"Phil Norman" wrote in message
...
Hello everyone

This may not be quite what this ng is about, but if anyone can help - or
refer me to a ng that could - I would be very grateful.

Before anyone tells me that a solicitor would sort this out for me, I know
that, but I would some like some idea about the process before I get to
the
stage of employing solicitors, etc.

Essentially I want to sell my house to my daughter for a nominal price -
£35,000 instead of the £150,000 that it's worth. We have various reasons
for
wanting to do this. Mainly I just want to give her the property (it will
be
hers anyway some time in the future), but I need to pay off the existing
mortgage - that's were the £35,000 comes in. Then my wife and I plan to
move
into another property that we have some involvement with, but don't own.

When she went to have a chat with a building society, about getting a
mortgage, they said that there could be a Stamp Duty charge because of the
value of the house - although Stamp Duty doesn't normally become payable
until a property sells for more than £60,000 (or that used to be the
figure - it may have changed).

Anyone got any ideas? Also we wouldn't want to go to the bother, and
expense, of having searches and similar things done when we transfer
ownership (we only bought the place three years ago). What are the rules
about this?

If anyone can help I would be most grateful.

Many thanks

Phil

I'm not sure how things work when you're selling property for less than the
market value. Certainly, your solicitor will have to sign something to
state that the amount sold for is not actually part of a larger transaction
(ie. £20 for the house and a £200k backhander). Actually selling for £35k
may be fine - though I'm not sure how this would work with inheritance tax?
(Why not just sell the house for £1 and not have to pay the tax?).

Something which does appear to apply in your situation is that apparently,
you can just give the house to your daughter (tax free) as long as it
becomes their main residence. I'm sure someone else can clarify further -
but it may be possible that you don't have to pay anything (and she doesn't
have to buy it off you - rather you can just get her to give you £35k
separately). Note that purchase prices get put on the Land Registry now -
so if you sold it for £35k, then the next purchaser may question it.

One final thing - I don't believe there is any requirement for searches etc
to be done if you don't want it to be. In your situation you are just
handing over the house to your daughter - and she probably doesn't want
searches/surveys etc being done.

From what I can see - you may just have to pay the Land Registry transfer
fee of between £100 and £300 or so to update the records. Assuming you're
allowed to sell for just £35k - then no Stamp Duty should be due either.

D