Land Registry questions

bikeman17 wrote: »

My girlfriend and I looking to buy a flat together. I own a house on BTL. Would I need to pay the 3% extra tax on the second property. We are currently renting.

Maybe. From the consultation document:

"A owns both a main residence and a second home. She sells her main residence and purchases a new one. Although she has two properties at the end of the day of the transaction, she has replaced her main residence so the higher rates will not apply."

Unfortunately for you, you can't sell your rented main residence so this doesn't apply to you. Rarely it could make sense to buy a cheap interest in a place first so you do fall within this exemption.

However, only you own, not your girlfriend.

Did you ever sell a place that was your main residence? If you ever did, however long ago, that's enough to get you out of it if you complete before 26 November 2018.

Did she ever sell? If you're married on the day of completion that would save you, but not if you aren't. Provided completion is before 26 November 2018.

Is the BTL worth more than £40,000? Is the part owned by you worth more than £40,000? Will you still own a portion worth more than £40,000 at the time of the purchase?

The part you're buying also has to be worth more than £40,000 for the tax to be due. You could be able to buy less than that.

Have a read of The all-important rule that could see you escape paying higher rates of Stamp Duty The rules are quite complicated so getting advice from the solicitor you plan to use for conveyancing would be sensible.

The easy answer is yes but that assumes the flat is in a non-cheap area and it is worth thinking about the no cases because they might apply now or by the time of completion.

Instead of saying what I posted is wrong, try doing what I did and pointing to a reputable source that says so and contradicts the one I gave. if you do and it shows I'm wrong I'll be happy to edit my post to incorporate the correction.

What Mojilola quoted is an accidentally posted incomplete draft that was accidentally posted. The text in the draft wasn't complete and that meant it was wrong when it was posted.

bikeman17 can simply read the source i linked to, consider the value of the property, consider whether they might get married before completion and consider whether it's worth doing any transactions involving the BTL property that might improve their position.

Part of what I try to do here is explain and point to possible ways that the position can be improved. No just guess at a property value, whether they might or might not plan to get married before completion or whether one of them might have previously sold a residence.

G_M wrote: »

The only way you can avoid the additional SDLT would be to first sell your BTL property.

That is not necessarily true, as the source I linked to explains. The easiest way to avoid it is just to be under the value threshold but either of them having sold a residence before could do that if they plan to get married before completion and if completion happens within the time limit. And so says the reputable source I linked to, so if you believe otherwise, you might try linking to a reputable source saying otherwise.