Stamp Duty on Property Bought by Trustees

I am dealing with an Estate that includes a Right of Occupation with the right to purchase an alternative property, which the Occupant wishes to exercise to downsize.

Who is responsible for the Stamp Duty? The Occupant, or the Trust i.e. from the surplus funds of the sale/purchase. The surplus is shared equally between the Occupant and the deceased’s two daughters.

Karl Taylor
Parker Rhodes Hickmotts

The SDLT is part of the cost of the transaction and will normally be payable by the trustees in the same way as the other conveyancing costs of the purchase.

Paul Saunders FCIB TEP

Independent Trust Consultant

Providing support and advice to fellow professionals

The trustees would be liable and are treated as acquiring the whole interest in the property [FA 2003 Pt 4].

Malcolm Finney

Assuming nothing unusual in the wording of the Will, the trust pays all purchase costs, including SDLT.

Simon Northcott

The above all assume that the trust is the 100% buyer of the new property (i.e. the beneficiary doesn’t own any share of the current property outright with right of occupation in the rest). If not, the SDLT is divided in the same shares that the trust and beneficiary are buying the new property.
Andrew Goodman
Osborne Clarke LLP

Thanks all. This confirms my thinking.

Karl Taylor
Parker Rhodes Hickmotts