Stamp duty on new house, owner occupier

Hi there,
looking for some info for my situation at present...
3 years ago I bought a new house in Navan as a First time buyer so did not pay stamp duty. This has been my primary residence since. I am now looking to buy a new house in dublin that is stamp duty exempt for owner occupiers and will be selling the Navan house. The dublin house will then become my primary residence.

The new house is not due to be complete until April 06 and this could slip. So I do not want to put my Navan house on the market until I have a more definite date for the completion of the dublin one. So technically I could own two houses for a short period of time.

I contacted the Dublin stamp duty office on this to see if there was any implications with the stamp duty situation if this happens. The girl I was speaking to did not seem too sure of what would happen but eventually came back to say I would then be liable for Stamp duty on the new dublin house and to avoid this I would have to sell Navan before completing sale in Dublin.
This would leave me homeless for period of time.

I got the impression that the girl I was talking to was fairly new and I wondering if anyone has had a similar situation to myself and what was the outcome. If I have to pay stamp duty on a new dublin house it's unlikely I will be able to finaince the move.

Thanks
Baz

baz05 said:

The girl I was speaking to did not seem too sure of what would happen but eventually came back to say I would then be liable for Stamp duty on the new dublin house and to avoid this I would have to sell Navan before completing sale in Dublin.

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I think that this is wrong. If you are genuinely buying the new house as an owner occupier and will be vacating your old one (either to sell it or rent it out) then you should not be liable for stamp duty as non first time buyer owner occupier. Ideally you should take occupancy of the new house immediately that you buy it (and I don't know what the strict rule on this is) but if you are genuinely buying the new house as an owner occupier I can't see there being a problem. Unfortunately state agencies sometimes give out incorrect or misleading info. Once you have taken occupancy of the new house you have up to 12 months in which to dispose of the old PPR before CGT becomes an issue. Double check the stamp duty issue with your solicitor.

Thanks for the prompt reply Clubman, That was the impression I was getting from the Revenue and Oasis sites. I will be moving into the new house as soon as it's ready as if I dont I'll jump off that bloody toll bridge some day!
I am waiting for solicitors to get back to me with quotes for sale and purchase of houses so once I get one on board I'll double check with them.

As long as you are not attempting to buy ostensibly as an owner occupier but actually as an investor in order to evade SD then I can't see that there'll be a problem even if there was some delay in you actually moving from your old to new PPR. As I say double check with your solicitor. Good luck!