Stamp duty and new houses-floor area over 125 sq. metres

Ok folks I need a little help from you fine individuals that frequent the site. Myself and a friend have decided to buy a property together in order to pool our resources and get our foot on the ladder. We are both first time buyers and want to avoid stamp duty (legally!!!!) which means one of the following;

Plan A - buying a second hand house for under €317,500
Plan B - buying a new house off the plans.

I should also state that we plan to live in the house once it's ready to move into ie we plan to be owner occupiers and depending on the finances we have no plans to rent a room.

So far so good except for one thing, am I right in thinking that if a new house has a floor area over 125 sq m we are liable for stamp duty. We wanted to find a new house within our budget but the bigger the better. The house we are considering purchasing will cost about €390,000 and has a floor area of about 190sqm, it is being advertised as exempt from stamp duty for owner occupiers but after looking at the revenue website it looks to me that the house falls into the 6% stamp duty bracket as it is over 125 sqm. Any advice or words of wisdom would be appreciated.

Re: Stamp duty and new houses

This is an extract from a Revenue document. I will try and find the link. The key thing you are forgetting about new property for FTB is that the value for stamp duty is a quarter of purchase price. See if you can 'follee' the document.




First Time Buyer
A first time buyer is a person who has not previously purchased or built a house or apartment anywhere in the world and who is purchasing a house or apartment for use as their principal place of residence. Where there is more than one buyer, each of the buyers must be a first time buyer to obtain the reduced first time buyer rate. The benefit obtained where the reduced first time buyer rates apply is subject to clawback provisions.
The rates of duty for first time buyers have been reduced for deeds of conveyence or transfer executed on or after 2 December 2004 (see table below)
Rates of Duty for Residential Property
The rates of duty applicable for residential property (whether new or second-hand) are as follows:
Aggregate Consideration First Time Buyer Rate Pre 2 December 2004 First Time Buyer Rate On/After 2 December 2004 Full Rate
Less than €127,000 Exempt Exempt Exempt
€127,001 - €190,500 Exempt Exempt 3%
€190,501 - €254,000 3% Exempt 4%
€254,001 - €317,500 3.75% Exempt 5%
€317,501 - €381,000 4.5% 3% 6%
€381,001 - €635,000 7.5% 6% 7.5%
Over €635,000 9% 9% 9%
N.B. The Rates above apply to the entire consideration or value of the property, e.g. :
(a) Where the consideration for a property is €150,000 (and the purchaser is not a first-time buyer) the stamp duty liability would be €4,500 (€150,000 @ 3%)

(b) Where the consideration for a property is €350,000 (and the purchaser is not a first time buyer) the stamp duty liability would be €21,000 (€350,000 @ 6%)

(c) Where the consideration for a property is €350,000 and the purchaser IS a first time buyer (where the deed of conveyance is executed on or after 2nd December 2004) the stamp duty liability would be €10,500 (€350,000 @ 3%)
New Houses and Apartments
•Under Floor Area of 125 sq. m
New houses or apartments which are purchased by an owner occupier (including a first-time buyer) where there exists a valid floor area compliance certificate issued by the Department of Environment and Local Government stating that the total floor area of the house/apartment does not exceed 125 square metres are exempt, subject to clawback.

•Over Floor Area of 125 sq. m
New houses or apartments which are purchased by an owner occupier (including a first time buyer) where the total floor area exceeds 125 square metres are charged with duty, at the appropriate residential property rate as per the table above, on the site value (excluding VAT) or one quarter of the total value of the house including the site (excluding VAT), whichever is the greater, subject to clawback. The size of the floor area must be certified by a qualified architect, engineer or surveyor

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This topic has been discussed many times before, here, and here and indeed here.

The basics of it are that on houses over 125 sq meteres you need to work out the chargeable consideration which is usually 25% of the cost of the house minus VAT - then it is this chargeable consideration that any stamp is calculated on. So if your chargeable consideration is less than 317,500 and you are a first time buyer then you pay no stamp duty, even though the house is over 125 sq m

Thanks DrWizard I had dug up that info on revenue.ie but was having a little trouble digesting it on the basis of a house being over 125sqm but I appreciate the reply.

EFM your a star I get it now I was a little confused but your explanation was concise, to the point and exactly what I was looking for. Go to the top of the class