Buyer wants me to pay the stamp duty if we run over the deadline

Disjoint

He is the one asking for the document. Is the building reg for work over 10 years old? If yes I would push back and just say you don't have the document and you won't cover stamp duty so better to exchange now.
Then again - will he pull back on this? It's all a negotiation so there is no right or wrong. I am in a similar situation at the moment, a delay due to something on my side (seller). Buyer told me he fully expects me to cough up the stamp duty. I was going to do that, but then he asked for a bunch of other things on top - so I am just hoping we complete before the deadline otherwise let's see

Crashy_Time

GDB2222 said:

stressedout45 said:

prestog said:

Yes, the buyer said quite a while ago that he wants to get it done well before the stamp duty deadline. 

Oh, don’t we all! Tell him to stop throwing his dummy out the pram.  

It depends how much is involved, and how crucial it is to the finances. For some buyers, it may mean the difference between having enough for the deposit, or not. For others, it may mean a lot more interest for years to come. 

Personally, I'd be worried that prices will drop after the SDLT deadline. So, why pay an inflated price AND the higher SDLT? 

Exactly  

Octothorpe

Honestly I understand them asking if you're the one holding up the chain. I personally would tell them no, I have my own bills to pay, thanks!

However everyone should have budgeted for it. If you can't afford the SD that's your problem not someone elses.

I cannot wait for the SD holiday to be done!!! 

sst1234

Octothorpe said:

Honestly I understand them asking if you're the one holding up the chain. I personally would tell them no, I have my own bills to pay, thanks!

However everyone should have budgeted for it. If you can't afford the SD that's your problem not someone elses.

I cannot wait for the SD holiday to be done!!! 

It is the vendor’s problem is the buyer pulls out. Sure they can take a hardline approach but then also needs to wait longer to sell their house. 

OP, I think the buyer is quite reasonable to ask this. Especially as the price of your house has the SDLT saving priced in. So if they benefit, of course they would look to save it another way. 

hazyjo

sst1234 said:

Octothorpe said:

Honestly I understand them asking if you're the one holding up the chain. I personally would tell them no, I have my own bills to pay, thanks!

However everyone should have budgeted for it. If you can't afford the SD that's your problem not someone elses.

I cannot wait for the SD holiday to be done!!! 

OP, I think the buyer is quite reasonable to ask this. Especially as the price of your house has the SDLT saving priced in. So if they benefit, of course they would look to save it another way. 

It's already been extended once, if the buyer offered way before the first extension and missed it, maybe. That's the people the extension set out to help. If they started after the extension and didn't budget for missing it, quite frankly they're, to put it very politely, "rather silly".

Gillby1

You may have tried this already, but you can see building regs documents online via your local council's planning website. They are free for anyone to view. Might be worth checking if you haven't already.

maisie_cat

I'm guessing that if BR dept cannot find it it may predate the digital records, and they are having trouble finding the fiche or originals.
We had to find a document from 1978 for our buyers although in the end they paid for indemnity to not hold up their purchase. The council found the paper records, scanned them and put them online but I was surprised they found them.
If the work is old you could simply pay for an unnecessary indemnity, that seems to be the thing now.

Grumpy_chap

prestog said:

I'm selling my property at the moment. We're almost there but I'm missing one document related to building regulations. 

There are currently searches in with the local council but they're not having much luck finding it. Basically we need to get this document so the sale can go ahead - until then, it's at a standstill. 

They seller is saying that if it runs over the stamp duty deadline, he'll ask that I pay the stamp duty or he'll pull out. Just wondering where I stand on this as technically it's my end that is holding up the sale due to this missing document. 

It is quite often possible to obtain indemnity insurance to cover the lack of building regulations certificate.
Is that possible in this case?
Will the buyer accept that?

If this is a solution, then the exchange and complete could still happen this month.

If this is a potential solution, but the buyer refuses to accept the insurance as an alternative, then that is the buyer's choice to delay the process and miss the SDLT deadline.

lookstraightahead

Surely an indemnity policy depends on how old the building work is? 

Either party is entitled to pull out whenever they want so either they will pull out or not - it's unlikely they will complete before the deadline now so all you can do is wait.

Grumpy_chap

lookstraightahead said:

Surely an indemnity policy depends on how old the building work is? 

Not really.

The Building Regulations Indemnity Insurance simply protects against an enforcement notice being served by the Council.  About as useful as a chocolate teapot, but if it gets the sale done, then a good spend:
https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2016/01/indemnity-insurance-building-regulations/

The insurance does not cover against the building works being sub-standard.  Like the rest of the property, that is for the buyer to do their surveys and caveat emptor.