Additional Dwelling Tax

[waterhouse]

Hope someone can help me make sense of this...

Approximately 12 years ago my grandfather gifted a house to me, my sister and our two cousins. It had belonged to my grandmother and as she had recently died, he gave it to us. The stipulation was that my grandmother's cousin could live in it for the rest of her life. After that we could do with it what we wished. Grandmother's cousin does not pay rent so it is not making us any money and she is still alive and kicking. Didn't think too much of it at the time as we were all very young and naive.
My husband and I are now moving house and one of the questions that has popped up on the legal forms is "Do you own any additional property?" I assume this is to do with the ADT and I'm wondering if we would have to pay this on the new home we are buying (replacing the main residence we are living in currently).

I have tried googling it but I can't really make sense of it all. Thanks in advance.

You should be ok as you are replacing your main residence
That is the case in Scotland in any case
The website is the most in user friendly of any I have seen
It is so bad I think it must be deliberate

Thanks so much for replying - I was hoping that was the case as it would add so much on to the lbtt that we would struggle to afford it!

Unuser friendly

Hi Waterhouse

Provided you're disposing of your main residence and acquiring a new one on the same day you shouldn't have to pay the surplus SDLT rate. See: www.gov.uk/guidance/stamp-duty-land-tax-buying-an-additional-residential-property#if-you-replace-your-main-home

Your conveyancer should be able to help with this.

Best, Alex

Hi Alex

Thank you for the information.
We are not buying our new house on the same day - going into rented accommodation for 3 months.

Hopefully it will be ok!

If you are selling first and then purchasing you are fine. As long as you are disposing of your main residence to buy a new main residence you can claim the relief.

If you sell first, you have to buy the new property within three years (your conveyancer may ask for proof such as confirmation of the sale). If you buy first it is a little more complicated.

As long as you are selling your main residence to buy a new main residence and you buy within three years of the sale, you do not have additional rate to pay regardless of how many extra houses you own.

Thanks so much CornishMaid - huge relief!