Do I need to pay stamp duty if I am buying a house due to divorce?

[Namechanger2015]

Hi,

I am divorcing and I have read somewhere (on a few websites) that if a house purchase is due to a divorce, the buyer is exempt from paying stamp duty. These seems to be a vague suggestion on newspaper articles etc but I can't find anything concrete to back this up.

Does anyone know if this is true? Will I need to pay stamp duty as I am purchasing due to divorce?

I have a signed consent order stating family house must be sold - exh is now buying this from me in a transfer of equity. We have a consent order issued by court.

I may be wrong but I think it is that you are exempt from the stamp duty surcharge not stamp duty itself - this was the additional 3% stamp duty owed if buying in addition to main residence.

You don’t pay stamp duty if you’re buying your ex out of their part of the property. If you’re selling and buying a new house with your proceeds you pay stamp duty as normal.

www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax/reliefs-and-exemptions

You don’t have to pay SDLT or file a return if:
property is transferred because of divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership

From the phrasing ("transferred") I think if you are buying the other person's share of a family home, you don't pay stamp duty on the part that you are buying.
If you are buying a different house, I doubt there's any exemption.
I'm not an expert.

I thought that the stamp duty exemption was only if one of the separating couple bought out the other on a property they owned jointly. Could be wrong though.

Yes if transferring your share to your spouse then the other person doesn’t pay stamp duty on the transfer.

You buying a new property would pay stamp duty on the new property.

Oh. So he does not pay stamp duty on buying the house from me, but I will still have to pay on a new property?

This seems a bit unfair if I am the one going to be homeless?

Yes, that's right. He won't pay stamp duty on the transfer or "buying you out" but any new property purchased is liable for the full stamp duty.

Thank you, that's good to know.

This seems a bit unfair if I am the one going to be homeless?

Factor it into the divorce settlement then.

Think the suggestion to negotiate this into the settlement is the best one.
I didn’t pay stamp duty on buying my ex out of his share of the house. I guess he will have to pay when he proceeds to purchase. I didn’t even think of that. I would actually have agreed it was fair to reflect that in the split (and he was horribly abusive to me!)

I moved out of the marital home and purchased a new house,I had to pay extra stamp duty as I owned a house and on the deeds of marital home.I have 3 years to claim the extra back.Nearly 2 years on and that house is finally on the market,fingers crossed.