Stamp Duty paid by builder

ChloeHanlon22

Hi All! 

I have recently reserved a new build property and our builder agreed to pay the £11,500 stamp duty as an incentive to purchase our house. We have also just paid £3,500 for our reservation and upgrades to the property. 

Today it has been announced that the government have scrapped Stamp Duty for all houses under £500,000, meaning our builder will no longer have to pay this for our property. 

Would it be cheeky for us now to ask what happens next? We decided to go with this builder specifically because they gave us such a great incentive which it seems like now we now won’t get. 

Should we ask for the money in additional extras in our house? We know they won’t give us it off the property price as they originally miss quoted the house to us (hence the generous offer of paying the stamp duty because they suddenly put the price up). We’re just unsure how to approach the situation with them now. 

Thanks for any advice! 

Comms69

I mean you've not lost anything, so it's not the end of the world. You can try and be cheeky, but ultimately you are getting exactly what you paid for. Doesnt really matter that your supplier got it cheaper

AdrianC

Ask them.

I doubt you'll be the only person to ask.

ChloeHanlon22

Thanks for your replies! I think I would be less inclined to ask had they not offered to pay the stamp duty as an apology for offering the house at one price and then raising it. We felt the deal was still good because they were effectively paying us back for this rise in our house price we didn’t agree to initially. 

I guess we won’t lose anything by asking... thanks again! 

macman

But you have still got the incentive! You've still saved £11.5K. The only difference is that the taxpayer is funding this, rather than your developer. 
Of course you can ask, but I know what my response would be...

princeofpounds

What you do here depends on the terms of your reservation agreement. I would certainly be looking to renegotiate - the builder was happy to sell to you at a price 11.5k below what they are now going to receive. That willingness should not have changed (although they'll try their best to keep the windfall, of course they will) - if anything they should be even more keen to ensure sales go through. 

But your ability to renegotiate is likely to be determined by the terms you signed up to in the reservation.

monkeymarbles

We've exchanged and one of our incentives is stamp duty. My view is that they still need to pay it over as it's a contractual incentive and clearly mentioned in the contract. I'll wait to see what they say when I ask them!!

confused1973

monkeymarbles said:

We've exchanged and one of our incentives is stamp duty. My view is that they still need to pay it over as it's a contractual incentive and clearly mentioned in the contract. I'll wait to see what they say when I ask them!!

Let us know how you get on .

ChloeHanlon22

Thank you for all your advice everyone! 

jon81uk

Ask them and check the terms of the offer, is it a cash sum or not, if stamp duty went up, would they have paid more?

monkeymarbles

confused1973 said:

monkeymarbles said:

We've exchanged and one of our incentives is stamp duty. My view is that they still need to pay it over as it's a contractual incentive and clearly mentioned in the contract. I'll wait to see what they say when I ask them!!

Let us know how you get on .

Sure will. It's legally binding and I could have 5 homes on top of this so would still have to pay 3% any way. I reckon the legal obligation is on me and the Government, not them and me. Pay up