In the latest budget it was announced that homes under £250,000 will not be subject to stamp duty. This "stamp duty holiday" will last for two years and only applies to first time buyers. In addition, an increase in stamp duty for properties worth more than £1m has been suggested to begin in
April 2011, well after the election.
Following the announcement, there was so much confusion regarding the new policies that the Treasury's website crashed as it was unable to deal with the numbers of users trying to scour its pages for answers.
Here, Northfields tries to answer some of the more common questions:
Question: If I just completed on a property in February, can I claim the stamp duty back?
Answer: Unfortunately, no. The stamp duty holiday is not retrospective.
Question: My partner has never owned a home, but I have. If my partner and I buy a property together will we qualify as first time buyers?
Answer: The HMRC advises that:
"The purchaser must not, either alone or with others, have previously
acquired a major interest in land which includes residential property,
or an equivalent interest in land situated anywhere in the world."
Put more simply, that rules you out as joint
purchasers because one of you has previously owned a home.
However,the HMRC has advised that one way around this is to purchase the property in your partner's name only as they would be a genuine first-time buyer and would therefore be able to benefit from the stamp duty holiday.
Question:
I am originally from outside the UK. I used to own property in my home country, but I now live in rental property here in the UK, do I qualify for the stamp duty relief?
Answer: Simply, no. You can't have previously owned a property anywhere in the world.
Still have questions? You can call the Stamp Taxes Helpline on 0845 603 0135 or go to the HMRC website for its guidance or alternatively call Northfileds on 0208 840 6666.
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