Stamp Duty for an overseas buyer

Sunny2good

One of my relatives wants to buy a holiday home in the UK. He is planning to stay while he comes over and perhaps rent it out when he goes away. I cannot seem to find the right stamp duty amount that he will have to pay. He is a cash buyer.

Could you please tell me what the stamp duty would be on say a £425K property and how is it calculated ? He is a non UK resident, this will be his first property in the UK although he owns other properties abroad.

Many Thanks

Soot2006

Not a first time buyer, so

Stamp Duty to pay is £24,000.00 The effective tax rate is 5.65 %



According to: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/house-buying/stamp-duty-calculator

SDLT_Geek

Soot2006 wrote: »

Not a first time buyer, so
Stamp Duty to pay is £24,000.00 The effective tax rate is 5.65 %

Yes, this seems right. There was a consultation about an extra 1% SDLT for non resident buyers, but that has yet to be introduced and I do not expect it to come in any time soon.

Sunny2good

Thankyou both.

Is he not getting a first time buyers discount because he has a property abroad? Would he have got it if he didn't ?

Not asking him to lie or anything and will encourage him to disclose his assets but just for information purposes, how does the UK government know whether he has a property or not. He can simply say he doesn't and there is no way to find out.

davidmcn

Sunny2good wrote: »

Thankyou both.

Is he not getting a first time buyers discount because he has a property abroad? Would he have got it if he didn't ?

Not asking him to lie or anything and will encourage him to disclose his assets but just for information purposes, how does the UK government know whether he has a property or not. He can simply say he doesn't and there is no way to find out.

He's not a first time buyer, because he owns other properties.

You haven't told us which country his other properties are in, but property registers are often publicly-available information (as they are in the UK), and probably even more accessible for a tax authority wanting to gather intelligence. In any event, I expect it would be rather odd for someone to be buying a holiday home in the UK but not already be a property owner elsewhere.

Sunny2good

davidmcn wrote: »

He's not a first time buyer, because he owns other properties.

You haven't told us which country his other properties are in, but property registers are often publicly-available information (as they are in the UK), and probably even more accessible for a tax authority wanting to gather intelligence. In any event, I expect it would be rather odd for someone to be buying a holiday home in the UK but not already be a property owner elsewhere.

Yes, makes sense. I was thinking the same thing that questions may arise as to how he is buying a UK property when he does not own another property elsewhere. He is based in Dubai but also has property in India.

SDLT_Geek

First time buyers’ relief is anyway available only for a property which the buyer intends to live in as his / her only or main residence. That test is not satisfied for a holiday home.