Stamp Duty paid by builder

fewcloudy

In the cases where people 'chose' the no-stamp-duty incentive, then yes, the builder will be better off.  It seems an example of the law of unintended consequences.  Fortunately however, the buyer is no worse off.  And that is the main thing.

ankm

jon81uk 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??

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.

Exactly - to give an example I have this negotiation document i was using at the time. The option was as a first time buyer was I either pay 495 and builder pays stamp worth 10K or take the reduce price of 490...builder incentivized me to take the former. So I am worse off now !  Its about the alternatives which were offered at the time.
And someone above mentioned doubling of stamp duty...in that case builder would have asked us for more money and we would have been worse off as buyers !

macman

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!!

So how do you work that out?  If the contract says 'we will pay your stamp duty', then that's what they will do. If no, or less stamp duty is due at the time, then that's still what they'll do. It presumably doesn't say 'we will pay your stamp duty, or give you the equivalent cash reduction if stamp duty is reduced or abolished.' Pure fantasy.

davidmcn

macman 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!!

So how do you work that out?  If the contract says 'we will pay your stamp duty', then that's what they will do. If no, or less stamp duty is due at the time, then that's still what they'll do. It presumably doesn't say 'we will pay your stamp duty, or give you the equivalent cash reduction if stamp duty is reduced or abolished.' Pure fantasy.

Any decently-drafted contract will say they're giving a discount of a fixed amount (which from the developers' point of view is what they're doing - the "paying your stamp duty" bit is just a marketing gimmick). They wouldn't after all be giving you a bigger discount if your stamp duty went up.

San_Jose

I would imagine that alot of contracts/ reservation documents list the amount of stamp duty that is being paid. My reservation document states: 

Costs to be paid by (developers name): £xxxx

Details of costs to be paid by (developers name): £xxxx stamp duty

Surely the developer has calculated how much they can afford (whilst still making a hefty profit) to discount on the property. So they would be no better or worse off. This incentive was brought in to help the buyer not the builder.

ankm

My Builder and Agent just called and they dont want to pay any incentive back ! and just wipe off hands of that incentive.
So it seems like chancellors decision (atleast in my case) is helping the builder than the buyer. So disappointing !

San_Jose

ankm said:

My Builder and Agent just called and they dont want to pay any incentive back ! and just wipe off hands of that incentive.
So it seems like chancellors decision (atleast in my case) is helping the builder than the buyer. So disappointing !

What stage are you at if you don't mind me asking? Have you completed yet?

ankm

San_Jose said:

ankm said:

My Builder and Agent just called and they dont want to pay any incentive back ! and just wipe off hands of that incentive.
So it seems like chancellors decision (atleast in my case) is helping the builder than the buyer. So disappointing !

What stage are you at if you don't mind me asking? Have you completed yet?

Nope I have exchanged and completing tomorrow  !

davidmcn

ankm said:

San_Jose said:

ankm said:

My Builder and Agent just called and they dont want to pay any incentive back ! and just wipe off hands of that incentive.
So it seems like chancellors decision (atleast in my case) is helping the builder than the buyer. So disappointing !

What stage are you at if you don't mind me asking? Have you completed yet?

Nope I have exchanged and completing tomorrow  !

So what does your contract say about it? It doesn't matter what the builder or their agent would like to happen.

ankm

davidmcn said:

ankm said:

San_Jose said:

ankm said:

My Builder and Agent just called and they dont want to pay any incentive back ! and just wipe off hands of that incentive.
So it seems like chancellors decision (atleast in my case) is helping the builder than the buyer. So disappointing !

What stage are you at if you don't mind me asking? Have you completed yet?

Nope I have exchanged and completing tomorrow  !

So what does your contract say about it? It doesn't matter what the builder or their agent would like to happen.

It says and I quote :
First time buyer stamp duty paid at £10K  and £1000 toward legal fees ( under incentives section)