Transferring Land Father To Daughter As Both Residential And Commercial - Help!

Hiya,

I'd be very grateful for any advice from anyone with experience of this area.

My father owns a 2 acre plot of land in Dublin which he has owned for 26 years. We're far from well off - he just worked hard and got a good price on it back then and had always intended to build the family home on it but this never happened due to family reasons and it remained unoccupied.

The other intention for the land was to run the family business from it so before plans fell through he had already built a commercial building on the land but didn't put a roof on it or finish it in any way.

So in any case he's older in years and won't be developing it but he has kindly offered it to me as a gift. I've never owned property before and don't have a lot of cash but would like to spend any money I do have building on it rather than paying taxes!

So my question is, what is the most cost-effective way for him to give it to me? Obviously no money is changing hands but I'm clueless when it comes to gift tax, CGT, CAT and stamp duty (any others?!).

Also, I've heard that there are benefits to inheriting land and building a first time home, but that there can be a 90% reduction in liability for inheriting a family business. Is this true?

I want to take on the family business, which has been run from that address as well as some others due to the outdoor space.

Because I will be using the land both for commercial and residential purposes I'm not sure what approach to take. The land was recently re-zoned residential (it was previously agriculture) and the partially build building on it is zoned commercial.

I’m guessing the value of the land is quite high given that it’s in Dublin which is kinda annoying as I don’t want to sell it! My dad bought it cheap and I just want to live there!

Thank your warmly for any help you can give, however small!

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

I know your best bet is to speak to a solicitor -it should not cost too much just for some advice or citizens advice for free.

However My dad left me a house (Valued at 300,000) in his will. Because it was valued under 400,000 (which I believe was the entitlement to a tax free gift/inheritance from a parent to daughter)- i did not have to pay anything apart from stamp duty and land registry fees which totaled as best I can remember (few years ago) about 3,000.

Hope the above helps.

Thanks very much Lynda for that advice - hopefully it will be relatively simple. I am going to go to a solicitor in the near future, I'm hoping that I can get some advice on this forum first so that I even know what to ask for when I'm choosing a good solicitor. I'm thinking that the more work I can have done before I meet with the more likely I'll get good advice and hopefully it won't cost the earth!

Sarah