Can the forum advise if first time buyers relief is lost if the buyers are named as remaindermen in a life interest trust? Life interest trust set up within a will giving Life Tenant right of income only and occupation for life. On his death A & B will inherit. I’m led to believe as remainder men have an interest in the property, they cannot be perceived to be first time buyers even if they haven’t ‘purchased’ a property.
I don’t believe it is lost. The test is whether they are a “first-time buyer” within Sch 6ZA of FA 2003. I don’t believe a remainderman would fail to meet any of the conditions in para 6 (defining the term) because they have not previously been a purchaser in the SDLT sense. The default position is Sch 16 para 4, that the trustees are the purchasers of the entire property, including the beneficial interest.
They can also lose the relief if the transaction is a higher-rate transaction within Sch 4ZA but, again, I don’t believe the remainderman would be considered to have an interest in the property. Para 11 provides that a beneficiary with an IIP would be treated as being the purchaser, expressly overrides Sch 16 para 4 for the purposes of Sch 4ZA.
Simple really…
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I looked at this last year and came to the conclusion that it depended on whether the LI still existed when the remainderman purchased. If it was then there was no previous acquisition but if the LI had come to an end so the property had passed to the remaindermen FTB would not be due as they had acquired the property SDLTM29845
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Might be a useful perspective and analysis for civil law nus-propriétaires taking under under a foreign gift…