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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why this house was so cheap?

42 replies

user1498911589 · 22/04/2018 09:45

A house in the next road was sold about 6 months ago, the same person is still living there and the sale price was £10,000. We're about to put our house on the market so I was looking to get an idea of what others had sold for.

Why would a house, even with a sitting tenant, sell for this little?

OP posts:
SweetMoon · 22/04/2018 09:47

Sold to a family member at a discount price?

motorpink · 22/04/2018 09:48

Yeah that's just a private arrangement likely between family

CrazyOldBagLady · 22/04/2018 09:48

Maybe it was sold to a relative to avoid inheritance tax and stamp duty? Or maybe to the tenant if they had lived there a long time and had paid rent to the equivalent of the house’s worth?

xyzandabc · 22/04/2018 09:48

Owned by 2 people, one buying the other out of their share?

imsorryiasked · 22/04/2018 09:48

Depends where you are I guess. But was it definitely the house or eg a bit of the garden?

divadee · 22/04/2018 09:49

My ex husband inherited half a property that he bought his sister put of her half. It skewed the sale prices on the road for a good few years. I would expect something like that has happened here.

ButchyRestingFace · 22/04/2018 09:49

Can you check whether it was actually marketed or just sold straight to the new "owner"?

Original poster
user1498911589 · 22/04/2018 09:51

Maybe it was sold to a relative to avoid inheritance tax and stamp duty?

It could have been, the man living there is elderly and lives alone.

OP posts:
LakieLady · 22/04/2018 10:03

If it's been sold though an agent you can sometimes look up the sale details on Zoopla. That might give you a clue.

Lacucuracha · 22/04/2018 10:07

Are people allowed to sell houses for significantly less than their value to avoid inheritance tax?

ButchyRestingFace · 22/04/2018 10:09

Are people allowed to sell houses for significantly less than their value to avoid inheritance tax?

I was wondering that myself. It sounds like a jolly good wheeze but whether it would be construed as intentional deprivation of capital or whatever it's called these days...

Justmuddlingalong · 22/04/2018 10:11

Buy out of a co owner's share. I did it and it shows as the amount I paid before taking over the mortgage.

AnitaLovesVictor · 22/04/2018 10:15

Are people allowed to sell houses for significantly less than their value to avoid inheritance tax?

Not legally, no.

iffyjiffybag · 22/04/2018 10:17

Equity release?

bonbonlavie · 22/04/2018 10:18

Remortgage?

PumpkinPiloter · 22/04/2018 10:19

When I lived in a certain area of London it was not unusual for people from certain communities to offer you a small amount for your house but offer you a few 100 thousand for your furniture. Simply to avoid stamp duty.

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 22/04/2018 10:20

There msy have been an equity release that involved the transfer of part of the title

It maybe a property that is rented to the current owner and the owners hsve transferred the mortgage free share to someone else or into a limited company/partnership

You can order the title deeds for around £3 and get further info

tenbob · 22/04/2018 10:21

pumpkin
That loophole has been closed for a long time.
You have to provide proof you're paying the market value for any fixtures and fittings now.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 22/04/2018 10:24

I've seen one two like this - in a relatively expensive seaside area, sold for around half the market value. Occasionally I think it can be down to a dodgy estate agent convincing some elderly and very naive or clueless person that it's a fair price.

If it's an inheritance tax dodge, which seems likely, then AFAIK it's an offence and if the taxman hears of it, they could be in trouble.
Whichever, it does sound to me like a major fiddle.

Huskylover1 · 22/04/2018 10:29

Guaranteed, they will have taken a second mortgage out on the property, to pay for something like a new kitchen.

When my exH bought me out of our property, he got a second mortgage, and the house then showed on Zoopla as being worth the amount he bought me out for, NOT the properties real value.

NorbertTheDragon · 22/04/2018 10:32

Shared ownership? Our house comes up as selling for £90,000 when all the others were around £175,000 because that's the share we bought. People looking must think we got a bargain, but we only own part of it (well, none of it really as it's mortgaged!)

MadMags · 22/04/2018 10:33

Would you get a second mortgage for such a little amount though? Surely that’s just a personal loan?

Jon66 · 22/04/2018 10:39

AnitaLovesVictor you are wrong, absolutely they can. You can sell what you like to whosoever you please. Providing the person survives for 7 years and it is without reservation. I.e. it is a proper sale and you don't retain any right or interest in it.

Saracen · 22/04/2018 10:42

Are people allowed to sell houses for significantly less than their value to avoid inheritance tax?

Well, you can make a gift of any size in order to avoid IHT, so long as you survive for seven years after making the gift. If you don't, the recipient is liable for IHT. So I don't see why you couldn't give a relative 95% of the value of a house you own. Just speculating though. I don't know whether different rules apply.

Original poster
user1498911589 · 22/04/2018 10:48

Providing the person survives for 7 years and it is without reservation. I.e. it is a proper sale and you don't retain any right or interest in it.

Presumably still living in it would be an interest though, unless you are paying rent of course?

OP posts: