Stamp Duty and Multiple Dwellings Relief query

the_jester_2

Hi

We are about to complete on our property which also has an annex. Our solicitors state that this is a grey area and that the amount of stamp duty they will be asking us to pay is £5650 based on our purchase price of £313000. This is the amount any normal house would pay at the same price.
I have instructed our solicitors that this property, due to its annex, we should be able to claim the multiple dwellings relief as the annex is definately no more than a third of the total value of the property (which is currently being sorted out through communication with our lenders valuer) and is in the same grounds as the main property.
So my research has told me that in April 2016 we could have had a much larger SDLT bill due to the 3% rule on owning more than one property. This was then amended as they realised it was wrongly penalising people with granny flats and annexxes.
So on that basis the multiple dwellings relief rule should come into place and the SDLT should be lower. I've followed the online guidelines of dividing the total price (£313,000) by amount of dwellings (2) which is £156,500, calculated the stamp duty for this which is £630, then multiplied again by the amount of dwellings giving a total of £1260...as this doesn't make the minimum of 1% then this figure is increased to £3,130 which should be the amount of SDLT we should have to pay.

Now if i can find all this out online and come to these assessments then why cant my , paid for, solicitors do the same?They have advised me to contact a specialist.

Any help is really appreciated thank you

SDLT_Geek

How confident are you that the annex is suitable for use as a separate dwelling? Has it been let out separately in the past?

the_jester_2

Very confident and it won't be or has never been let out .our 16 year old is going to use it but I'm annoyed our paid for solicitor can't just sort this and we have to overpay then claim back. Everything about it follows the two thirds guidelines etc and should be straight forward

SDLT_Geek

Have you looked into the possibility of a second council tax band being assessed given that the annex is suitable for use as a separate dwelling? Are you making an allowance in your budgeting for the extra council tax? How long would it take for the extra council tax to exceed your hoped for SDLT saving?