Stamp Duty paid by builder

Nikster73

I am in exactly the same situation, but we are in Scotland so at present the stamp duty exemption, only applies to England.
If it does apply in Scotland, I will be asking the house builder for either a cash incentive, to flooring, carpets etc.  You should still be given an incentive in place of the £11.5k stamp duty, as now the builder is saving a small fortune.  Believe me, they can certainly afford to give you something.

Good Luck

sst1234

You should absolutely ask them to change the incentive now. The benefit is supposed for buyers, not house builders. It was your incentive low being paid by the govt. the builder should now give you a different incentive 

Pearl1997

I’m In the same position but have not exchanged yet. I was paying asking price becuase they were paying stamp duty (6k). I’ve now asked for £6k to be deduced from the price of £420k. If this fails, I’ll be asking for a interior voucher from a store I know they use for all their show homes. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

We tried so hard to get it cheaper before the stamp duty incentive because of our deposit. Praying we can get some money off or plan B! Anyone else have any other suggestions? Upgrades isn’t an option x 

Dinpraad

Options all on the table

fewcloudy

Pearl1997 said:

I’m In the same position but have not exchanged yet. I was paying asking price becuase they were paying stamp duty (6k). I’ve now asked for £6k to be deduced from the price of £420k. If this fails, I’ll be asking for a interior voucher from a store I know they use for all their show homes. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

We tried so hard to get it cheaper before the stamp duty incentive because of our deposit. Praying we can get some money off or plan B! Anyone else have any other suggestions? Upgrades isn’t an option x 

But you did well surely?  As you say, you tried so hard, and you managed to get the cost of stamp duty paid by the builder. And that remains the case; you are 6 grand better off than you might have been otherwise, well done!  Not everyone manages to get someone else to pay their stamp duty you know?!
Regarding yesterdays announcement on stamp-duty freeze.  You are no better or worse off than you were before yesterdays announcement, and bearing that in mind I can't see how you are due a refund/vouchers for something that you did not spend in the first place??

j_s2020

fewcloudy said:

Pearl1997 said:

I’m In the same position but have not exchanged yet. I was paying asking price becuase they were paying stamp duty (6k). I’ve now asked for £6k to be deduced from the price of £420k. If this fails, I’ll be asking for a interior voucher from a store I know they use for all their show homes. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

We tried so hard to get it cheaper before the stamp duty incentive because of our deposit. Praying we can get some money off or plan B! Anyone else have any other suggestions? Upgrades isn’t an option x 

But you did well surely?  As you say, you tried so hard, and you managed to get the cost of stamp duty paid by the builder. And that remains the case; you are 6 grand better off than you might have been otherwise, well done!  Not everyone manages to get someone else to pay their stamp duty you know?!
Regarding yesterdays announcement on stamp-duty freeze.  You are no better or worse off than you were before yesterdays announcement, and bearing that in mind I can't see how you are due a refund/vouchers for something that you did not spend in the first place??

I understand your point, but are you suggesting the builder is more deserving of the benefit than the buyer?

fewcloudy

j_s2020 said:

fewcloudy said:

Pearl1997 said:

I’m In the same position but have not exchanged yet. I was paying asking price becuase they were paying stamp duty (6k). I’ve now asked for £6k to be deduced from the price of £420k. If this fails, I’ll be asking for a interior voucher from a store I know they use for all their show homes. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

We tried so hard to get it cheaper before the stamp duty incentive because of our deposit. Praying we can get some money off or plan B! Anyone else have any other suggestions? Upgrades isn’t an option x 

But you did well surely?  As you say, you tried so hard, and you managed to get the cost of stamp duty paid by the builder. And that remains the case; you are 6 grand better off than you might have been otherwise, well done!  Not everyone manages to get someone else to pay their stamp duty you know?!
Regarding yesterdays announcement on stamp-duty freeze.  You are no better or worse off than you were before yesterdays announcement, and bearing that in mind I can't see how you are due a refund/vouchers for something that you did not spend in the first place??

I understand your point, but are you suggesting the builder is more deserving of the benefit than the buyer?

No I am not suggesting that.  None is more deserving than the other.
And it would be the same if the announcement had been made to the effect that stamp duty had doubled.  If the deal was for the builder to pay the stamp duty in that situation, then so be it.
And, importantly, the buyer would STILL be no better or worse off than before that theoretical change.  As the deal they made with the builder has removed the buyer from the entire issue of stamp duty regardless of whether that stamp duty decreases, increases, or disappears altogether.

wargrip

fewcloudy said:

Pearl1997 said:

I’m In the same position but have not exchanged yet. I was paying asking price becuase they were paying stamp duty (6k). I’ve now asked for £6k to be deduced from the price of £420k. If this fails, I’ll be asking for a interior voucher from a store I know they use for all their show homes. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

We tried so hard to get it cheaper before the stamp duty incentive because of our deposit. Praying we can get some money off or plan B! Anyone else have any other suggestions? Upgrades isn’t an option x 

But you did well surely?  As you say, you tried so hard, and you managed to get the cost of stamp duty paid by the builder. And that remains the case; you are 6 grand better off than you might have been otherwise, well done!  Not everyone manages to get someone else to pay their stamp duty you know?!
Regarding yesterdays announcement on stamp-duty freeze.  You are no better or worse off than you were before yesterdays announcement, and bearing that in mind I can't see how you are due a refund/vouchers for something that you did not spend in the first place??

The issue with this attitude is that many of us were given a choice of incentives out of an available "pool" of money - so therefore chose stamp duty instead of the alternatives (alternatives might have been upgrades, moving costs or other financial contributions). So for those who chose "stamp duty" they are clearly worse off now and would obviously not have chosen that option knowing what we know now. Also, the incentives are exactly that - incentives to choose that particular home or deal. If the incentive is no longer applicable, then clearly the deal needs to be re-evaluated.

And to echo other posts here - the government intended for this policy to help buyers - not to pad the pockets of billion dollar property developers.

eidand

can I just point out that new builds take forever to reach completion, if they ever do and the chances are that the 6 months holiday won't be long enough for a good chunk of new build properties to get there.

I feel a lot of people should keep that in mind. you might want to stick with it if there is a chance that you'll go past the end of March, otherwise you will have to foot the bill.

jon81uk

fewcloudy said:

Pearl1997 said:

I’m In the same position but have not exchanged yet. I was paying asking price becuase they were paying stamp duty (6k). I’ve now asked for £6k to be deduced from the price of £420k. If this fails, I’ll be asking for a interior voucher from a store I know they use for all their show homes. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

We tried so hard to get it cheaper before the stamp duty incentive because of our deposit. Praying we can get some money off or plan B! Anyone else have any other suggestions? Upgrades isn’t an option x 

But you did well surely?  As you say, you tried so hard, and you managed to get the cost of stamp duty paid by the builder. And that remains the case; you are 6 grand better off than you might have been otherwise, well done!  Not everyone manages to get someone else to pay their stamp duty you know?!
Regarding yesterdays announcement on stamp-duty freeze.  You are no better or worse off than you were before yesterdays announcement, and bearing that in mind I can't see how you are due a refund/vouchers for something that you did not spend in the first place??

But the builder will be better off.
They originally wanted a discount off the house price but the builder said no, so they negotiated £6000 discount (the value of stamp duty) that discount should remain in my opinion.
We're getting an incentive titled "your mortgage paid for a year" but the small print said it was capped at 3% of the property price, so we are getting 3% cashback at completion. They didn't ask what our mortgage payments were, we're just getting that 3% and I think stamp duty incentives should work the same way, if stamp duty changes the amount promised at reservation should apply in my opinion as that was the discount negotiated.