Overseas property and Stamp Duty

AlexAndreeva

Hello,

My partner and I would like to buy our first property here in UK. He is from Italy and quite some time ago he bought a small house in the countryside. It is of quite low value. Would anyone be able to advise me if being of a low value(legal value around €10000, commercial a bit higher), will it still count as a first home for my partner or does the government has a way of confirming the low value of it?
Either way, can any one advise how does the government check if one has an overseas property, so we can help to speed up the checks (documents etc.)?
Thank you.

AnotherJoe

The limit is £40k so you are well under that in any case so he can truthfully declare he doesnt own a property worth more than £40k. No checks needed as far as I know.

davidmcn

AnotherJoe wrote: »

The limit is £40k so you are well under that in any case so he can truthfully declare he doesnt own a property worth more than £40k.

Which means the purchase doesn't attract the surcharge for being a second property - but the fact he has already bought a property (of any value) means he won't qualify for the first time buyer relief.

SDLT_Geek

Davidmcn is correct. There is no £40,000 limit for first time buyers’ relief from SDLT. That limit is particular to the 3% surcharge.

Rich2808

SDLT_Geek wrote: »

Davidmcn is correct. There is no £40,000 limit for first time buyers’ relief from SDLT. That limit is particular to the 3% surcharge.

Agreed - if they buy together the OP and their partner won't be eligible for first time buyer stamp duty relief as the partner has already owned another residential property.

The OP would be eligible for the help to buy isa/lifetime isa bonus though - subject to meeting the other criteria (e.g. property value below £450k - or £250k for the HTB isa outside London).