SDLT Refund - Uninhabitable house. Can I do this without a solicitor?

[Location19]

Hi lovely people,

I am on quest to challenge the amount of SDLT I was charged for my uninhabitable house that I purchased in 2021. I had no working bathroom, walls and ceiling were falling off and I could not live in it until this was all done- most of the work was undertaken by myself.

Having read the case of P N Bewley Ltd vs. HMRC I wanted to see if I could request for a refund myself to HMRC SDLT department and wanted to see if anyone could help me please. It was been more than 1 year since the purchase but the government website seems to suggest that you can request for a refund up to 3 years from the purchase- are there any laws that I need to use to show this?

I need to know the laws that were used or cited in the above case so that I can use the same to help me challenge my case. Unfortunately, I do not have the resources to pay for a solicitor and I am a strong believer that one should try their best to fight ones own case.

www.propertywire.com/news/uk/landlords-and-developers-could-be-due-tax-rebate-over-uninhabitable-properties/
Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated :-)

Thank you<3

I am a strong believer that one should try their best to fight ones own case.

what does that mean? If you had the money, you’d get a solicitor?

It’s a very complicated area of law.

your conveyancing solicitor at the time - they they have a view on it?

As a starting point, you can read the judgment here.

www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/uk/cases/UKFTT/TC/2019/TC06951.html&query=(Bewley)+AND+(v)+AND+(hmrc)

But I am a lawyer ( not a property or tax lawyer) and I wouldn't go into this without advice from an expert in the area.

How interesting you started a thread about how stamp duty was “killing” you before you purchased the property in August 2021

Are you a landlord or investor? Interesting case. It seems to be about the additional 3% for second homes. You can claim that back within, I think, three years if you've sold your first property. Is this your second property but you are living in it now? Easier to just sell the first perhaps?

I've read the link but still struggling to understand the basis of your argument i
Surely you knew what you were buying and what state it was in? Surely it was obvious that is was inhabitable and that major work was needed? Also you would have known the costs involved including stamp duty so why at this stage do you feel that you should be refunded?

HMRC updated their manual in response to this case- the relevant part is here www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm00385

As you can see, the bar for "derelict" is very high- it's not clear from your post that your house would fall within it but it may do. If it is derelict and so not considered residential property, different rates would apply- would suggest you run the numbers through the HMRC calculator on both bases (residential and non-residential) to see whether it's worth pursuing this.

Thank you all for your advice- I shall keep you updated.

Do you have a mortgage on the property? Because if a house was uninhabitable it may well be unmortgageable as well.

According to your other thread - this purchase was a buy to let. So you never intended to live in it anyway. You already had a main residence