Adding name to mortgage/deeds - need to pay stamp duty??

[StampDutyMadness]

Name changed

Just as title really.

Didn’t add my name to mortgage as DHs credit rating was better than mine so we could get a better rate under his name only. Solicitors told us on day of completion my name couldn’t go on deeds without being on the mortgage too. Had our belongings in a lorry and new tenants due to move in to our rental so we were stuck. DH paid stamp duty.

Now going through process of adding my name to deeds, have contacted the bank (new bank, we changed bank when our fixed rate ended) to start the process of adding my name to mortgage but been told by solicitors we have to pay stamp duty again.
Previous solicitors have been taken over by a bigger company so we have approached a few different ones for quotes. Two started off by saying they didn’t think stamp duty was involved but now all say because DH is involved in the transaction stamp duty applies.

Is this correct that he has to pay stamp duty twice on the same property? I don’t understand how this is can be as I’ve never owned property.

I know it has no bearing on the legality of things but we’ve had a stressful year (health, work, kids, parents) and were looking forward to a cheap holiday but can’t do that if we have to pay this stamp duty. It isn’t the end of the world I know, just very annoying when it doesn’t even make sense.

If that’s true then that’s is such a pisstake !!

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sdlt-transferring-ownership-of-land-or-property

Not answering h the point but Why do you have to be added to the mortgage at all? Will in place leaving it to you should he die should be ok?

I think change of ownership would result in stamp duty. It did when I looked at putting rental into a Ltd company.

I am unsure how you could only have found out on the day of completion that you couldn't be on the title without being on the mortgage- did you not notice none of the paperwork ( contract transfer sdlt return) only had your husbands name on it? I would assume you also had to sign an occupiers consent for the bank before completion- that too would have made it clear occupier rather than owner?

Yes, that’s exactly what it feels like!

How much is the house worth?
Yes, you need to pay stampduty at whatever rate applies to the amount he transfers to you. Read the link posted by andithoughtiwassspecial

Ah thank you, maybe we need to go via the will route. Still mindful of all the threads asking OPs if they’re on the deeds….

£420k ish

Wills can be changed

I can’t see how this can be right. I bought my own house before I met DH. When we married he moved into my house and some time after that my mortgage was due for renewal and we added him to the mortgage at that point. We definitely didn’t pay stamp duty a second time.

I’ve read that link. It says if it’s a gift sd does not apply.

it appears that you’d pay only if you take on a share of the mortgage.

I don’t really understand your situation - is it still completion day, or has some time passed?

Either way, I have added my now DP onto my mortgage and deeds a few years after I bought the house in my name only - he bought into my house - and no stamp duty needed to be paid at that point. I obviously paid stamp duty at the time of the purchase.

I wasn’t expecting the mortgage paperwork to have my name on it. And then the solicitors only communicated with DH so I didn’t think anything of it and he only told me there was a problem on the day (actually it was on day of exchange, we had to spend a few days in the new city in airbnbs waiting for completion/keys).

I was never asked to sign anything from the bank.

very good point, thank you!

Thank you, that’s what we were expecting too!

Thank you, seems that’s the case. He’s going to ask the bank if he can add my name to the deeds without being on the mortgage.

Same situation as you. House was bought a few years ago.

Did you gift the part of your house that you owned (ie that wasn’t mortgaged?) to your DH?

If not, and it it was under current rules and he’s now on the mortgage; I think stamp duty should have been paid (although this is not my area of law).

That won't happen I'm afraid, or not without negotiating a new mortgage offer which takes into account your earnings and credit rating. The two of you would each be responsible for the mortgage so they need a contact with both of you.

I meant adding my name to the deeds without being on the mortgage.

OP, come to think of it, it is understandable that since DP dealt with all the paperwork, you didn't see that the mortgage and the house itself were his name only until too late.
But DP must surely have known that only he was signing the documents and that the house was being purchased in his name , unless he is extremely careless about these things or was pulling a fast one.
Did you contribute to the deposit? Unless some kind of paperwork was signed about that, at the moment he owns the house that your deposit partly paid for.

Your name can't be on the deeds unless you are also on the mortgage.

Sorry, pressed SEND too soon. It's because the mortgage is a loan raised against the house; it's their security. Another person can't co- own the house until the mortgage is paid off.

This is what I was told too.

Thank both the first example on that link and the gift example would indicate no stamp duty because 50% of the remaining mortgage is less than the stamp duty threshold. Gah it still doesn’t make sense! And a few PPs haven’t had to pay it either.