in professional jobs and no handouts from parents etc. - it is very hard to keep a firm grip on the property ladder. This will be the chance we have waited for; to move home and both have a full mortgage. It is a shame we decided to go down the shared ownership route - however at the time - it was the best offer/chance we had for the beginnings of our family home.

We will have to look for properties taking the stamp duty into consideration for our spending limit in future - which is no big deal really - I'll have to begin working on my negotiating skills.

Thank you again

Mark