Stamp Duty, upcoming budget & how to avoid it!

Hi there, myself and partner are in process of buying a 2nd hand house, but only one of us is a FT buyer. This lands us into 6% rate (ouch). Bank (and solicitor) not willing to play ball and have one name only on deeds (ie FT buyer), which would save us a much needed 10k or so. We're not in a hurry to close and was wondering what hopes of further changes to bands for stamp duty that might help us? Is Buffalo Cowen a regular AAM poster, perchance???

I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted on AAM, but stamp duty must be one of the most penal (anal?!) taxes out there! People trying to buy a house are getting slammed from every angle. If it wasn't for low interest rates, many of us would be still living with the folks or in a mobile home!

Buy a cheaper house or a new house with a floor area under 125sq metres.

I personally don't see any change in stamp duty for non FTBs or second hand property in the upcoming budget.

Have the bank and the solicitor given you reasons why they won't 'play ball' with respect to having only one name on the deeds of your new house?

I don't particuarly like the thought of paying a whack of stamp duty on our next property, but that's life. We were exempt from stamp duty first time round (as one of you/your partner were), and we could also 'avoid' stamp duty by pusuing either of the options outlined above (indeed we will try hard to find a new house under floor area threshold).

It's all speculation but I too can't see any significant (if any) changes to the SD rules this time around.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm afraid the house is 2nd hand so the 125sq.m limit makes no difference. The house isn't large, I'd say it'd be just about below that limit in any case. As for buying a cheaper house, I really *really* would like to buy a cheaper house, and did try manfully, but it is really difficult to find something that's within reasonable distance of workplaces, amenities, schools etc. and in a "good" area, whatever that is.

Yes, I was exempt from SD as a FTB 3yrs ago when I bought a house in Limerick for half of what a house in Cork is now costing us, but I'd much rather pay the 5k it would've been then rather than the 20k now!

Reading some of the posts and discussions on property prices, it is all a bit worrying. This isn't an investment purchase, but no-one wants to end up in negative equity, or paying more than you need to.

As a last (rhetoric!) statement on SD, why the hell is the buyer getting screwed, not the seller?

thedirtyduck said:

As a last (rhetoric!) statement on SD, why the hell is the buyer getting screwed, not the seller?

Click to expand...

In theory, the seller will get "screwed" when they buy their next house?

If the seller gets 'screwed', they'll just screw the purchaser by jacking up the price anyway.