Page 18 - AvRillo_A4ConvGuideBook July2017

18 Your move fast guide to conveyancing by AVRillo.
STAMP DUTY TRANSFER DEED
Stamp Duty is a government tax charged to the buyer only. Ask It is the buyer solicitors responsibility to prepare this crucial
your solicitor to work out the Stamp Duty tax you need to pay. document. Some prepare this late, which causes risk of late
They should be able to calculate this when they send you their completion. If you are selling, try to find a conveyancer who is
quote estimate. It is based on your purchase price. Also notify prepared to go the extra mile and prepare this in advance and
them if you are buying a 2nd property as this will increase your send to both seller and buyer solicitors to approve in draft. This
liability to stamp duty tax, i.e. you will pay more. Unless an is a vital document as it passes the ownership of the property
exemption applies you are liable to pay stamp duty on the day from the seller to the buyer. It is dated with the completion date
of completion so please budget for this. Also, be aware that and will be sent to the Land Registry after completion. The Land
you have personal responsibility to complete your SDLT (stamp Registry will use this Transfer deed to change their records and
duty tax form). It is complex, with some 70 questions. If you show the buyer as the new owner of the property.
get it wrong you will be fined but it has other consequences
in that you will not be issued with an SDLT 5 proof of payment
certificate. This means you will be unable to send the tax
certificate to the Land Registry in time for them to register you
as the owner within their fixed priority period. This puts you at
risk of a potential fraud where a fraudster can purchase your
property and then sell it before you are even registered as the
true owner. Most buyers will avoid those risks by asking their
conveyancer to use their expertise by completing the form in
the required time. They will then take on your financial loss if
they get it wrong and do not register you in time.
SURVEY

This is a report carried out by a surveyor on the physical state
of the property you are buying and is different from a mortgage
valuation if you are obtaining a mortgage. As the valuation merely
satisfies the lender that the property is of a sufficient value to
protect their interest we recommend that the buyer should invest
in the best survey available by a qualified surveyor. As in law when
buying a property it is always “sold as seen”. It is for you, as the
buyer, to discover any physical defects by inspecting the property
and via a survey. At the very least we believe an RICS Home
Buyer’s Report should be commissioned in the first instance.
You have some safeguards if the survey reveals a problem which
requires further investigation as pre exchange you are not bound
to purchase the property and you can decide whether to continue
with your purchase at all.