Chattels valuation: is it proportionate?

propertyrental

No ebay seller would expect, or get, prices anywhere near those. 2nd hand goods are not worth much.

And HMRC are not stupid. They look carefully at contracts where the price is at, or near, a SDLT threshold, and will almost certainly conclude that the chattels are over-priced as a mechanism to keep the property price below the threshold.

Albermarle

p00hsticks said:

Albermarle said:

Maybe HMRC would take a different view, but would they really be interested in arguing over a thousand Pounds here of there?

In this case it's going to be a bit more than 'a thousand pounds here or there' though, isn't it ?

It's not just the value of the chattels, its the impact they have on SDLT. 

by my calculation (please correct me if I'm wrong), first time buyers paying £625k would pay £10k SDLT (5% on 625k - 425,001) whereas at £630k, too high to benefit from the first time buyer relief, it would be £19k ( 5% on 630k - 250,001)
Stamp Duty Land Tax: Residential property rates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

I think the difference is big enough to attract HMRC's attention, as it will be pretty obvious that it's an effort to avoid a higher SDLT bill. 
  

Fair comment, but IF the chattels are generally good quality/good condition, then I think you could have a good attempt at justifying £3,500 for a ready furnished house. Maybe need some photo evidence.

 I had a quick look just now and the price of a used bed and mattress is closer to 100, nothing like the 400 you put down.

New beds and mattresses can cost hundreds or thousands. A good quality second hand bed in situ, has more value than a random one on e bay that you have to arrange delivery of etc.
The reality is that without physically inspecting the contents of the house, nobody can say what the value is.

GDB2222

Albermarle said:

p00hsticks said:

Albermarle said:

Maybe HMRC would take a different view, but would they really be interested in arguing over a thousand Pounds here of there?

In this case it's going to be a bit more than 'a thousand pounds here or there' though, isn't it ?

It's not just the value of the chattels, its the impact they have on SDLT. 

by my calculation (please correct me if I'm wrong), first time buyers paying £625k would pay £10k SDLT (5% on 625k - 425,001) whereas at £630k, too high to benefit from the first time buyer relief, it would be £19k ( 5% on 630k - 250,001)
Stamp Duty Land Tax: Residential property rates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

I think the difference is big enough to attract HMRC's attention, as it will be pretty obvious that it's an effort to avoid a higher SDLT bill. 
  

Fair comment, but IF the chattels are generally good quality/good condition, then I think you could have a good attempt at justifying £3,500 for a ready furnished house. Maybe need some photo evidence.

 I had a quick look just now and the price of a used bed and mattress is closer to 100, nothing like the 400 you put down.

New beds and mattresses can cost hundreds or thousands. A good quality second hand bed in situ, has more value than a random one on e bay that you have to arrange delivery of etc.
The reality is that without physically inspecting the contents of the house, nobody can say what the value is.

It may be okay for the OP to have stuff already in the flat, but it works both ways. The vendor is spared the cost of moving everything out.  It's quite likely that the landlord would happily give the contents away for nothing with the flat, to save the cost of disposing of it.

This is clearly an attempt by the estate agent to push some of the flat purchase price onto essentially worthless chattels. There's a good chance of the OP being saddled with a large SDLT charge if he goes along with it.