Finance Act 2005

Aggregation of transactions.

117.—(1) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after section 45:

“45A.—(1) In this section ‘dwellinghouse’ includes apartment.

(2) Where an existing interest or, as the case may be, existing interests, in a dwellinghouse are conveyed or transferred by more than one instrument, executed within a period of 12 months, subsection (3) shall apply to each of those instruments which operate as a conveyance or transfer, whether on sale or as a voluntary disposition inter vivos.

(3) An instrument to which this subsection applies shall be deemed for the purposes of the Heading ‘CONVEYANCE or TRANSFER on sale of any property other than stocks or marketable securities or a policy of insurance or a policy of life insurance’ in Schedule 1 to form part of a larger transaction or of a series of transactions in respect of which the amount or value, or the aggregate amount or value, of the consideration which is attributable to residential property, or which would be so attributable if the contents of residential property were considered to be residential property, is equal to the value of the dwellinghouse and contents therein.

(4) Where a conveyance or transfer (referred to in this section as the ‘first transfer’) of an interest in a dwellinghouse is effected by one instrument and—

(a) before 1 March 2005 without regard to subsection (3), and

(b) on or after 1 March 2005 with or without regard to subsection (3),

the duty chargeable (if any) in respect of the instrument has been accounted for to the Commissioners, and one or more conveyances or transfers (referred to in this section as ‘subsequent transfers’) of other interests in the same dwellinghouse are effected within the subsequent 12 month period, the transferee or where there is more than one transferee, each such transferee, being a party to the first transfer, jointly and severally, shall become liable to pay to the Commissioners a penalty in an amount equal to the amount of the difference between—

(i) the amount of duty chargeable if the first transfer was one to which subsection (3) applied, and

(ii) any duty paid on that first transfer together with the amount of any penalty previously paid in respect of that first transfer under this subsection,

together with interest charged on that amount at a rate of 0.0322 per cent for each day or part of a day from the date when the instrument was executed to the date when the penalty is remitted.

(5) For the purpose of subsection (4)(i), the amount of duty chargeable shall be determined without regard to relief under section 92B unless the transferee or, where there is more than one, each such transferee, being a party to either the first transfer or any subsequent transfers, are each a first time purchaser within the meaning of that section.

(6) Where subsection (3) applies to an instrument conveying or transferring an interest in a dwellinghouse, relief under section 92B shall not apply to the instrument unless the transferee or, where there is more than one, each such transferee, being a party to either that conveyance or transfer or any previous conveyances or transfers of other interests in the same dwellinghouse executed in the previous 12 month period, are each a first time purchaser within the meaning of that section.”.

(2) Subsection (1) applies as respects instruments executed on or after 3 February 2005.

(3) As respects interest to be charged for any day or part of a day on or after 1 April 2005 in respect of any amount due whether before, on or after that date under section 45A of the Principal Act (as inserted by subsection (1)), that section is amended in subsection (4) by substituting “that amount, calculated in accordance with section 159D,” for “that amount at a rate of 0.0322 per cent for each day or part of a day”.