Stamp Duty

[yvanka]

Hi everyone,

DP will be buying a house for us both to live in, but he is paying for it all (cash) and he will own it. However, I have never owned a property and so I would benefit from stamp duty relief as the property costs £250,000 (he has owned before).

Would it be ok for him to pay for the property in my name, and then I transfer it to him and thus avoid stamp duty?

No, if house is bought in your name, them you sell to him, then he has to pay stamp duty at point of sale when house goes in his name. Also if you claimed free stamp duty as first time buyer then if you really ever wanted to buy a house for yourself you would end up payimg stamp duty as records would show you had house in your name. If your partner hurries up he could complete in time to be included in stamp duty holiday.

I would not be selling it to him, I would be 'gifting', so I understand no stamp duty is payable as there's no mortgage?

I do intend to buy a house in the future to rent out so that I am building equity, but it won't cost enough to pay stamp duty

It’s very doubtful that a lawyer would agree to do this as surely it’s tax evasion.

Please can you clarify which bit is tax evasion? Him paying for the house but putting it in my name or me transferring it to him at a later date?

You will need to overcome the money laundering act first to show where the money you are purchasing the house came from. As you are not married transfers are treated the same as an open market sale. Then there are legal costs for both transactions. But seek out a conveyancing solicitor.

You can't buy houses in other people's names or transfer or gift houses like that, and it's an awful lot of effort to go to just to save £2500 in stamp duty. Try to push through the purchase before 31 March and he won't have to pay any stamp duty.

I see, thank you all! We'll scratch that idea then.

There are other tax implications on 'gifting' such as capital acquisitions tax on the value of the gift (being the full value of the house)...plus still the stamp duty on the transfer from you to him... Presumably the transfer would be for same value but if& valuation increased then also gains tax implications. Def not the way to go OP without proper tax advice.

No property lawyer would agree to this. It’s tax evasion.

You do realise if you've had this idea HMRC have had it covered for years.
They may be inefficient but they're not stupid.