No this is a genuine discussion about possible ways of buying property. The way prices are, I am looking at a legitimate way of minimising my outlay. My choice of words "get away without paying" stamp duty was ill-advised as it suggests something improper.
I am no Denis O'Brien, just an ordinary joe. There is no change of property ownership involved in the hypothetical deal I am discussing. It is still owned by the company. So what business is it of the lenders? Or of Revenue for that matter?
Of course the due diligence thingy needs to be sorted. But doing that would cost a lot less than going down the stamp duty route.
Why doesn't everybody do it this way? Maybe some people do, but it is only possible if the vendor has transferred the property into a company which he / she is willing to sell.
And lastly, I note you say that it is considerably easier to buy a property from an individual rather than buy a company that has a property. I have never bought a company, but I have already bought or attempted to buy six properties in my lifetime. In each case the experience was stressful to the point where my life was virtually on hold, as I ran between banks, insurance companies, auctioneer, solicitor, engineer, accountant, and tried to put in the occasional appearance at work now and then as well. I have been gazzumped, screwed by a bank, delayed by an auctioneer, and stressed out of my knowledge by the experiences. Twice, the purchase went on for longer than six months, and on each occasion I ended up with no property.
I think I will take my chances trying to buy a property through a company.