What Is Stamp Duty?

15 Jan 2007

Introduction to what stamp duty is:
Stamp Duty is the tax you pay when purchasing property. It is a percentage paid on the purchase of a home or non-residential property, graded into bands. Your conveyancing solicitor will typically handle this fee; it will be added onto your solicitor’s fee, which will then be accordingly directed to the govenrment. As a buyer, all you really need to worry about is how much stamp duty you need to pay. Due to the housing boom over the previous years, stamp duty is an unpopular tax, especially since buying property is already a very expensive luxury.

How much stamp duty you have to pay:

To find out how much stamp duty you need to pay when purchasing a property, please go to this article, How Much Stamp Duty Do I have To pay?

When you pay stamp duty:

You don’t just pay Stamp Duty when purchasing property; the charge is also applied on most transactions on land, grants or assignments of leases, and transfers of chargeable securities, for example, shares in companies.

How to avoid stamp duty:

There are two ways of avoiding stamp duty. Firstly, any properties purchased for under £120,000 don’t qualify for the tax fee. No Stamp Duty Land Tax is payable on these properties. However, buying properties for under £120k is becoming increasingly difficult due to the recent property boom, especially in the southerm region of England. 1 in 20 properties sold for less than £120,000 in London last year.

Secondly, an established Buy to Let investor who can afford to buy at least six properties at one time also qualifies for tax relief.

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