Stamp Duty and marital status question

caler

Hi all, first time poster. 

My ex and I are selling our house and each buying our own property (sales costs and benefits all being split evenly, nothing acrimonious, etc). We’re still married at present and I’ve seen that, essentially, whoever buys second will be liable for the higher rate of stamp duty. 

My question is would a legal separation (not divorce yet, but it will happen) mean that both of us pay the standard (non-married) Stamp Duty charge? No other properties owned, etc. 

Hope this make sense and any advice / experience would be appreciated.

DE_612183

I think you should be ok as long as the transactions don't happen on the same day - basically you have to buy a property whoich will be your main residence so avoid ythe high rate. Are you each buying new properties or is one being transferred from 50% / 50% to 100% ownership?

caler

Hi there, thanks for the response. 

We’re each buying new properties post-sale of current property. We’ll end up with 50% of the ‘take home’ of the sale, and will then be separately purchasing our respective main residences. 

Just for my clarity, do you mean we should be fine if we were legally separated? I’m assuming so but just want to check!

DE_612183

Check with your solicitor - but your status should not make any difference as you are individuals.

caler

Managed to get clarity from HMRC. It seems to be fine, and we don’t have to be legally separated either - just intending to and that HMRC reserve the right to check we haven’t pulled a fast one. 

I can’t post links yet but googling SDLTM00550 takes you to the page where the guidance resides. 🤓

silvercar

DE_612183 said:

Check with your solicitor - but your status should not make any difference as you are individuals.

The issue here is that a married couple can only have one PPR between them. Splitting up mean here that each are buying their own, so the question is at what point hmrc accepts that they shouldn’t be treated as a married couple.