Buying husband out - do I have to pay stamp duty again?

[HilaryXYZ]

Husband and I are divorcing amicably. No solicitors involved. I’m buying him out of the house. I need to give him £300k to buy him out of our £900k property. Mortgage was £300k. So all is fair. I am using conveyancing solicitors for the remortgage.

Nisi applied for but not come through yet. Then we will apply for the consent order.

My question is, am I liable to pay stamp duty again on the property? I understand that I have to put the consent order number on the land registry form. Does anyone have any experience of this? I need to do everything in the right order to avoid a massive stamp duty bill. I asked the conveyancing solicitors but they won’t advise on this. Thanks.

If it is less a than 12 months since you separated don't think there is a charge but best to take proper advice as I'm not in legal.

No. It's a change in ownership rather than a sale so stamp duty is exempt.

I'm going through this at the moment OP, soon to be exDH is buying me out. You will be liable for stamp duty in the entire mortgage unless you have a signed draft consent order x

We haven't got our Nisi yet, but DH hit the roof when he found out he would have to pay stamp duty for the whole mortgage, can you do the consent order now? We did the consent order while the divorce was rumbling on in the background, the consent order was signed two weeks ago and the nisi hearing is next week

I didn't pay stamp duty on divorce. Maybe it's down to the value of the property. I'd be horrified having to pay it too.

Our house was valued at £670k and equity was £334k. My husband was giving me half of this, so £170kish, but stamp duty was payable on the whole of the remaining mortgage plus his share of the equity.

@OneRingToRuleThemAll

I didn't pay stamp duty on divorce. Maybe it's down to the value of the property. I'd be horrified having to pay it too.

It's really unfair considering you've already paid the stamp duty once when buying the house

I didn't have to pay stamp duty when I brought my

I thought stamp duty was temporarily cancelled.

If you divorce first you don't pay stamp duty, but if you do the finances first and then divorce it's deemed as a transfer between parties and stamp duty is liable. Reading the OPs post again it looks as if she may be going down the divorce route first so she may be ok 🤷🏼‍♀️. DH was very reluctant to divorce and just wanted to separate but changed his mind when he saw the figures involved 😂. Can't wait for all this mess to be done quite frankly 😫

Thresholds temporarily changed but most definitely not cancelled.

If you transfer property because of divorce, separation or the end of a civil partnership
You don’t pay SDLT if you transfer an interest in land or property to your partner as part of an agreement or court order because you’re either:

divorcing
dissolving a civil partnership

This also applies if the partners either:

annul their marriage
legally separate

In these cases there’s no need to tell HMRC about the transfer, even if the value is more than the SDLT threshold.

www.gov.uk/guidance/sdlt-transferring-ownership-of-land-or-property#:~:text=t%20normally%20apply.-,If%20you%20transfer%20property%20because%20of%20divorce%2C%20separation%20or%20the,divorcing

I wonder if that applies to cohabitating /living together too?

[quote Alarae]If you transfer property because of divorce, separation or the end of a civil partnership
You don’t pay SDLT if you transfer an interest in land or property to your partner as part of an agreement or court order because you’re either:

divorcing
dissolving a civil partnership

This also applies if the partners either:

annul their marriage
legally separate

In these cases there’s no need to tell HMRC about the transfer, even if the value is more than the SDLT threshold.

www.gov.uk/guidance/sdlt-transferring-ownership-of-land-or-property#:~:text=t%20normally%20apply.-,If%20you%20transfer%20property%20because%20of%20divorce%2C%20separation%20or%20the,divorcing[/quote]
I think the "legal"separation is where me and EXDH came unstuck, he didn't want to do anything legally and for me to just move out and him buy me out of the house. We went down the legal route in the end to avoid the stamp duty x

I bought my exDH out of my house before we divorced and before consent order was sorted; I didn't pay stamp duty. We just took him off the mortgage and transferred the deeds to me. The mortgage company insisted I took out a one-off insurance policy in case there was any financial complications later down the line.

@HilaryXYZ Hi, I'm in a similar situation to you. Are you any further on and could you advise please?

My ex is looking at buying me out but he needs to clear the arrears on the mortgage first. Our divorce is near the end (can apply for absolute, which I'm desperate to do).

Do we need to still be legally married to avoid SDLT tax on the transfer of equity? Or can I proceed with the absolute now? We'll be doing a consent order along with the transfer. Or as long as we can show that we were married at some point, does it matter?

Everything online is contradictory, and this post is kind of helpful but not, because it's also contradictory!

I'm confused. Thanks.

@loungewearisthewaytogo was that your personal experience, did you divorce first before any order or mortgage transfer?

@TeeBee is that because your house was under the threshold liable for SDLT?

Also, the house is worth more than the normal threshold limits and I know that there is a tax holiday, but I'm worried that we won't get the finances sorted before the end of the tax holiday, as he's still clearing his arrears before he can buy me out.

[quote nolovelost]@TeeBee is that because your house was under the threshold liable for SDLT?[/quote]
No, way over it.

@TeeBee thank you, that's helpful. So was it classed as a transfer of equity? Did you split it equally? I really don't know what to do first. Be glad when it's all over!

@TeeBee was it before the SDLT holiday?

Following with interest - I’m in the process of applying to have the mortgage in my name, have agreed equity split with H so I would pay him lump sum and get property in my name. Was warned if potential CGT implications for him but not stamp duty for me!! This is on the gov site - I don’t understand how stamp duty would apply? I also don’t understand how people above say they have approved consent orders before Nisi as I was told Nisi had to be in place before consent order??

@Whatonearth2021 it's a nightmare isn't it?!
I'm so bogged down with it I cant think straight! All I want to know is can I go through with the absolute now? When do I do a consent order? He can't buy me out yet because of him paying off arrears.
Yes there is a lot of evidence saying you don't have to pay SDLT if it's because of divorce but it seems to come with conditions. At what stage of divorce does it have to be? I've read that it's best to do it all before the absolute, but I've also read that it's best for married couples to stay married to avoid SDLT. I just need a website to answer all my bloody questions! My solicitor is useless and I don't want to spend any more on one at the moment.
ARRRGHHHH!