Loss of Stamp Duty discount for married couples

Khamp

user1977 said:

born_again said:

Afraid if you want 1st time buyer status. Then you are going to have to purchase it yourself get divorced first.

Fixed that for you!

Hahaha it's ridiculous, but yes getting divorced would benefit the situation! 

Khamp

p00hsticks said:

Khamp said:

Can someone please help me decipher the stamp duty rules for married couples? It seems this is very unknown as I'm in quite a unique situation that my solicitors haven't dealt with before. 

I'd be worrying out the competency of your solicitors. I - it's nowhere near a 'unique situation' and similar cases and queries crop up regularly on these boards

Also very happy with the competency of my solicitors, not their fault they haven't had the exact situation I'm in before. 

Grumpy_chap

Khamp said:

Can someone please help me decipher the stamp duty rules for married couples? It seems this is very unknown as I'm in quite a unique situation that my solicitors haven't dealt with before. 

My wife co-owns a home with her Mum from before we were married- I have never lived in or contributed financially to this property.

I am looking to buy my first home on my own (my wife will not be on the mortgage or the deeds) and therefore expected to qualify for stamp duty relief as a first time buyer. 

However I found this on HMRC:

'If you’re married or in a civil partnership

The rules apply to you both as if you were buying the property together, even if you’re not.

If either of you individually have to pay the higher rates, you must pay the higher rates for the transaction as a whole (unless you’re permanently separated).'

Is this really the case? As this puts my stamp duty bill from £875 to £22,900 just because my wife owns a property already, even though she's not involved in the purchase of my new property? 

This does arise quite regularly.

Why does your wife own part of a property with her Mother?
I ask because, based on these boards, it seems quite common that parents transfer part of a property to children to avoid IHT and without any consideration for the outcomes that could follow (as well as failing to achieve the initial intent with regard to IHT).

user1977

Khamp said:

p00hsticks said:

Khamp said:

Can someone please help me decipher the stamp duty rules for married couples? It seems this is very unknown as I'm in quite a unique situation that my solicitors haven't dealt with before. 

I'd be worrying out the competency of your solicitors. I - it's nowhere near a 'unique situation' and similar cases and queries crop up regularly on these boards

Also very happy with the competency of my solicitors, not their fault they haven't had the exact situation I'm in before. 

They should be able to give advice about things they haven't encountered before (obviously they had to do that for everything else at some point!) and this is not a particularly obscure point, as evidenced by the number of times we've had similar queries here.

Khamp

Grumpy_chap said:

Khamp said:

Can someone please help me decipher the stamp duty rules for married couples? It seems this is very unknown as I'm in quite a unique situation that my solicitors haven't dealt with before. 

My wife co-owns a home with her Mum from before we were married- I have never lived in or contributed financially to this property.

I am looking to buy my first home on my own (my wife will not be on the mortgage or the deeds) and therefore expected to qualify for stamp duty relief as a first time buyer. 

However I found this on HMRC:

'If you’re married or in a civil partnership

The rules apply to you both as if you were buying the property together, even if you’re not.

If either of you individually have to pay the higher rates, you must pay the higher rates for the transaction as a whole (unless you’re permanently separated).'

Is this really the case? As this puts my stamp duty bill from £875 to £22,900 just because my wife owns a property already, even though she's not involved in the purchase of my new property? 

This does arise quite regularly.

Why does your wife own part of a property with her Mother?
I ask because, based on these boards, it seems quite common that parents transfer part of a property to children to avoid IHT and without any consideration for the outcomes that could follow (as well as failing to achieve the initial intent with regard to IHT).

Nothing related to IHT, they simply bought the house to live in together. My mother in law will continue to live there, hence the 'additional home' stamp duty applying to my wife in this situation. 

Khamp

user1977 said:

Khamp said:

p00hsticks said:

Khamp said:

Can someone please help me decipher the stamp duty rules for married couples? It seems this is very unknown as I'm in quite a unique situation that my solicitors haven't dealt with before. 

I'd be worrying out the competency of your solicitors. I - it's nowhere near a 'unique situation' and similar cases and queries crop up regularly on these boards

Also very happy with the competency of my solicitors, not their fault they haven't had the exact situation I'm in before. 

They should be able to give advice about things they haven't encountered before (obviously they had to do that for everything else at some point!) and this is not a particularly obscure point, as evidenced by the number of times we've had similar queries here.

As I said, apologies for not being able to find this situation on here before!