Stamp duty and Ex re-mortgaging

JMCF81

I'm posting this on behalf of my partner;
The background is: he's currently waiting for his ex- wife to remortgage their martial home which she lives in with their children and her new fiance. They divorced over 2 years ago and she was suppose to have remortgaged and bought my partner out in Feb 2018.
In Oct 2018 my partner received the paperwork to sign to have himself removed from the title deeds and mortgage and receive his sum of money (this paper work came via his solicitor) Last Monday 14th January after hearing nothing for ages my partner asked his solicitor to chase the matter, The solicitor spoke directly to the ex- wife's solicitor who told him the remortgage was being finalised and the money would be received by the end of the week. Today 26th Jan... still no money!
Brings us to the current situation and the point of this post:
My partner and I have had an offer accepted on a house we wish to buy, we are holding off applying for our mortgage because 1) Him being on a mortgage already will lower the amount we can secure 2) We don't want to pay an extra £11k second home stamp duty.
Our vendor (naturally) Is getting fed up waiting. I know you can apply for a refund of second home stamp duty if you sell your main residence within 3 years... does this apply if it's your ex re-mortgaging and removing you from the mortgage/deeds ?
Does anyone have any suggestions as to why a remortgage from Halifax to Natwest would take over 4mths ?
Any advice would be great, Thank you.

SDLT_Geek

JMCF81 wrote: »

I know you can apply for a refund of second home stamp duty if you sell your main residence within 3 years... does this apply if it's your ex re-mortgaging and removing you from the mortgage/deeds ?

Yes, your partner disposing of his entire share in the former matrimonial home is as good for these purposes as selling it. He would have disposed of a "major interest" and retain no major interest.

But there is a potential trap. The two of you will only be entitled to a refund of the extra 3% SDLT on your purchase if the three year rules are met.

(a) One three year rule requires him to dispose of his share in the former home within the three years after the date of the upcoming purchase.

(b) The other three year rule requires that he used to live in the former home at some point within the three years leading up to the completion of the upcoming purchase. When did he move out? That would be a big problem if he left over three years ago (or it will be three years by the time the upcoming purchase completes.

Gambler

SDLT_Geek wrote: »

Yes, your partner disposing of his entire share in the former matrimonial home is as good for these purposes as selling it. He would have disposed of a "major interest" and retain no major interest.

But there is a potential trap. The two of you will only be entitled to a refund of the extra 3% SDLT on your purchase if the three year rules are met.

(a) One three year rule requires him to dispose of his share in the former home within the three years after the date of the upcoming purchase.

(b) The other three year rule requires that he used to live in the former home at some point within the three years leading up to the completion of the upcoming purchase. When did he move out? That would be a big problem if he left over three years ago (or it will be three years by the time the upcoming purchase completes.

Thanks for this bad news. I was only aware of (a) including on the government website. Please could you point me in the direction of (b).

JMCF81

Thanks for the advice. Yes we're aware we can't claim back the standard stamp duty we'd pay on our new purchase. That's good news he can claim a refund of the higher rate... he moved out approximately just over 2 years ago so we should still safely be within the 3 year rule you pointed out in (b)