Have you ever offered to pay stamp duty to get a better price?

[TerrysNo2]

Basically we've had an offer on our house at £300k, we can't afford to sell for that but we could afford to take £305k. I have done the maths and the buyer would have to contribute less cash upfront if we agreed a price of £310k and we paid a "stamp duty contribution" of £5k back.

Anyone done this? Can it work ok?

I am assuming its a cash issue that means they can't go higher than £300k.

Definitely worth a try - the house we've offered on clearly states the vendors will pay 2% towards stamp duty for offers over a certain amount.

But don't forget it could be a mortgage issue that they can't offer higher. Have you rejected it and seen what they do yet?

We've said we will think about it although its unlikely. Maybe if we can find a workaround

What was the asking price? We've accepted the first offer that we had although it was a low one. Our estate agent said "it's all they have". I'm now pretty sure they could have gone at least 5k higher comfortably but it's too late. I'm just trying to say, hold your ground if you can bear it and don't assume that they can't offer a bit more!

I read about this on MN and looked into it (am also selling a house). Unfortunately it seems that it doesn't work, as the buyer's mortgage company just treat your 'offer' (which of course has to be documented in the contract, otherwise no buyer would believe you would stump up) as a discount off the sale price and lower the mortgage offer accordingly