General (main property discussion here) - Stamp Duty - Linked Transactions

I am currently looking at buying a parcel of 6 flats from the same vendor. I intend to mortgage each of the flats separately and their individual purchase price would be less than £125,000 each.

I initially thought that I would not be liable to stamp duty on each of the flats as there purchase price was below the stamp duty threshold, however I am now led to believe that the Revenue would view this as a linked transation and as the total price for all six flats would be in th region of £430,000 I would be liable to pay stamp duty at 3%.

I have spoken to a number of investors who have made multiple purchases from the same developer in the same development and have not paid stamp duty on the total amount.

I would be grateful for anyones experiences of this and clarification on this matter.

Regards Nick

If the Revenue can prove this is a linked purchase from the same vendor then you will be liable for the full amount of duty. This is easy for them to prove as the new land transaction return forms contain all the information they require, this is completed by your solicitor when you complete the purchase. The only way to try to avoid this tax is to purchase each of the properties on an individual basis , with a certain amount of time between each purchase, that way if you are pulled by the revenue you could try to argue that the purchases were not linked. However the revenue are apparently looking closely at these deals and if they deem them linked you will have to pay.