Inheriting house

poseidon1

Albermarle said:

Thank you Lincroft for the heads up about the Council Tax. I hadn't thought of that. I think I can afford to pay it, at least in the short term.
There is no national rule about how empty houses are treated for council tax. You will need to check with your own local authority.

The news about the Chancellor potentially charging a tax for selling a house is a bit scary. We've only recently paid nearly £30k in stamp duty to buy the new house. So it would be a double whammy to have to pay again to downsize.

It is just speculation at this stage, as are all the rumours floating around about what may or may not appear in the budget. In any case if it did happen it would almost certainly only affect houses with a high value- a figure of £1.5 Million has been mentioned but again just guesswork by the media.

The rumour mill evidently in hyperdrive, but in the independent article below the hypothetical new surcharge on house sellers posits a ridiculously low £500k threshold.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reeves-property-tax-stamp-duty-house-prices-b2810180.html

I suppose all this speculation as to where taxes will be raised to fill the gaping black hole in nation's finances is indicative of how dire the position is.

With  interest costs on government borrowings exceeding £110  billion annually alone and debt pile broaching £3 trillion , clearly going take more than a finger in the proverbial dyke to redress the  imbalance between government receipts and government spending.

MeteredOut

Albermarle said:

Thank you Lincroft for the heads up about the Council Tax. I hadn't thought of that. I think I can afford to pay it, at least in the short term.
There is no national rule about how empty houses are treated for council tax. You will need to check with your own local authority.

The news about the Chancellor potentially charging a tax for selling a house is a bit scary. We've only recently paid nearly £30k in stamp duty to buy the new house. So it would be a double whammy to have to pay again to downsize.

It is just speculation at this stage, as are all the rumours floating around about what may or may not appear in the budget. In any case if it did happen it would almost certainly only affect houses with a high value- a figure of £1.5 Million has been mentioned but again just guesswork by the media.

All the reports I've seen at £500K plus, but with scant details (all regurgitating the same stuff), which would impact a significantly larger cohort of people.

I suspects its another "test the waters" leak. 

Albermarle

MeteredOut said:

Albermarle said:

Thank you Lincroft for the heads up about the Council Tax. I hadn't thought of that. I think I can afford to pay it, at least in the short term.
There is no national rule about how empty houses are treated for council tax. You will need to check with your own local authority.

The news about the Chancellor potentially charging a tax for selling a house is a bit scary. We've only recently paid nearly £30k in stamp duty to buy the new house. So it would be a double whammy to have to pay again to downsize.

It is just speculation at this stage, as are all the rumours floating around about what may or may not appear in the budget. In any case if it did happen it would almost certainly only affect houses with a high value- a figure of £1.5 Million has been mentioned but again just guesswork by the media.

All the reports I've seen at £500K plus, but with scant details (all regurgitating the same stuff), which would impact a significantly larger cohort of people.

I suspects it’s another "test the waters" leak. 

There were a number of media outlets reporting this morning that Rachel Reeves is considering a Mansion Tax.
Charging CGT on homes that are sold with a value in excess of £1.5 million.
No idea if it is true but sounds more politically acceptable than a level of £500k

poseidon1

Seems the £500k + property tax is a supposed  replacement for SDLT, but payable by sellers rather than buyers.

This seems separate and distinct from proposed CGT on £1.5 million + homes, which of course targets sellers as well.

Definite theme here targeting home owners  the last bastion of untaxed wealth?. These 'proposals' coupled with pre existing IHT exposure on homes seems to suggest a desire to unlock tax access to property wealth, which currently only a minority pay on death.