SDLT for Linked Transaction and FTB

se2020

Hi all,
Bit of a complicated stamp duty question.

I am a first time buyer.

I am looking to purchase a house (£350k) and an adjoining agricultural field (£100k) Both from the same seller.

I presumed I would exchange/complete on the cottage first, pay £0 in stamp duty.
Then exchange/complete on the field and pay £3000 in stamp duty.

Solicitor has informed me that these are 'linked transactions' so I will actually just pay stamp duty on the total value of £450k

With FYB relief that would only be £1250.

However,  solicitor also thinks that I will be unable to claim FTB relief as obviously one of these purchases can not be my first property.
Hence stamp duty of £12000

I have tried using the .gov sdlt caculator however it only let's me choose FTB status on a residential purchase. Not on a non-residential (mixed-use) purchase.

I would be living in the cottage as my only residence. 

Solicitor also wants £325/hr to advise further on this so I thought I'd ask here first!!

SDLT_Geek

se2020 said:

Hi all,
Bit of a complicated stamp duty question.

I am a first time buyer.

I am looking to purchase a house (£350k) and an adjoining agricultural field (£100k) Both from the same seller.

I presumed I would exchange/complete on the cottage first, pay £0 in stamp duty.
Then exchange/complete on the field and pay £3000 in stamp duty.

Solicitor has informed me that these are 'linked transactions' so I will actually just pay stamp duty on the total value of £450k

With FYB relief that would only be £1250.

However,  solicitor also thinks that I will be unable to claim FTB relief as obviously one of these purchases can not be my first property.
Hence stamp duty of £12000

I have tried using the .gov sdlt caculator however it only let's me choose FTB status on a residential purchase. Not on a non-residential (mixed-use) purchase.

I would be living in the cottage as my only residence. 

Solicitor also wants £325/hr to advise further on this so I thought I'd ask here first!!

First time buyers relief is not available if there is a linked transaction which includes something which is not part of the garden or grounds of the house. 

The relief is not available for a mixed property transaction.

se2020

Thanks!

The land is currently not in use. Was previously used for grazing horses but, either way,  it is not part of thebgrounds or garden so it looks like I'd need to find another £9k from somewhere!

To save opening another thread,
Will I still be able to use the funds from a LISA towards the purchase of the cottage?

BonaDea

Is it not possible to make them two transactions, one occurring later than the other?  I don't know how long the delay would have to be to 'unlink' them though or what other criteria would need to be met.  But for several thousand ££s a bit of head-scratching might be worth it?

se2020

BonaDea said:

Is it not possible to make them two transactions, one occurring later than the other?  I don't know how long the delay would have to be to 'unlink' them though or what other criteria would need to be met.  But for several thousand ££s a bit of head-scratching might be worth it?

I don't know.
It is a bit annoying that I would have to pay significantly more stamp duty than a normal FTB just because I am buying some land as well.

The issue with separating the 2 transactions though is the cottage is not very nice. The only real attraction for me is that it is available with some land. 
Also, the land is not very nice either!
It's only having both together that attracts me. I would not want to risk exchanging contracts on one of them then the seller pulling out of the other so I really need it to go through as a linked transaction to ensure I can buy both of them.

user1977

BonaDea said:

Is it not possible to make them two transactions, one occurring later than the other?  I don't know how long the delay would have to be to 'unlink' them though or what other criteria would need to be met.  But for several thousand ££s a bit of head-scratching might be worth it?

Not really plausible that the transactions are entirely unrelated, when the OP is talking about them in the same breath.