Site purchase

[luisandesnav]

Hi,

I appreciate if somebody could help me on this:

I am a first time buyer
I am going to buy a site
I am going to self build in the site

Do I need to pay stamp duty on the site? It is possible to avoid the stamp duty by signing a contract for example with a groundworks company to show that you have an agreement to build a house?

Thanks

 

[Vanilla]

There is an exemption from stamp duty where there is a contract for purchase of the site which is connected and dependant on the purchaser also signing a contract with a specific building company.

One would expect to see either:

1. The building company owns the land and also builds the houses or

2. The directors of the building company own the land privately and the building company builds or

3. The owner of the land grants a licence to a specific building company to build, the contracts for sale of the site have a condition stating that it is contingent on a contemporaneous building agreement being entered into with a specific builder or

Some thing similar.

In other words you cannot avoid stamp duty just by 'pretending' there is a connected building contract.

You are not the first to ask this question!