stamp duty

cat1_3

I have just found out that I will need to pay 3% stamp duty for buying my new house - there are books advertised on various websites about how to reduce/ get out of paying this in legal ways. I was wondering if any money savers had bought this, and whether it did save them any money - are the legal get-arounds easy to work or do you need to be an accountant / lawyer in your spare time to do it properly? appreciate any feedback.....

meanmachine_2

What do you mean you've just found out?!

Is the house you've just bought more than 250K? If so, then yes, you have to pay 3%. That's why houses often stick at the 250K threshold.

And no, it's unlikely you'll be able to get out of it. The govt's very hot on this issue now, I believe.

Maybe you could explain your circumstances. Give us more detail...

theGrinch

offer below £250k for the property

the other option is offer a reasonable amount for fixtures and fittings.

this is more likely to be sound for just over £250k.

cat1_3

I reserved a new build house, asking price £330,000; not realising until I spoke to solicitor's today that the stamp duty was £3%......... are there any ways that on new builds, the builder can assist in reducing Stamp duty/????
Last time I bought a house, the stamp duty was 1% !!

meanmachine_2

Wow, that's £9,000 you're going to have to find.

I'm guessing the last house you bought was less than £250K.

Welcome to the real world. It sucks, don't it?

lush_walrus

cat1 wrote:

I reserved a new build house, asking price £330,000; not realising until I spoke to solicitor's today that the stamp duty was £3%......... are there any ways that on new builds, the builder can assist in reducing Stamp duty/????
Last time I bought a house, the stamp duty was 1% !!

The only way to get the builder to contribute to the stamp duty is to ask. Some do some don't it will depend very much on how much profit they are already making, how quickly they need the sale to go through etc. Effectively if they do assist with the stamp duty, then what you are actually doing is asking them to reduce the price they will accept for the property. You will still be the person responsible for paying the stamp duty at the date of completion, but your solicitor will take the funds for you.

There really are no legal ways of reducing stamp duty, it is what it is and thats it. Probably the books that are offering ways around it are for properties close to the £250,000 threshold, and even then the only advice they can give is to pay certain amounts for different things. But the government is very hot on fixtures and fittings these days, so the most anyone can really get away with now is 1,000 over the asking price and that is the absolute most, unless you really want to pursue a life of crime!

GDB2222

cat1 wrote:

I reserved a new build house, asking price £330,000; not realising until I spoke to solicitor's today that the stamp duty was £3%......... are there any ways that on new builds, the builder can assist in reducing Stamp duty/????
Last time I bought a house, the stamp duty was 1% !!

What do you mean by 'reserved'? What documents did you sign? Have you handed over any sort of deposit?

Now you know about the stamp duty, I expect that you will want to renegotiate the price. Whether you can do this will depend upon what exactly you have signed, of course.

Stamp Duty mitigation schemes do come up from time to time, but the fee is likely to be 25% to 30% of the duty 'saved' without any guarantees that the scheme will actually work. There may well be a minimum fee of £5/10k.

Good luck.