‘The Little-known loophole to save on stamp duty’ was the headline for Ruth Bloomfield’s article in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph; ‘buying a country home that has multiple-use land attached can drastically cut the tax you’ll pay’. The article goes on to explain that properties that have either a commercial or agricultural side line are classified as “mixed use”. Mixed use buyers pay no stamp duty on the first £150,000, 2% on the next £100,000 (up to £250,000) and then 5% on the remainder.
Sounds good and certainly worth exploring but take care, HMRC’s guidance on what qualifies as mixed use is unclear; there must be a historic or current commercial use, such as grazing agreement, and not simply the potential to do so in the future. Guy Hurst, a solicitor at Paris Smith, pointed out that ‘If you can show that part of the property is non-residential, then the whole of the property will be classed as mixed use’.
It should be clear but every property is different and there is no official definition. So as always, the advice has to be to deal with professionals you can trust! Call us now for advice on all matters concerning property sales and rental.