Do I have to pay stamp duty for owning a property 2 years ago

blueskies9494

Hi all 
I’m about to begin proceedings to buy a house with my partner. He is a first time buyer, but I owned a house with my ex (bought august 2018 and sold July 2020). Neither of us own properties now, and our broker mentioned we would likely have to pay stamp duty as I’m not a FTB. 

However on gov.uk it says this: 

First-time buyers

From 1 July 2021, you’ll get a discount (relief) that means you’ll pay less or no tax if both the following apply:

• you, and anyone else you’re buying with, are first-time buyers
• the purchase price is £500,000 or less

You’ll also be eligible for this discount if you bought your first home before 8 July 2020.

The last sentence looks to me like I might be exempt if I bought my first house before 2020? Has anyone had anything similar? I can’t seem to see any clear advice anywhere and I really want to know if we’re gonna be shafted out of another £6-£12k! 

Thanks 

user1977

No, it's yet another example of badly-worded advice on a gov.uk site. They mean the FTB relief applied before 8 July 2020 i.e. on the tax payable on your first purchase, not that you regain your FTB "virginity" for the purposes of a purchase now.

SDLT_Geek

blueskies9494 said:

Hi all 
I’m about to begin proceedings to buy a house with my partner. He is a first time buyer, but I owned a house with my ex (bought august 2018 and sold July 2020). Neither of us own properties now, and our broker mentioned we would likely have to pay stamp duty as I’m not a FTB. 

However on gov.uk it says this: 

First-time buyers

From 1 July 2021, you’ll get a discount (relief) that means you’ll pay less or no tax if both the following apply:

• you, and anyone else you’re buying with, are first-time buyers
• the purchase price is £500,000 or less

You’ll also be eligible for this discount if you bought your first home before 8 July 2020.

The last sentence looks to me like I might be exempt if I bought my first house before 2020? Has anyone had anything similar? I can’t seem to see any clear advice anywhere and I really want to know if we’re gonna be shafted out of another £6-£12k! 

Thanks 

Because you are not a first time buyer you would not get the benefit of the SDLT relief (worth up to £5,000).

secla

nope, i last owned a home in 2010 and im going to have to pay full stamp

saajan_12

blueskies9494 said:

Hi all 
I’m about to begin proceedings to buy a house with my partner. He is a first time buyer, but I owned a house with my ex (bought august 2018 and sold July 2020). Neither of us own properties now, and our broker mentioned we would likely have to pay stamp duty as I’m not a FTB. 

However on gov.uk it says this: 

First-time buyers

From 1 July 2021, you’ll get a discount (relief) that means you’ll pay less or no tax if both the following apply:

• you, and anyone else you’re buying with, are first-time buyers
• the purchase price is £500,000 or less

You’ll also be eligible for this discount if you bought your first home before 8 July 2020.

The last sentence looks to me like I might be exempt if I bought my first house before 2020? Has anyone had anything similar? I can’t seem to see any clear advice anywhere and I really want to know if we’re gonna be shafted out of another £6-£12k! 

Thanks 

No, you're misunderstanding - they mean if you're purchasing THIS property from 1st July 2021 or before 8th July 2020, and meet both of the bulleted conditions then you get the FTB discount. Not as an alternative for not meeting one of the conditions.