thebees Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Right, today in the paper there were lots of very expensive houses £750K and up sold to limited companies. I've noticed this trend for a good few years. I dont want to sound like MCB or any other conspiracy theorists but I was wondering (I'm nosey) what the benefits of a company buying a house were? I dont mean commercial sales, I mean the likes of, Juniper Berry Properties Ltd, of Juniper Berry house, Dalby, sold Juniper Berry house, Dalby for £1,100,000.00 to Almond Holdings Limited, of Juniper Berry House, Dalby - that kind of thing. Whats that all about? Would this be a good idea for people with say £250,000 worth of house to do? and why? Its quite bugging me. I thought it might be some kind of legal tax loop hole but thats a stupid idea. So what is that all about? please and thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hboy Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I mean the likes of, Juniper Berry Properties Ltd, of Juniper Berry house, Dalby, sold Juniper Berry house, Dalby for £1,100,000.00 to Almond Holdings Limited, of Juniper Berry House, Dalby - that kind of thing. Whats that all about? Would this be a good idea for people with say £250,000 worth of house to do? and why? Its quite bugging me. I thought it might be some kind of legal tax loop hole but thats a stupid idea. So what is that all about? please and thank you. Lets just say that if your a company director or a partner in a firm making a lot of bunce you might not want to own property in your own name for various reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Old Git Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 There was something in the UK news recently about companies owning houses and then the company being sold, rather than the house, as a means of avoiding stamp duty. Probably not the case here though, as it sounds like it's the house being sold and not the company Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Selling the company no longer gets round UK stamp duty (now called something else, but it taxes the transaction which has somewhere the transfer of land ownership even if indirect, not just a transaction purely of land) unless there are some very clever tweaks. There could be many reasons why IOM properties are held by companies rather than individuals and the transactions you mentioned above, The Bees, could be something to do with crystallising a gain not necessarily for IOM tax purposes, or even just transferring the ownership from one company owned by one indiviudal to another owned by another indiviudal but where the administration is kept at the same office, hence the same address. Can, and does, happen, quite legitimately. I have been involved in buying and selling property both by selling the owning company and by selling the property owned by a client company, and I can tell you that the most straightforward way (and so cheapest) is to sell the property, not the company. So my guess is that selling from one company to another is the most efficient way of handling the transaction. Has to be said though, if it is the company that is sold, nothing is reported publicly as it is not a land transaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snaipyr Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Another property question, if anyone can answer it. I saw an ad in the 'Houses Wanted' section of The Courier offering up to £300,000 cash for the right property. If someone went to deposit £300K in a bank I presume there'd be some sort of money laundering checks done. Are there any checks if someone buys a house for cash? (Just curious - I could just about buy a shed for cash at a push). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 When they say buy for cash, what they really mean is there is no mortgage involved, so will be a quicker transaction. The anti-money laundering rules apply across the board, so I don't think this means someone turning up on your doorstep with a suitcase full of cash. Edited to add: Even if they did, you would have an advocate handling the transaction so they would provide some kind of verification before you turned up at the bank with a load of questionable source money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Old Git Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 and I can tell you that the most straightforward way (and so cheapest) is to sell the property, not the company. I think the recent article said that it was only worth doing for multi million pound properties Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fido Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Has to be said though, if it is the company that is sold, nothing is reported publicly as it is not a land transaction. In order to avoid publicity there is an increasing trend to enter into a lease agreement (say 999 years) rather than a property conveyance. There are usually less than a dozen property transactions reported each week in the newspapers and it always seems to me only a selection are reported. Anyway, if you know the reporter you can always ask her not to include your transaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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