Transfer of Title Deeds

[sparky771]

My sister lives with my mother and the property has no mortgage and is in my mothers name. However she is finding it too much to cope with and has asked about swapping her house for my ground floor flat ( they are roughly the same value) although the flat is mortgaged. The house will be left equally between my sister and myself in mums will. Our proposal would be that if we swapped properties the house would be in my name and the flat in my sisters and she would pay half the value of the flat to me now as my share, which would mean she would gain long term as the property increases in value. ( please don't think this is just about money there are other issues regarding the idea) and Mum would still continue to live with her at the flat. So my question is if we swapped properties as above what are the tax implications and is stamp duty etc still applicable to both properties

[Loosehead]

2 issues

- This will be seen by the revenue as a tac tic to avoid Stamp Duty even though that is not the primary motive so Stamp duty will be payable on market value of both.

- As the flat is mortgaged you will hae to get the lener to agree to a new occupant. This may prove tricky as sh is elderly, not sure of the income. It may be possible to re secure the loan on the house. This will involve solicitors/survey costs etc.