Breaking Property News 30/01/25
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SCA Tax advisory teaches Andrew Stanton a lot about SDLT and how many are overpaying it
I have been in the property sector for 40 years, and as an analyst, journalist editor and for over 30 years an estate agent, I pride myself on knowing all there is to know about property assets. But proving every day is a school day, I recently had a meeting with someone who is clever than me, Sean Swimby of SCA Tax, who told me a lot of things I did not know and I am guessing that a lot of other key people do not know either.
First off until Sean told me, I did not realise that property traders, a company or partnership that carries out the business of buying and selling properties, when buying a probate property from a deceased estate can pay nil SDLT if they meet a certain criteria.
This amazed me, as I know that 10% of all completions a year are probates, and whilst investors/buying companies or even landlords who have a company framework, may not specifically target probate properties, they must from time to time but in a probate, either by private treaty via an estate agent, or by auction etc.
I asked Sean is there was a limitation as to how long you could claim back SDLT on these probate purchases, and again new information, it was four years. Surely then there must be people who are reading this who fall into this category?
Sean also said he has many companies who buy probate properties and sell them on, saying that players who do 10 or more of these a year could be saving an absolute fortune.
I said, ‘Surely the solicitor of the accountants who work for these companies must know all about this potential refund?’ to which Sean said that solicitors and accountants do a great job, but are not specialists in this area, often going to a government website to check SDLT allowances, ensuring the client is compliant, but often they do not know the legal exceptions that mean clients are paying too much.
Sean then said that SCA Tax offers a free service to evaluate if a potential client can successfully claim back or avoid at point of purchase the SDLT amount, as he put it,
‘Step one is the Initial Assessment, a potential client contacts us for a free, no-obligation consultation. We’ll review their portfolio and provide initial expert feedback. Step two our SCA tax experts, once instructed will calculate the potential savings and file an application with HMRC for an adjustment, if applicable. And step three is the HMRC Decision, once HMRC have reviewed our submission, we will write to the client with the outcome of our application and any savings achieved.’
When I asked if everyone gets a refund, Sean says no, that is why there is the initial review to give sound advice, he then gave me some very impressive figure around the amount of clients who have used the service successfully and the large sums of money saved or recovered, all based on SDLT relief as introduced as an amendment to the Finance Act 2003.
Sean also took the time to go into other criteria that exists which feeds into getting a positive result, both in terms of the company applying and the property asset itself for example was it the main residence of the deceased.
Then we touched upon other areas that I knew nothing about, Multiple Dwellings Relief (MDR) is a tax relief designed to reduce SDLT on the purchase of multiple dwellings. Mixed use – purchasing property which includes residential and non-residential elements can provide SDLT relief. Second Home Relief , in some cases, the surcharge paid on additional properties can result in relief once sold.
I said to Sean, given that the Labour Government has just added a huge amount of new SDLT to buyers of a second home, which begins on the 1st of April 2025. Which will in some cases not just be hitting private individuals buying holiday homes etc, but also hugely affecting companies and Landlords, then the SCA Tax – free consultation is worth its weight in gold.
At this point in our meeting Saen actually moved up a gear and said that it was a huge opportunity for the right sort of property companies to see if they had left cash on the table, but in the present economically challenging times it was also a great way for traditional and online estate agents, property conveyancers, mortgage lenders, brokers, property sourcing companies, Auction houses, surveyors and even cash buying companies, to add another layer of income to their businesses by referring any of their clients who might fit the services of SCA Tax.
As Sean puts it, Michael Patterson is the Head of Partnerships at SCA Tax. He can help these type of companies provide an additional service for their clients and at the same time benefit from a potentially lucrative referral income opportunity. As over the years SCA Tax have established a significant network of partners under the referral scheme who have all benefited from providing extra support for their clients and thus building high levels of customer satisfaction.
We can deal with recent purchase queries and review historical transactions going back four years, we can even consult on prospective acquisitions to ensure any SDLT provision is dealt with early.
And it is really simple to partner up, as SCA Tax provides a highly professional and personalised response to each enquiry, we can carry out an initial assessment to all clients and immediately determine how we can support any claim. All we need to review a claim is, the Property Address, Property Price, Stamp duty paid, Relief sought (probate, surcharge, uninhabitable, mixed use), Telephone number and Email Address. And we do the rest.
If we can help we do and the client saves money or gets a refund, and the referring business also gets income.
Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward. PropTech-X
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