Stamp duty - am I second owner for 7 days?

[PHlL]

Hi all,

Getting conflicting advise from my conveyancers (buying one property & selling an other with different solicitors - don't ask)

I will be completing on buying a property on the 10th December.

I will be completing the sale of the other property on the 17th December.


The buying solicitor is not happy to file stamp duty that isn't declaring it's a second home. I do somewhat agree, for 7 days it could be argued I own a second home.

My understanding is you don't have to file for up to 14 days after the transaction, i.e by the 24th December, and at this point I'll only have one house again.

Is it as simple as just holding out filing, or should I be paying the second home premium, and then claiming it back afterwards. The latter seems very over the top and could do without loosing the cashflow.

[Mr_Megalomaniac]

I'm not entirely certain but I had thought you can claim that back if you sell the other property within 3 years (providing it is the main residence)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stamp-d...
Not sure what the impact is with regard to cash flow. Hopefully someone else will know a bit more.

[PistonGuy66]

A mate of my wife has bought another house as her main house,and there is a little lap over with selling the old house ( if that makes sence) and im sure she isnt paying 2nd home tax? Im not an expert but im sure you can? There will be loads on here that will know for sure?
Just add,by the time they piss about sorting it out you will probly have moved in and painted the house! Lol

Edited by PistonGuy66 on Tuesday 24th November 19:52

[NickCQ]

PHlL said:

I will be completing on buying a property on the 10th December.
I will be completing the sale of the other property on the 17th December.

When are you exchanging on both? Are those dates more helpful / non-overlapping?

[Caddyshack]

I would have thought that technically you pay the extra and as long as there are no other properties in the background you then claim back the extra paid as the previous has sold within the window. Seems daft though and you would hope that a call to hmrc would have a dispensation to not bother them with the ag.

If it was the same conveyancer on both I am sure they would have Found a workaround.

[sociopath]

NickCQ said:

PHlL said:

I will be completing on buying a property on the 10th December.
I will be completing the sale of the other property on the 17th December.

When are you exchanging on both? Are those dates more helpful / non-overlapping?

This is a good point as hmrc work on exchange dates not completion, so the countdown to declare cgt etc is from exchange, as I luckily found out just in time

[PHlL]

sociopath said:

NickCQ said:

PHlL said:

I will be completing on buying a property on the 10th December.
I will be completing the sale of the other property on the 17th December.

When are you exchanging on both? Are those dates more helpful / non-overlapping?

This is a good point as hmrc work on exchange dates not completion, so the countdown to declare cgt etc is from exchange, as I luckily found out just in time

Do they? Slightly worried now I may not of declared when I should of done. I'd of assumed (and sounds possibly incorrectly), it was completion.

I exchanged to buy the new property way back in April - off plan build, knew it would be December time. Exchanged on the sale of the other property only on the 17th November with a month to completion.