With an ever-increasing demand for housing and a limited amount of land available, you may be considering whether a property could be built in your garden. Clearly, this could be very financially rewarding for you; however, there are some important tax considerations that you should bear in mind. This article will consider the potential capital gains tax and income tax implications of 1) selling part of your garden to a property developer, 2) self-building a property in your garden for onward sale and 3) self-building a property in your garden to let to tenants. 1)Selling part of your garden to a property developer If you sell part of your garden to a property developer who will develop the land and later sell the developed proper...

Multiple Dwellings Relief & Annexes: The State of Play   Multiple Dwellings Relief (“MDR”) was introduced by the Government in July 2011 such that a buyer can claim relief from Stamp Duty Land Tax (“SDLT”) where they purchase two or more dwellings in one chargeable transaction. This article is focused on taxpayers making the claim for MDR where they acquire a property with an annexe, rather than a number of distinct properties. The relief works through averaging the cumulative SDLT cost of a transaction across the number of dwellings acquired, where this should bring the SDLT rate closer to the rate applicable if the dwellings were acquired separately. However, the MDR can’t lessen the SDLT payable to below 1% of the...

Earlier this year, we published The Price is Right: Valuing Trading Companies (8 February 2021) which provided an overview of the various methodologies and principles typically used to value unquoted trading companies. In this article, we will set out how we value property investment companies and the kind of factors that must be considered in order to reach a robust valuation. When might a valuation be required? In our experience, valuations of property investment companies are typically required in the following circumstances: Inheritance tax planning Sale or transfer of shares Matrimonial proceedings Family Investment Companies It's important to note that this is not an exhaustive list, and a valuation may be requi...

The housing market is currently booming with the average UK house price increasing by 10.2% for the year to March 2021. One catalyst behind this surge is thought to be the stamp duty holiday due to end on 30 June 2021. However, according to property market analysts, this surge may be short lived as house prices are expected to fall again post June after the stamp duty extension deadline, where the extension to the rate bands are expected to be in place until 1 October 2021. Please check our article on the Spring 2021 Budget for further information regarding this. Amongst those acquiring new properties will be landlords purchasing buy-to-lets. With this in mind, we’ve set out 3 top tips below to help landlords efficiently manage thei...