First time buyer or not

I used a personal loan from a bank to buy a property abroad when I was younger(4 and a half years ago) at the time the bank said it would not affect my first time buyers status and thta is why i went for a personal loan rather than a mortgage, we were gifted a site from her parents and got planning permission recently, we then applied for a mortgage with the same bank and were given approval but told that because I had the foreign property that we were not considered first time buyers.

We don't have stamp duty on the site because if was gifted and in her name but do we qualify for tax relief on the mortgage as it is our first mortgage and are there any other charges we may face or other schemes we could avail of?

Sorry this is my first post and any advice or help would be great.

First time buyer status has nothing to do with having a mortgage or not:
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I'm not worried about stamp duty, just the TRS. The bank said that we should have my partners name on the site title as it is a gift from her parents and will not be subject to capital gains tax or stamp duty and also have her name on the title of the house but both our names on the mortgage and in a few years get both our names on both titles.

We just want to know that if her name goes on the title of the house as she is a first time buyer and both our names go on the mortgage, will we get the TRS on the mortgage? The bank called the new mortgage application ''sole title, joint mortgage''

I have looked at the revenue website but am unclear of it.