SDLT case studies

Newlyweds Debbie and Dom are purchasing their first home together and are concerned that the higher rates of SDLT will apply to their purchase. The couple have been advised to purchase the new first home in Debbie’s name only, in order to mitigate the exposure to higher rates.

Victoria and Brian are expecting their first child in March and have decided to move back to Northern Ireland to be close to their families.

After they married in 2010, they sold their flat in Belfast and moved to Guernsey where Brian had been offered a new job as a hotel manager. As part of the remuneration package, the couple were provided with accommodation and so did not purchase a property there.

After years of hard work and having accumulated many air miles, Santa has decided to pass the family business to his son and a number of highly regarded elves, and move to Northern Ireland to retire with Mrs Claus.

They have heard about the new First-Time Buyers’ (‘FTB’) relief announced in the latest budget and have queried whether, if Mrs Claus were to purchase the £300,000 property in her sole name, no SDLT would be payable.

Paul and Fiona own a flat in Scotland, which for many years was their only main residence. They decided to relocate to London in 2010 and have been renting property there ever since; during which period the Scottish property has been rented out. The couple also own a holiday home in Spain.

Ted, a property developer, is planning to purchase a block of 10 flats for a total consideration of £900,000 and has queried the SDLT position. The flats will be purchased by his limited company, Ted Developments Limited.

The Finance Act 2018 received Royal Assent on the 15^th March 2018 and so we thought it was a good opportunity to recap on the newly introduced First-Time Buyers Relief.

In June 2016, Colleen and Paul purchased their dream home in the countryside. The main building was a large detached farmhouse that had been recently restored. There were a number of outbuildings within the grounds of the property, including one which had a suite of fully functioning kitchen and bathroom facilities, together with bedroom and living areas.

Ronnie is a property developer and is buying five properties from the same vendor for £300,000 each. Ronnie owns an interest in a number of other properties, including his main residence.

John and Alana are married and own their marital home in joint names. In addition, John holds a property in his sole name which he purchased before the marriage and which is currently let out.

Nick and Mary bought their current home in Belfast in December 2016. At the date of purchase, they also owned a buy-to-let (BTL) property in their joint names, which had been purchased about a year previously. Therefore, they were required to pay the 3% higher rates of SDLT on the purchase of their Belfast home.

Martin and Sarah are getting married in the summer of 2021 but plan to purchase their new family home this year.

Martin is divorced and, as part of the divorce proceedings, disposed of his interest in the matrimonial home to his ex-wife in March 2018. He also owns a buy-to-let property in his sole name.

Tom, a property developer, is planning to purchase a block of 15 flats for the total consideration of £1.7m. He used the HMRC SDLT calculator which gave a result of £168,750 and he has asked for confirmation of this figure and if any reliefs would be available to reduce the SDLT payable on the proposed transaction.

Victoria and Brian are purchasing both a new main residence and an investment property in a relatively short time frame (from unconnected vendors). Their previous main residence was sold at the end of 2019 and they moved temporarily to rented accommodation. The intention was to purchase the new main residence first, followed by the investment property.

As part of our SDLT specialist advisory service, we are often asked to assist with SDLT refund applications. These are generally by way of an amendment to the original SDLT return (the time limit for a claim is 12 months) or an overpayment of tax claim (the time limit for a claim is 4 years). The type of refund claim available will be very much dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.