From the Revenue

Stamp Duty Land Tax – a relief for property sold by personal representatives

Stamp Duty Land Tax, charged when land is sold or leased, came into force on 1 December 2003. For the constitutional purist, an unsatisfactory feature of the legislation is that it can be amended by statutory instrument, without any prospect of being debated by the elected legislations. One helpful new provision has been announced. A new Schedule 6A has been inserted into the Finance Act 2003 by the Stamp Duty Land Tax (Variation of the Finance Act 2003) (No 2) Regulations 2003. Paragraph 3 provides for another exemption from the tax where a property trader acquires a dwelling house from the personal representatives of the deceased owner. Presumably, Government thinking is that they will pick up the tax anyway because the property trader is bound to sell the property on sooner rather than later. The terms of the Regulation prevent the privileged purchaser from leasing the dwelling or letting its employees live in it.