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Stamp duty dodge

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  • 01-08-2006 10:43am
    #1
    Gwynston
    Registered Users Posts: 919 ✭✭✭


    I know a couple who got married a couple of years ago who are looking to buy a bigger house. The one they're in was bought by the wife in her own name when she was single. So they're thinking of buying the new house in just the husband's name to get the benefit of him being a first time buyer.

    Is that going to work? Surely once they married and he lived with her as the house owner, his status will have changed? And him trying to buy a house that they will both reside in, when she has already been a home owner, surely doesn't make it a first time purchase for them "as a couple"?

    Their soliciter seems to think they're OK to do this, but I'd have thought becoming married essentially combines what was previously their individual home ownership status?


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    #2
    um7y1h83ge06nx
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,029 ✭✭✭um7y1h83ge06nx


    I not a solicitor but it possibly seems valid enough.

    She was single at the time and I presume the mortgage is in her name only.

    Hence she bought the house and thus far, her husband hasn't bought any house.

    Maybe though only her husband's name can be on the mortgage for the new house.

    The thing is, would his situation be only taken into account (income etc.) for the mortgage application, and not the combined circumstances of both of them?


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    #3
    Gwynston
    Registered Users Posts: 919 ✭✭✭Gwynston


    Yes, they'll only try it if the house they buy is in a price range where the husband can apply for the mortgage based just on his income, so that it's only in his name (accounting for the downpayment from the sale of the old house, even though it will be his wife's money...)


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    #4
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    cant be done, Family Home Act applies once they marry. Tell them to divorce first and then he can get his FTB status back.


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    #5
    Gwynston
    Registered Users Posts: 919 ✭✭✭Gwynston


    So their solicitor's advice is wrong then?


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    #6
    Lex Luthor
    Registered Users Posts: 11,220 ✭✭✭✭Lex Luthor


    maybe the solicitor is trying to get them to pay him to divorce them first....crafty bugger


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    #7
    The_Conductor
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,285 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    Sponge Bob wrote:
    cant be done, Family Home Act applies once they marry. Tell them to divorce first and then he can get his FTB status back.
    Sponge Bob is entirely correct on this one.
    FYI- The Revenue Commissioners have a team in Dublin Castle investigating abuses of Stamp Duty. If you get caught, regardless of who gave you dodgy advice, the penalties applied will make the original stamp duty look like peanuts...... OP- your friend should speak to a solicitor who specialises in property/conveyancing. I am not sure what their current solicitor thinks he is doing.....


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