Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) Form

When I got my initial quote from my conveyancing solicitor, they offered me a lot of extra optional services for extra fees. Being naive, I declined most of the additional services because obviously I want to keep all fees to a minimal. However, I did make an exception for the “no competition, no fee”, insurance; that’s just good sense. They also offered me another service, which involved the completion of a form- Stamp Duty Tax form (SDLT). The completion of this form is mandatory. They wanted a fee of £59.99 for completing the form for me. I thought, “what the hell? These fools want £60 to fill in a damn form? I can do that for nothing- how hard can a form be to complete”. They even came with guidelines, helping me along with every box. So I requested that they send me the form for me to complete.

I’m not entirely sure if ALL solicitors charge extra for that, but mine sure as hell did. But to be honest, I didn’t mind that much, because with my conveyancing solicitors rates, I’m still saving a hell a lot of money compared to other solicitors I got quotes from.

What is a Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) form?

“SDLT is a tax on transactions, not documents. When you buy a property or land, you must fill in a Land Transaction Return (SDLT1) and send it to HMRC. Your conveyancer/solicitor will normally complete the return for you as part of handling the transaction. But legally, you are responsible for the information submitted.

Once the return has been processed and the appropriate amount of tax has been paid, a ‘Land Transaction Return Certificate’ (SDLT5) is issued (this replaces the old impressed stamp.) You’ll need this certificate for the Land Registries in UK and Northern Ireland, or for the Registrars of Scotland when applying for registration of title or documents.”

More information here

There are also supplementary forms (SDLT2,3, 4). They may not apply to you.

SDLT 2 – Where there are two or more sellers and or/two buyers.
SDLT 3 – Where land is involved and more space than that provided on the SDLT 1 is needed.
SDLT 4 – For complex commercial transactions and leases.

Your solicitor should guide you accordingly, and inform you which ones apply to you.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) form IS COMPLICATED

I received the form today…DEAR LORD. Absolutely ridiculous!! Even with the guidelines, it was like rocket science. I didn’t understand half the questions; I swear they intentionally made it as difficult as possible. In fact, I’m convinced the Government have a deal going on with all conveyancing solicitors where they get a cut of the charges for filling in that form just for making it so difficult, meaning they rely on all property buyers to get their solicitor to fill in the damn form.

Think you can handle it?

If you think you’re man enough to handle the form, here are is additional resources that may come in handy:

Example of the Stamp Duty Tax form (SDLT1) form:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/so/sdlt1-sample.pdf

SDLT1 guidelines to help you fill in the form:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/so/sdlt6.pdf

Tips on how to fill in the form:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/so/helpcard.pdf

Anyways, so I sent the form back to them with a cheque of £59.99 (bas***ds).

My advice is that if you get the option of filling it in yourself, decline the offer, especially if you’re a property amateur like myself. Trust me. But hey, if you don’t believe me, try it; you’ll only delay the process for your solicitor since you WILL send a blank form back to him/her. Ha!

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Talk / 5 Comments

Catti wrote this on 2008-10-31 12:08:07 Trust me - Solicitors don't like them either - they take far too long which is why some firms charge extra to do that work! 1

Bear wrote this on 2009-01-08 10:08:26 All i'll say is lesson well learned.

I'm a secretary at a law firm and clients always think they know better than the Solicitors. I'm sure people think they pay us to do nothing! Most people pay their Estate Agents more than their conveyancing solicitors but they don't bi*ch about their estate agents for charging 1 or 2 % of the purchase price. Solicitors don't even get half of this in most cases. (obviously i mean without disbursements, searches, etc) their basic fee is usually pitiful.

Some clients also think their Solicitors 'sit' on things for a laugh! They call us up and say "what's going on? why is this taking so long, you can't be waiting for anything else now" and they don't believe you when you say you're waiting for a redemption figure, mortgage deed, searches...we seriously don't want you calling us every day so why on earth would we lie about things we're waiting for?

Let this be a lesson to all clients that think they know better. Let your Solicitor do his/her work. 2

cheryl long wrote this on 2009-02-19 22:49:11 count yourself lucky my solicitor charges £89.75 for filling the form out and because we're buying the property with a mortgage not cash we have no option to fill the form out ourselves. i'm in the wrong career. 3

twisted_fool wrote this on 2009-07-06 12:16:12 Maybe I'm just a genius or something because I found the form relatively easy to complete - I've no idea what the fuss is, or why it costs so much to complete - it took me 30 minutes and was the first time I'd completed such a form.
I only left this comment because you were so certain that noone can fill it in. My advice is, if you have any brains, DO IT YOURSELF! Solicitors are thieves - they only employ unqualified people to do most of the work anyway! 4

D McLaughlin wrote this on 2010-01-24 22:33:32 I am about to fill in this form as my solicitor wants £50 which I think is extortion. These solicitors fill them in all the time so it should be a breeze for them. If the forms were in plain english most people would have no problem. Solicitors will charge you for taking a breath, they are constantly looking at what they can bill you. 5