P1_BEN

Morning peeps,

Well the day has dawned and i have found a house that i want to buy.. Any advice on what to go in at...

It's in a real pain in the @rse range as it's just over 250 its up at 259, what do you reckon the chances are at gettin it below 250... For stamp duty and so on..???

Cheers...

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Yep easy, go in at 243 and work up to 247..... The owners will know about the stamp.

Sub97

If you agree a little over 250 get them to sell you the house for 249,999 and the fixtures and fittings for the difference.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Bad idea, unless you want the taxman breathing down your neck. They're on to that one, unsurprisingy. You do actually have to sign a form declaring that the sale is not part of a bigger transaction the value of which exceeds £250k.

Personally I'd offer just under £250k and refuse to go any higher. Point out that you won't be the only one - it's just not worth your while offering any more. Good luck

Scooby96

Could someone remind me of the stamp duty rates again?

P1_BEN

I think it's 3% upto 250 then 5% over that... don't know any higher as that's got to be well out of my league...!!

looking at another 5k i got to find if it goes over 250!!!!

Scooby96

Up to and including £60,000, nil

Over £60,000 but not more than £250,000, 1%

Over £250,000 but not more than £500,000, 3%

Over £500,000, 4%

Nice tiered rates then 0-1-3-4



[Edited by Scooby96 - 1/19/2004 10:12:07 AM]

Dream Weaver

I think its 1% to 250, then 3% over 250.

marky1

u should be going in 10% below asking i reckon. Be cheeky, u can always go higher but it's hard to come down!

Mark

ChrisB

Or 0% for up to £150k if you live in the right area

P1_BEN

Well i've taken the plunge and gone in at 242... will let you know what happens...

Jiggerypokery

I once put an offer on a house of 215k when the asking price was 270k. It was the only offer at the time, and the house is *still* for sale, two years later!

P1_BEN

well 249,999 then 3k for fixtures and fittings... so just waiting to see if there is a way round it...

Surely must be possible, couldn't I but a kettle off them now for 3k?? surely thats a seperate transaction...??? and not part of a bigger one..?

S Page

has the property had any other offers on it, if it has and its a sought after property and you really want it, then you might have to offer full asking price just to get it. If your offer gets acceptted ask them to take it off the market, otherwise the estate agents tend to still show people round and if someone offers higher a couple of weeks later you could either end up in a bidding war or lose any payments you may have made for valuations, survey's etc if you can't afford to keep uping your offer.
a new thing i have heard happening at the moment is a seller will accept offers from 2 different buyers and then its a race between you as to who is ready to exchange contracts first.

Good luck its a stressfull thing house buying.

P1_BEN

Don't think there are any other offers, but I will ask them to take it off the market then get a friend to enquire and see what they say.

Not interested in being messed around and i'll pull out if that happens. Already been through it once and they pulled out 2 weeks before exchanging contracts..

I would have thought it would been a very sort after property but he has stated he will accept 253.

Just a case of whether I can get round the stamp duty.. Seems stupid I can't give him the 3k I would have to pay in stamp duty..

LG John

P1 - why not buy their car of them for several thousand more than its worth and then immediately sell it back to them for £1

That might work?

workshy_fopp

You will be ok with £249,999 for the house and £3001 for fixtures and fittings, that seems perfectly reasonable to me. It's only when you start charging £15k for the curtains that the Revenue get a bit shirty.

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Isn't it crazy that a £3k increase will end up costing you £8k !

D

S Page

Did you find out the following:
how long its been on the market
are they in a rush to move (do theyhave somewhere to go)
whats the reason for selling

If its been on for ages then they might accept a lower offer or if they are in a rush to sell then they might accept lower offer but if its only been on for a short while then they will be holding out for a better offer.

Ask to view the house again and talk over the situation with the owners as regards the stamp duty, they should understand.

S Page

Oh just check that they don't work for inland revenue or some government agency first tho.

i'm sure you could purchase their dining table and curtains for 3k if you know what i mean.

P1_BEN

The guy is something to do with Motor trade... there was a desk with Glass's Guide stuff all over it...

Genuine reason to move is, kids moving out so don't need such a big place plus they all work in sevenoaks and this is in King Hill (For the local people) they wanna move 20 - 30 mins away...

They are going into rented accomodation until they find what they want..

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Unless they're stupid, the positioning of asking price just above £250k would seem to indicate they'd be happy at £249,999. (As opposed to marketing it at £249k whereby you'd be angling for £240k.)
I can't believe he genuinely thinks that someone would pay just over £250k & trigger the higher stamp duty. (Unless he wants to "agree" at £249,999 and share the £5k on SD you've saved !)

D

chris singleton

I personally wouldn't go over £250K. Anyone marketing a property near the threshold will know the position. As previously mentioned you now have to complete and sign a "Land Transaction Return Form" stating that there are no related transactions.

There's no need to offer £249,999.99. that's an annoying estate agent ploy to make the property sound cheaper. £250K on the nose won't attract the higher duty but a 1p over will

Chris

S Page

Makes it a bit harder for you then if they don't need to move out quickly, especially because if they rent they have to rent for a minimum of 6 months, so it would be cheaper for them to stay put and find somewhere to move to. however if he's in the motor trade then he know's about saving money so should be a bit more ameanable to your situation.

P1_BEN

WooHoo mortgage approved in principal....!!!!!!

Scooby96

What about your offer - has it been accepted?

P1_BEN

Yes 250 has been agreed...!! looking good at the moment, although I know its a bad idea to get this excited...!!!

Just my luck something will go wrong...

Butkus

Why do they do that with stamp duty?! Totally ridiculous as it screws with all the house prices.

It should be the same percentage across the board - the more expensive the house, the more you pay, but at least the percentage is fair for everyone.

Even if they do have to have this system, they should only apply the higher rate to the portion of the price that is above the previous band. For example, if the house price is £260,000, then the duty should be 1% on the first £250k, then 3% on the remaining £10k. The same as the system for higher rate tax payers - it's banded.

Scooby96

Yeah but then that wouldnt buttfcuk us so much would it!

[Edited by Scooby96 - 1/20/2004 3:46:49 PM]

P1_BEN

Top idea butkus.... would have saved me a lot of aggro...

Well just have to wait and see now... fingers crossed...