As you no doubt know, Angela Rayner recently resigned as deputy prime minister and housing secretary, because she failed to pay enough stamp duty land tax on a flat she bought in Hove, near Brighton. This article explains what her situation means to you…

When you buy or sell residential property, it’s wise to take advice from a solicitor to help with the legal transfer of ownership. The process is called ‘conveyancing’ and the solicitor deals with all of the legal aspect associated with the purchase. It is particularly important when you have complex family arrangements, as did Angela Rayner.

Stamp Duty Land Tax, or SDLT as it is referred to, is a tax paid on the purchase of property in England and Northern Ireland – in Wales it is known as Land Transaction Tax or LTT. The rates in England and Wales can differ. Your solicitor will let you know how much that tax is.

Angela Rayner paid the rate of tax that applies when you purchase a residential property declaring that you do not own another property. On the purchase price of £800,000 this was £30,000. However, because her disabled son had a property in trust for him, she was deemed to own an additional property and an additional £30,000 was due.

Specialist advice should always be sought as the rules can be complex when buying or selling property. You need to take the right sort of advice, since responsibility for paying the right amount of stamp duty rests with you, the home-owner. You must also be clear about the details of your situation. Without sharing the full facts, you won’t get the right advice.

We are here to help. You can get an instant quote from our website here. We also have a dedicated app which enables you to follow your transaction from beginning to end.

We are conveyancers for residential property, and have guided thousands of home-owners through the legal process. We also have a commercial and agricultural property department to support you when buying or selling business premises or agricultural property.

We’ll tell you if you need to talk to a tax specialist, which might be the case if your property is owned wholly or partly in trust, or in any other complex scenario.

For more information, please call us on 01938 552545 or see our Residential Property page.