Claim refund on additional SDLT on second home after selling first home

okigen

Does anyone have experience in claiming refund for the additional stamp duty in this scenario?

• We are living in Property A. Mortgage is solely under my name. It is residential mortgage which requires me to use it as my main residence.
• We want to buy property B, which will trigger the 5% additional SDLT. With our joint income and savings we will be able to buy it without selling A first. 
• Property A will be sold after property B is purchased.
• Due to the residential mortgage requirement, I assume I will need to stay in property A until it is sold. My partner will move straight to property B.

In this scenario, will we be able to claim refund to the additional stamp duty paid for B?

SDLT_Geek

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6663564/claim-refund-on-additional-sdlt-on-second-home-after-selling-first-home

Yes, assuming that either:

(a) your partner has no interests in other properties (directly or indirectly) for the purposes of the 5% surcharge, or

(b) that you are and your partner are spouses or in a civil partnership

then it seems you should meet all of the conditions for recovery of the extra 5% SDLT paid on property B if the sale of property A completes within three years.

It is a matter of checking that all four of the conditions in the guidance here are met: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm09800

I wonder if in practice the lender for property A will require you to carry on living there? I can see that they would not want it let out. It is important for SDLT purposes that property B is bought with the intention that it will become your only or main residence.

okigen

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81957692#Comment_81957692

Great, thank you for the link.

Re lender, I suppose the main risk is the empty property may have higher risk of being broken into or damaged.