In March 2010, it was announced that
First Time Buyers will not have to pay
stamp duty on properties they buy which
cost under £250,000. The stamp
duty payable for a non first time buyer
would have been 1% of the property value
for properties valued between £125,000
and £250,000. This concession
will remain in force for 2 years.
However there is some fine print that
will affect a few of us. First time
buyers has been defined very strictly.
Up until now First Time buyers was defined
more loosely.
To be eligible for this stamp duty concession,
you must have never owned a land or
building either currently or in the
past anywhere in the world. Many of
my clients who originally are from India
or other parts of Asia are dis-advantaged
by this strict definition which means
if you owned a property / land in India
then you would not be eligible for this
stamp duty concession and you have to
pay 1% of the property value.
If you meet the criteria, the solicitors
who act for you in the purchase of the
property will ask you to sign the relevant
form in which you have to declare that
you have never owned a property anywhere
in the world and also must declare that
you would use the property that you
buy purely for the purpose of a residence
(not buy to let for instance) and if
you are happy to confirm these 2 you
should then get a concession.
In case of joint applicants both applicants
must fulfil these conditions to be eligible
for the concession so if Mr did not
own any property abroad but if his wife
owned a property then you would not
be eligible for concession and must
pay the full stamp duty.
I am often asked how the HMRC which
collects the stamp duty will be able
to investigate if someone has owned
a property abroad - the answer
is simple if you lie in your declaration
then you are committing a fraud and
the consequences of being subject to
fraud are well known and this is not
something one would like to get into.
Sekkappan
Alagu
(15th June 2010)
Your home may be repossessed if you do
not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Sekkappan Alagu trading as Nachu Finance is an
appointed representative of The Whitechurch Network
Limited which is authorised and regulated by the
Financial Services Authority. We do not usually
charge a fee for mortgage advice. However you
do have the option to pay a fee of 0.80% of the
loan value and The Financial Services Authority
may not regulate all products or services on this
website
Address :
225 Beverley Drive, Edgware, Middlesex, Ha8 5NL,
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