If anyone already owns a property anywhere in the world and they are then buying a property in the UK , even if it is for a residence for themselves , they will have to pay the additional 3% and it will not be reclaimable even if they sell their other residence
Barbara has already seen a number of cases that have been caught by this, a couple of examples below:
- Couple buying their first house, and one of them has an existing property that they used to live in but now lets it out. The new house will be regarded as a second property.
- Individual who was previously gifted a house outside of the UK and is now buying and selling their home in the UK. The new house in UK will be a second property therefore will be caught even if they are using it as principle private residence .
Both of the above are cases we often see and both would be caught for the 3% additional Stamp Duty Land Tax.
Barbara is seeing lots of cases being caught where she is sure they were not designed to being caught.
Let us see whether will be any tweaking of the bill before it becomes enacted in July
Many thanks to Barbara for sharing her experiences so far.
