Second house stamp duty on briefly overlapping property?
Discussion
Evening all,
The parents are looking to move house, and are in the extremely fortunate position where they could buy the new house without needing to sell the old one first. As well as the obvious advantages this will bring to the negotiating table, it would also massively smooth the moving process by allowing us to do it on our own time over a few days before marketing an empty house ready to go.
Unfortunately, it seems that I hadn't factored into this plan that the new house would count as a second home and attract an extra £60k in stamp duty.....
So my question is, is there some sort of mechanism to allow for this overlap? Surely we can't be the first people to be in the situation, there must be plenty of people who've jumped on a new house but struggled to sell their old house in time due to the vagaries of The Chain.... Someone mentioned that there was a temporary relief that can be claimed as an SD refund once the old house is sold, but I haven't been able to find much concrete information on it - and of course, how much do we trust this government to actually uphold their end of the deal on that given the current state of financial incompetence?
Any answers gratefully received!
The parents are looking to move house, and are in the extremely fortunate position where they could buy the new house without needing to sell the old one first. As well as the obvious advantages this will bring to the negotiating table, it would also massively smooth the moving process by allowing us to do it on our own time over a few days before marketing an empty house ready to go.
Unfortunately, it seems that I hadn't factored into this plan that the new house would count as a second home and attract an extra £60k in stamp duty.....
So my question is, is there some sort of mechanism to allow for this overlap? Surely we can't be the first people to be in the situation, there must be plenty of people who've jumped on a new house but struggled to sell their old house in time due to the vagaries of The Chain.... Someone mentioned that there was a temporary relief that can be claimed as an SD refund once the old house is sold, but I haven't been able to find much concrete information on it - and of course, how much do we trust this government to actually uphold their end of the deal on that given the current state of financial incompetence?
Any answers gratefully received!

We did this....but it was seven years ago, so things may of changed.
We had to pay the extra stamp duty in full. But, as long as we sold within a certain period (was it 18 months?) which we did, we got a refund.
Getting the refund was a simple form filling process.
But, as I say that was seven years ago.
We had to pay the extra stamp duty in full. But, as long as we sold within a certain period (was it 18 months?) which we did, we got a refund.
Getting the refund was a simple form filling process.
But, as I say that was seven years ago.
I did this last year. Bought a new build and sold another property a bit later (6 months).
Our solicitor sorted it all out and charged us the stamp duty on the second home on completion then gave us a link to claim a refund once the first property sale went through.
Money was back in our account within 2 weeks of completion, it was easy.
The solicitor will sort it all for them.
Our solicitor sorted it all out and charged us the stamp duty on the second home on completion then gave us a link to claim a refund once the first property sale went through.
Money was back in our account within 2 weeks of completion, it was easy.
The solicitor will sort it all for them.
I did this a few years ago, stump up the cash and pay the tax. I think you have 3 years to sell one property (but don't quote me on that).
You need the utrn from the sale of the property, it took me about 5 mins to enter the relevant details online and I had my 15k sat in my bank in under 10 days I think, I was surprised how straight forward it was!
We had a 4 month overlap, aside from paying council tax on two properties (although I claimed for 1 month free on each), it made the whole moving process blissful. Gave us strong purchasing power and allowed us to be flexible for the buyer of my first house. If cashflow allows I'd definitely try and do it this way again.
You need the utrn from the sale of the property, it took me about 5 mins to enter the relevant details online and I had my 15k sat in my bank in under 10 days I think, I was surprised how straight forward it was!
We had a 4 month overlap, aside from paying council tax on two properties (although I claimed for 1 month free on each), it made the whole moving process blissful. Gave us strong purchasing power and allowed us to be flexible for the buyer of my first house. If cashflow allows I'd definitely try and do it this way again.
Edited by Cats_pyjamas on Monday 25th August 21:14
After selling the first main residence property you can apply online for the refund of extra SDLT paid on the second main residence property.
Apply for a repayment of 3% Stamp Duty Land Tax
(was 3% for me)
Form asks for...
What is the Unique Transaction Reference Number (UTRN) of the property that you paid the higher rate on? (Being your new second property and new current main residence and you can get this from your solicitor when you purchase your current main residence.)
Then
Address of your previous main residence which has now been sold?
What was the tax paid on the original return?
What is the new total amount of tax?
Refund amount?
Bank or building society account details?
Money appears in your bank in a few days.
Apply for a repayment of 3% Stamp Duty Land Tax
(was 3% for me)
Form asks for...
What is the Unique Transaction Reference Number (UTRN) of the property that you paid the higher rate on? (Being your new second property and new current main residence and you can get this from your solicitor when you purchase your current main residence.)
Then
Address of your previous main residence which has now been sold?
What was the tax paid on the original return?
What is the new total amount of tax?
Refund amount?
Bank or building society account details?
Money appears in your bank in a few days.
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