Buying secondish property

[Housebuyer2021]

Can anyone advise me if this is achievable please.

Person A owns a house with Person B but lives with Person C. Can Person C then buy a property in order that A&C can buy their next house without selling the first?

First house would be sold a few months later?

I know lots will say speak to mortgage adviser but I don’t want to just yet. Just wondering if this is possible.

I don't think person A would be able to be on the mortgage or be in any way part of the ownership of the house if you want to avoid the extra stamp duty.

So C wants to buy a property on their own, and then buy a second property with A? And then sell the property they bought on their own afterwards? And that property is “the first property”? Or is “the first property” the one A owns with B?

There are too many variables here for anyone to give you a straightforward answer. Does A have a joint mortgage with B? If so then, unless they have a large income, they’re unlikely to be able to get a joint mortgage with C to jointly buy a property until they sell the property they own with B or are no longer responsible for the mortgage. And unless C has a large income or is buying in cash then they’ll be in the same situation if they buy a property before the one they intend to buy with A. And there will be added complications with potential capital gains tax on the properties which aren’t each person’s main home and stamp duty because all parties will be buying a second property which will attract higher duty.

So we live in our house but my husband owns it with someone else. Could I purchase a property (sole mortgage and affordability being a separate issue at the moment) and just basically pay the mortgage etc for now but still live in our current house then sell current house to live in new house? Only two properties involved, not sure if my OP makes it sound like there’s three.

I know about the stamp duty on second homes but not sure if that would apply here because I don’t think anyone would technically own two homes? Or because were married does that mean he would?

Sorry I know it’s confusing and thank you for taking the time to even read!

As long as you’re not intending to rent it out before you live in it (which you’d need a BTL mortgage for) then no, there’s nothing legally which prevents you alone taking out a mortgage to buy a property and then leaving it empty / using it as a holiday home until you want to live in it.

If you’re married and one of you already owns property then it counts as a second property for stamp duty - that was brought in several years ago to close the loophole of spouses buying property in their sole name to avoid tax.

But if your husband sells the property he owns within a certain period of time (I want to say 18 months but could be wrong) of your purchase completing, you can apply for a rebate of the higher rate of stamp duty.

Thank you so much @ComtesseDeSpair that’s been really really helpful!

It's 36 months, not 18, for the rebate, and you have to claim it within 12 months of the house sale.