With regard to ‘Buy-to-Let’ properties legislation is changing in that as from April 2016 the stamp duty element will be increased so that no allowances will be made and the buyers will have to pay more stamp duty than on a straightforward domestic purchase whereby the buyer will take possession of the property. This new stamp duty element will affect anyone purchasing a second home even though the second property may be a holiday home.
This is being put in place in order to keep the housing market buoyant and freeing up second properties.
As mentioned on the other pages, a quote will be given at the outset of the transaction which will show the various fees and disbursements (including the new stamp duty rate) so that the buyer will be fully aware of the financial aspect from the start.
At the outset an Information Form will be sent to you which outlines the procedures and also requests a certain amount of information. It is important that this is read very carefully and replies given to all of the questions relevant to the transaction.
You should also let us have the funds requested in that Form to enable us to carry out the various searches necessary to ensure that there are no major issues affecting the property.
In the case of a ‘Buy-to-Let’ property the procedures are exactly the same as those on a domestic purchase.
As with all transactions it will be necessary to attend at these offices to provide proof of identification. This means that the client will need to attend at these offices with an original current Passport and also two up to date (less than three months old) utility bills, bank statements or council tax demand in order for us to comply with the relevant legislation.
It will also be necessary to let us have a note of the clients National Insurance Number as this is required by the Inland Revenue.
For this an appointment will need to be made with the relevant fee earner so that the client is not disappointed if the fee earner is not available as well as the fact that the client may have taken time off work and therefore, having had a wasted journey will not be very happy. Keeping clients happy is very important to us as a firm and, of course, generates a certain amount of goodwill which, again, is important to us.