We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Buying separate items during house sale

Can someone please settle an argument..

As example , you buy a house at an accepted price of 500k and then the owner says they would include/leave a sit on lawnmower, hedge trimmer and some garden furniture for a agreed price.

Does the amount for the lawnmower etc get added onto the house price or is it paid for separately.

My husband is worrying it will be added on which would then push us into the next stamp duty threshold, I've said it will be sold separately and will not be included in the total and not therefore effect stamp duty at all.

«1

Comments

  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 19,903 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 17 July at 9:50PM

    As long as the price is genuine (and you're not trying to pretend that you're paying £100k for the contents of the shed) then it's not included for stamp duty purposes.

    In any event, your husband may be out of date with how the stamp duty is calculated - even if you're "into the next threshold", the higher percentage only applies to the bit over the threshold, not the whole price.

  • Sooz1966
    Sooz1966 Posts: 51 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper

    Are the 'extras' being handled by your solicitor? If so, I'd be worried they were being tied into the purchase price; might be worth a discussion with them to clarify. We negotiated a price for some items with our seller during our 2nd visit and will pay cash when we move in - in our mind, this is no different to buying the stuff off her if she advertised them on FB and nothing to do with our solicitors or EA.

  • TroubledTarts
    TroubledTarts Posts: 1,032 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper

    Always advise the solicitor this is a separate arrangement and that if there are extra fees these are to be paid by the purchaser.

    We have always been requested for a few of our items as I dabbled for many years in interior design so we have never sold a house without a separate arrangement for items and our last solicitor charged £150 for handling this.

  • jimi_man
    jimi_man Posts: 1,547 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper

    Unless they are first time buyers, in which case what the OP says is correct. Stamp duty at £500k is £10k. At £501K it's £15k plus a bit.

  • RelievedSheff
    RelievedSheff Posts: 13,090 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic

    We bought a few items from the sellers of our house. We paid for them separately through Facebook Market Place.

  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 19,903 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper

    Why would that be worrying? Surely it makes sense for it to be part of the same contract, otherwise how is the buyer or seller going to enforce it?

  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 25,123 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts I've been Money Tipped! Name Dropper

    My buyer bought a few bits from me.

    My solicitor advised me that it was a private arrangement between the buyer and me.

  • Sooz1966
    Sooz1966 Posts: 51 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper

    Because a higher purchase price means higher SD, higher EA and solicitor fees (if you're on a % contract). Sure, you might face an issue with someone not paying up but not sure how likely this would be. Most people, in my experience, are basically decent and honest.

  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 19,903 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper

    Like I said above, the additional price doesn't come into stamp duty, and I've never heard of it coming into EA or solicitor fees either. It's just a separate item in the contract.

  • MyRealNameToo
    MyRealNameToo Posts: 4,933 Forumite
    1,000 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper

    Speak to your solicitor on how best to structure it, when we bought our last place the vendor listed a host of items they were willing to sell us and we declined them all as their prices were silly. When we moved in they had left about half of them anyway.

    On a previous sale, the solicitor handled it all including the fittings we sold to the buyer but the listed sale price was excluding them. As other have said, it used to be a basic tax evasion scheme to buy the house for £100,000 and pay £150,000 for the stuff left in it

Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 355.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.7K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 456K Spending & Discounts
  • 248K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 605.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.9K Life & Family
  • 263.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.