first time buyer or not?

B

Boi

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Hello everybody.
Looked thru the threads and couldnt find answer to this.Basically my friend has been recently separated.they had a house bought in 1993 all deeds under her ex-husbands' name.The house is paid for in full-no mortgage at present.Due to the separation,they have agreed she keeps the house and pays husband 50% of what it is worth.
She is now looking to get a mortgage to pay off the husband 50%.she has never bought a house in Ireland(current house bought before they got married and her name was never put on title deeds).Her mortgage broker is telling her she will not be classified as first time buyer and will have to pay stamp duty,she will also not avail of FTB offers around the place.is this true?
 
My reckoning:

As she has retained an interest in the family home she is not a first time buyer

[broken link removed]

The exception is there to help someone who is separated find somewhere to live. Your friend already has a home.
 
How on earth does she justify her position as a first time buyer when she currently owns 50% of a house! Arguing that she is a first time buyer seems to be stretching the spirit of the rules, at the very least. If she gets away with it, fair play to her, but Im not sure she should expect any sympathy if she cant avail of the FTB deals!!
 
Thank you for the response.But looking on the revenue website,she should still be a FTB as she has not bought house before,and this is going to be her primary residence?am i misunderstanding that defination?
 
Anyone currently holding an equidity in a property cannot be classified as a first time buyer !!
 
Were they married when her ex bought the house? Was her income taken into account when applying for the mortgage?

Regardless, I think it's likely she is exempt as this seems to be sort of situation the Revenue exemptions are designed to cover. Or at worst she should only have to pay stamp duty on half the value, and even then there may be relief for a transfer between "spouses".

I would say take legal advice to be sure, but this is complicated and I suspect many solicitors are not tax experts.
 
It does not matter for stamp duty purposes. Any transfer between spouses is exempt from stamp duty.

Now - whether she is a first time buyer to avail of mortgage offers is an entirely different matter!

mf
 
they were not married when the ex bought the house.her income was not taken into consideration.she wasnt even in the country then..
 
I'm not an FTB from a revenue perspective (owned and sold a house years ago in the USA), but from the banks perspective I seem to be - since I don't fit into any other category (trading up/down, refinancing, investment, etc).
 
JiggetyJig said:
I'm not an FTB from a revenue perspective (owned and sold a house years ago in the USA),
Click to expand...
Why are you so sure you are a FTB from a revenue point of view?

Thanks MF1 (transfer between spouses exempt from stamp duty), I didn't realise it was only one property so I've deleted the remainder of this post as I misunderstood the original question.
 
Bronte - Just to clarify - I said that I wasn't a FTB for Revenue (due to previously owning a house in the USA).
 
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