If you swap rather than sell your home you could have to pay just £5 in stamp duty, a saving potentially of thousands of pounds. As the increase in stamp duty bites, more and more people are house swapping and saving the cost of stamp duty during one of the most expensive transactions of their lives.
Patrick Cannon, head of stamp duty at Arthur Andersen said, "There can be no excuse for failing to take advantage of a tax saving arrangement that has been endorsed by the Treasury and the Inland Revenue. We have seen thousands of people enter into property exchanges every year".
How does it work? - For example, if you have a house worth £350,000 and you swap it for a £250,000 house plus the cash difference of £100,000, the special rules for house swapping apply to the cheaper of the two properties being swapped. As such, the tax authorities see this as a transfer and it is therefore only liable for a £5 fixed duty. The duty is still payable on the more expensive house, but savings can be split between the swappers.
If, in the above example you followed the traditional route of buying a house, you would be charged stamp duty at 3% or £7,500 on the £250,000 property. By house swapping you will have saved a staggering £7,495!
Jonathan Attwood, CEO of webswappers.com, stated, "We have already received a large number of enquiries about property swapping. This is something that estate agents have avoided due to the extra work in matching people. With webswappers.com it is simple, just place your requirements on the website and wait for a match! If you can’t find the property you want straight away, set up an alert and you will be informed when it comes online. We can also offer swapping services for free to other websites".
Whist thousands of people have already taken advantage of this tax saving arrangement, until now the full potential has been limited by the inability to match swappers. The property swapping service offered by webswappers.com now provides an easy and effective way of getting swappers together. Combined with the huge tax savings, it is set to create an explosion of property swapping.
Swappers can place their property swap on webswappers.com for free. webswappers.com also offer a premium service. For a one off fee of £65, swappers can have a ‘for swap’ sign to go outside their home and a high quality digital photograph of their property taken for inclusion on webswappers.com.
Patrick Cannon went on to say, "From time to time I hear of cases where people have not taken advantage of this tax saving arrangement. I heard of one case last week where the conveyancer failed to advise his client. Just before the exchange of contracts we were able to point out that the individual could mitigate a £20,000 stamp duty bill!"
The site also contains a stamp duty calculator that works out your potential savings. Property swaps can be viewed in the property section on webswappers.com.
Photographs of streets with ‘for swap’ signs up, available on request. Contact: Jonathan Attwood CEO, 020 7610 1575, 0403 314 997
Editor’s Notes:
- Stamp duty is charged at:
£500,000 - 4%
£250,000 - £500,000 - 3%
£60,000 - £250,000 - 1%
Under £60,000 - no duty
Webswappers is the leading swapping site in the UK and Europe, with over 160+ categories from books to toys, DIY to antiques and houses to holiday homes, it’s the ideal place to swap what you don't want and find what you’re looking for. With the ability to swap services you can also swap items in return for building and decorating work.
Photographs of streets with ‘for swap’ signs up, available on request
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