Ideal Property » Stamp Duty

Property clumping at Stamp duty breaks. Fact?

Stephen Dyer — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:57:27 +0000

Another fine mess of stamp duty rate changes in the last budget means that buyers are going feel even more pain at the rate change pinch points. The current government will be adding another pinch point at £1M from April next year. Over 48% of property in Kensington is worth over £1M! Lets look at the difference that a £1 makes to a buyers Stamp duty liability.

PURCHASE   (%)    PAYMENT
£250,000   (1%) = £2,500
£250,001   (3%) = £7,500
£500,000   (3%) = £15,000
£500,001   (4%) = £20,000
£1,000,000 (4%) = £40,000
£1,000,001 (5%) = £50,000 (from 6th April 2011)

Sellers can feel no sense of satisfaction either as this causes properties for sale to clump together at around/ just below the break points. This is easily demonstrated – There are about 480 vendors selling [on Globrix] at between £499,000 – £500,000. Is not one of them convinced their property is worth a penny more than £500,000? My bet is that the current number of 140 properties for sale at £999,000 – £1m will at least double from April 2011 when the 5% payment applies above £1m.

Lobby Lenders to stimulate the Property market!

Stephen Dyer — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:25:43 +0000

The Council Of Mortgage Lenders (CML) announce an increase in lending activity representing a modest recovery. The Department of Communities and Local Government (yes thats the name- really!) have released data showing UK house prices increased by 7.4% in February. In spite of this we all know theres a huge imbalance in the property market place and we need stable and reliable growth to occur throughout the full property price range not piecemeal targeting of its components. The bottom line is that we need lenders (the ones you bailed out) to lend more -So what about we focus them on these key areas -

STIMULATING GROWTH FROM FIRST TIME BUYERS - more than 75% of property sales in The UK are sub £250,000 so its good to introduce a temporary stamp duty break for First time buyers up to £250,000. However at the same time why allow banks and other lenders to insist borrowers stump up a quarter (25%) of the purchase price in ready cash? How ‘joined up’ is that?

GROWTH FROM THE MIDDLE - What the market needs is activity, particularly in the middle, yet there are loads of property sales and purchases that are being blocked by lenders. These are people who want to move, have a perfect payment record and do not want even need to increase their borrowing. They cannot move because they would not qualify for the same size mortgage again even with the same lender. Some might even want to reduce their borrowing and they are still unable to agree finance. If this huge sector of the market were able to move home more easily surely it would have a massive positive effect on the market.

So get on the phone to your local MP and get your views across. They will all be listening – up to May 6th anyway!

Stamp Duty Land Tax Mitigation or pay 5% tax on a £1m home?

Stephen Dyer — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 07:01:49 +0000

I confess that I am a big fan of taking seriously anything that might make big savings in the cost of buying property. Stamp duty Mitigation schemes come firmly into that category. Our Darling Chancellor is raising, from April next year, the rate of stamp duty payable on property of £1M and over. This means a property purchase of £3M will attract a payment of £150,000 to the Inland Revenue. This is serious money- more than enough to see a child through seven years of private education at Abingdon or Stowe.

The problem with SDLT schemes is that they seem to rely on opinion being constantly regularly re-drafted to keep ahead of any threat of loopholes being closed off. They are also the intellectual property of the schemes originators, usually top tax lawyers, who know how to guard their work well. This seems to have spawned a plethora of intermediaries, some of whom seem to have a good scheme and some perhaps not. Could SDLT mitigation work for you? We are happy to put you in touch with our taxation specialist.

Don’t pay Stamp Duty (SDLT) – Is It Legal?

Stephen Dyer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:57:41 +0000

There are enormous financial benefits available to our buying clients through utilising the Stamp Duty Land Tax Mitigation Scheme. It can seriously improve your wealth. There are many schemes out there at the moment.

You may be aware that The Independent newspaper ran an article about the Labour Party’s use of SDLT planning which saved them £210,000 in stamp duty land tax. Its perhaps not helpful to go into too much depth on any one scheme but here are some highlights of what we would expect a client to see in any particular plan: -

1). That a scheme has been running for a good length of time (even with amendments).

2). That its proven to work in a good number of cases.

3). The planning is backed by a robust Counsel’s Opinion given by leading Tax Counsel.

4). That the plan has been disclosed to HMRC and has a corresponding scheme disclosure number ensuring that it is fully compliant with HMRC requirements for tax planning.

5). That any queries by the Inland Revenue have been promptly and easily satisfied.

6). That the saving from the scheme is substantial.

7). That their is a ‘no-win-no-fee’ undertaking, via which all fees are fully refunded to the client in the event of a successful challenge by HMRC.

9). That the scheme is low risk and non-aggressive and does not involve either the vendor or the lending institution involved in the transaction or effect either their title, security or ability to realise funds from the sale of the property.

How does it work?

If you may be interested in more information on this give Stephen Dyer a call on 0800 074 5335 or 07768 778800 and he can put you in touch with our preferred expert on this sdlt scheme.