PRT’s stamp duty land tax conference 2019

SDLT and residential complexity

Sara Maccullum covered the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) rules on residential property transactions including: rates; the meaning of residential property; the higher rates for additional dwellings; and the 15% rate regime. She explained that in her experience if a company buys a dwelling HMRC is likely to open an enquiry into its SDLT return to check that relief from the 15% rate applies. She also noted that she had seen overseas buyers choose to purchase more dwellings than they had originally intended specifically to access the rates for commercial transactions. This is because the acquisition of six or more dwellings in a ‘single transaction’ is taxed as if the dwellings were non-residential properties. There is some doubt whether the purchase of more than five properties under multiple contracts from multiple vendors on multiple completion dates was a ‘single...