Hello All,
Thank you in advance for reading and any responses.
So I am sure we all have heard about the impact of the new national budget on stamp duty. I am in the process of purchasing a house for myself and my toddler which I was hoping to make our forever home. However, following yesterday's budget we're now facing almost 40K in stamp duty charges as I am not a first time buyer.
Could we still afford it? Yes but it means we won't be able to tackle any refurbishment work the house requires for a while and these are essential as I have a small child.
I am considering the following options:
Option 1. asking the seller if they might consider deducting the additional stamp duty from the purchase price or at least a portion of it. I feel bad about doing this as they have already had a previous transaction on the same house which was near completion fall through for financial reasons on the side of the buyer. They are selling as they need to downside following partner's passing
Option 2. Look for a cheaper property but I've already paid for a survey and part of the legal fees for this one. Also, there really isn't anything that is considerably cheaper in the area that would make any significant difference. Average price is about 550K. I'd have to look at moving to a completely different area far away from family.
Option 3. Continue the current transaction and save till I can afford the refurbishment work.
Help please! What would you do or are there any other options you could suggest?
Thank you.