Selling my house to my wife for the money I lend her

[Deleted User]

slizovskiy said:

Thank you for so many replies!  I see that there is indeed some caveat with selling to my wife. About FTB:  If I buy a second house, I will need to pay 3% extra  Stamp Duty, but I can claim it back if I sell my first house in 3 year period.   So, you argue, that I cannot sell it to my wife to get these 3% back, right?

Selling a property to your wife won’t allow you to reclaim the additional 3% and the sale to your wife might incur the additional 3% SDLT itself. 

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm09730

slizovskiy

Ok, I see my question was answered above....   If my wife owns the first house,  I still cannot get rid of 3% extra, you say...

slizovskiy

getmore4less said:

Won't stop additional property SDLT.

Can you  clarify, please, why selling to my wife will not satisfy the condition
"You will not pay the extra 3% SDLT if the property you’re buying is replacing your main residence and that has already been sold."   ?
The new house will become our main residence while the old one will be my wife's property, with no joint names in the Land Registry.

[Deleted User]

slizovskiy said:

getmore4less said:

Won't stop additional property SDLT.

Can you  clarify, please, why selling to my wife will not satisfy the condition
"You will not pay the extra 3% SDLT if the property you’re buying is replacing your main residence and that has already been sold."   ?
The new house will become our main residence while the old one will be my wife's property, with no joint names in the Land Registry.

Read the manual. 

Slithery

For SDLT purposes married couples count as a single unit regardless of whose names are on the deeds so you wouldn't be disposing of the property. You (as a couple) would still own it.

SDLT_Geek

slizovskiy said:

Can you  clarify, please, why selling to my wife will not satisfy the condition
"You will not pay the extra 3% SDLT if the property you’re buying is replacing your main residence and that has already been sold."   ?
The new house will become our main residence while the old one will be my wife's property, with no joint names in the Land Registry.

You will find the answer here https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm09800 at condition 3 where it says:
3. Immediately after the disposal of the old property, neither the purchaser nor the purchaser’s spouse or civil partner had a major interest in the old property [Para 3(7) (ba)].

ratechaser

OP - look at it this way, do you really think the tax man is so stupid that they wouldn't have spotted, and closed down, that very obvious loophole?? 

slizovskiy

Ok, thank you for clarifications!  I am now convinced that the loophole is closed.