Stamp duty query

[Curly13]

Hi can someone help me with this Please..... I am buying a house for 50k but the value of the house is actually 230k (its a private family sale).
My solicitor has told me I will still have to pay stamp duty of £2,300 because thats the value of the house. Is this right? I don't understand why, when I'm only paying 50k for it.....

[mollykins]

its no different to one of those property prgrammes i saw where it was on the market for about 5k over the stamp duty and the owners accepted an offer that was jsut below, so that they didn't have to, even though it was worth, just over the limit.

[redcrx]

how are you getting around buying it for 50k? are the family stating they are putting rest as deposit or something? if so you are buying for 230k and would need to pay the stamp

[Curly13]

Its my Fathers house redcrx and he is selling it to us for 50k. Sorry should have explained that a bit better in the first place

[redcrx]

i think its going to be fairly obvious that something is amiss with the figures though, which is why the government will want their cut

[themas]

The solicitor is right. Otherwise everyone would sell houses at a lower price to reduce the iniquitous stamp duty tax & then sell various contents etc. for the rest of the price.

However, the Government announced an increase in the stamp duty limit to £250K in the Budget. I don't know when this comes in but your solicitor will know. Defer the sale till then.

[moonshadow]

Themas is right regarding the increase in stamp duty limit, but this only applies to first time buyers. So if it is your first home then you will pay nothing in duty.

[R1Geezer]

The stamp duty is on the market value, this is to stop all the ruses. Eg You can by all the carpets for £250,000 and we'll throw in a free house. etc etc. Tax man is wise to all the tricks.