Extra stamp duty charge

[Callmebynoname]

Please help, my husband has a flat in a EU country and when we bought our flat in the UK we had to pay the extra stamp duty.

We are now in the process of selling that UK flat and will move into rented accommodation until we buy our new home.

I have looked on the gov.uk site and it says that if we buy within 3yrs of selling our UK flat which was our primary residence we will just be replacing our primary residence and will not have to pay the extra stamp duty. Is this correct. Just to state that my husband still has the flat in the EU.

Thanks

I don’t think you would have to pay double stamp when you get another home. You sold your principal private residence and you will buy another principal private residence. That means you pay normal stamp and not the surcharge.

Thank you for your quick response. We will also double check with our solicitor but just want to not be surprised especially with the bands resetting in April and adding extra costs.

I have a different opinion. Since you still have the flat in the EU, I think you will still be classified as buying a second home and thus will have to pay a stamp duty surcharge. Just the same as when you bought your flat in the UK.

Your solicitor will know.

We went through a similar situation a few years ago. We sold our house whilst we were living overseas, it was our primary residence. I owned a flat that I had before I met DH which I rented out when we moved in together. When we bought a new house in the UK we didn’t have to pay the extra stamp duty as we were replacing our primary residence.

What I would say is your solicitor may not be the best person to advise you. Ours advised us we should have to pay it but I sent them a lot of info from HMRC and they agreed in the end we didn’t have to pay it. But ultimately it was up to us. They said we’re responsible for paying our own tax so could decide. I was confident after reading a lot about it so we didn’t pay it.

You don't pay tax on your principal residence, if you've lived in your UK flat for a reasonable length of time then it's your home the EU flat is your second home, you don't pay second home tax on both.