Q I am currently married and live with my wife and kids in a house that my wife owns. I pay her a share of our total living expenses. We are now separating and I’m planning to move out into a house which will cost me £260,000 to buy. My questions are:
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can I buy the property as a “first-time buyer” as I’ve never owned a property by myself or with anybody else before?
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will I have to pay the 3% stamp duty on the house I intend to purchase?
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we plan on getting separated permanently and for the purposes of the house buying, do I need to do the separation through court? Does the “separation agreement” you find online good for anything?
CP
A I assume that you want to count as a first-time buyer to be able to claim first-time-buyer relief from stamp duty land tax (SDLT). Until March 2025, this makes the first £425,000 of a property costing up to £625,000 free of SDLT for first-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland. There’s no first-time buyer relief in Wales and in Scotland – where land and buildings transaction tax applies – the tax-free amount is £175,000.
In theory, you match the description of a first-time buyer to be eligible for the relief in that you will be buying a “single dwelling” which will be your home and it will be the first property you have ever owned, whether in the UK or the rest of the world. But it wouldn’t be the end of the world if, on some technicality, you don’t count as a first-time buyer because the SDLT bill would be a modest £500 (which is charged at 5% on the £10,000 above the SDLT-free amount of £250,000).
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As to whether you will have to pay the higher-rate of SDLT on your purchase? You might have to unless at the time of purchase, you are divorced or have a formal separation order in place. If you are separated “in circumstances that are likely to be permanent but have not yet separated permanently,” says Jacqueline Emmerson of Emmersons Solicitors, then “the 3% surcharge will have to be paid initially but may then be reclaimed within three years if the separation or divorce becomes permanent”.
Emmerson adds that to avoid facing an SDLT bill “it is essential that separating couples get swift legal advice to formalise their separation before they rush into buying”.
So it sounds like the answer to your last two questions is do not even think about buying somewhere until you have formalised your separation by getting appropriate legal advice from a qualified professional rather than the Internet.
