Selling residence overseas, but already have rental property in the uk

[jamesclarkjunior]

Hi ladies and gents
This is my first post so I hope you can help me.

I sold my residential property in the UK in 2002. I worked overseas and bought a property in Thailand in 2007. This property is in my wife's name and is our present home/residence. I also bought a property in the UK in 2015 (in my name) but we have never lived in this property and it was rented out soon after a minor refurbishment was completed. We are now in the process of moving back to the UK and buying a home. The new home will be the second property we will own in the UK and will be our only place of residence.

As we are selling the house in Thailand (our present residence) will we need to pay the additional second property SDLT on the purchase of the new home in the UK. I realise that this is a straight forward issue and the answer would be "NO" if the residence we are selling was is in the UK but are there any issues with it being overseas. Would translated sale documents be enough evidence of selling our main residence or do we need further proof.

Thanks in advance

Jim

[maths]

No, the 3% will not apply.

[jamesclarkjunior]

Thanks for the reply Maths.
Any Idea what docs we need to prove we have sold our residence overseas?

[SDLT Geek]

I agree with maths that the higher rates do not apply.

SDLT is a self assessed tax, so there is no need to send evidence of the sale of your previous home. It would be sensible to keep some evidence of the sale in case HMRC enquire into your return. Perhaps a copy of the document completing the sale, or the completion statement from the lawyers.

[someone]

I'd also keep evidence that it's your main residence. This is the sort of thing you might otherwise just chuck out (old telephone bills, council tax equivalent etc)

Or, if they're online, make copies now. They might not be available once you've cancelled the utilities.

[jamesclarkjunior]

Thanks Greek and someone. All clear now on the issue.