Stamp Duty

[yajeed]

I was hoping someone would be able to help me understand whether stamp duty would be payable in this situation:

- A percentage of a shared ownership house owned
- The house being sold as a whole (rather than continuing with shared ownership)

Technically, the transaction would include:

1) Buying the property in it's entirety (known as staircasing I believe)
2) Immediately selling it

A quick Google revealed this could benefit from 'sub-sale relief' - see here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance...

However, solicitors are making noises that it's no longer possible to do that, and therefore there would be a substantial stamp duty liability.

[yajeed]

I've spoken to 3 solicitors, none of which are prepared to give a definitive answer.

Full stamp duty wasn't paid on purchase.

So, full stamp duty would be owing despite never (really) owning most of the property and then the purchaser would pay the same too?

[yajeed]

Ok, thanks.

So, it sounds like you either need to sell the two shares to a buyer separately or stick to selling just the share (and be at the mercy of the housing association and their sales team).