We are just in the process of puchasing a property that we plan to rent out or do up and sell on later. This will be a joint purchase with my wife and I and her two sons. It is a cash purchase, although we are raising some of this from a second mortgage on our own house. Both the two boys would be first time buyers, but my wife and I aren't. Is there any simple, legal way to avoid the stamp duty, e.g. by putting the house just into their names, and us lending them the money, or setting-up some sort of trust or something? Any suggestions appreciated. Cheers, Phil.
Avoiding Stamp Duty on joint house purchase
Apr 07, 2010
3 Replies
If there is a way of avoiding stamp duty on investment property, I'd suggest it is something that the government would be looking to close and HMRC would give the benefit of the doubt against the buyer.
The public policy behind the concession is to encourage owner occupation.
Assuming you mean up to the 250K purchase price, you are immediately out of scope for this regardless of the name it is bought in.
tim
Yes I forgot to say the price is above the new threshold for first time buyers, but below 250K The youngest is a student currently away at university, so the property could become his main residence, he could stay there over the summer if we don't find a tenant straight away, or if we decide to do it up to sell rather than rent it..
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