SD on purchase after marriage

[Overleigh]

My fiance and I each own our own homes. We want to marry this year. We would live together in both homes at different times of the week.

My house would be nominated as our main residence. If in the first year of marriage I sold my house (the main residence) in order to buy a larger house (which would eventually become our sole house) would I have to pay the extra 3% stamp duty on the purchase?

If I would not have to pay the extra 3%, after the purchase, can the nomination of which house is the main residence be changed?

[bd6759]

Main residence is question of fact. You cannot make a nomination for the purposes of SDLT.

If you sell your main residence and acquire another main residence, you will not be liable to the additional 3%.

If you sell your main residence and use your other home as a main residence, you will be liable for the 3%.

If the home you sell is not actually your main residence, you will be liable for the additional 3%.

[Overleigh]

Thank you very much for correcting my understanding on that.

If we lived in one house 4 nights a week and the other 3, would that settle the question as to which is the main residence?

[bd6759]

That is one of many facts.

What address is in your driving licence? What address is on vehicle registrations? What address did you give car insurers? Where did you tell them the car was usually kept? Where is your doctor and dentist? What address is in your bank accounts? Where are you registered to vote?

There are a plethora of questions that can be asked.

[someone]

And which is your main residence for council tax which IIUC is also decided 'on the facts'

Although councils don't like it, it is possible for husband and wife to have different main residences. (at least I've seen posts from people who say they've successfully argued so eventually but usually extreme circumstances have applied and they've had to battle the council to get them to accept it)

But note that just because you spend 5 days a week at your London flat and only 2 days a week at your 'main home with your wife' isn't enough to get you two lots of single person discount as the family home would still be the main home and the london flat a second home. So it's not just 'number of days' to establish 'main residence'

[SDLT Geek]

There is some helpful guidance at 3.30 onwards here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... properties

3.30 In cases where an individual resides at only one dwelling, that will be their
only or main residence.
3.31 Where an individual resides at more than one dwelling, all of the facts and
circumstances of the particular case must be considered in order to conclude which
residence is the main residence. The rules do not allow an individual to nominate
which dwelling is their main residence.
3.32 The main residence is not necessarily the residence where the individual
spends the majority of their time, although it commonly will be. This question was
considered in the case of Frost v Feltham (55TC10) and the High Court decision in
this case sets out a useful summary of the criteria to be applied. Nourse J comments
in the decision,
If someone lives in two houses the question, which does he use as the principal or
more important one, cannot be determined solely by reference to the way in which
he divides his time between the two.
3.33 The following list of points to consider, although not exhaustive, may be
useful in establishing which residence is an individual’s main residence,
● If the individual is married or in a civil partnership, where does the family spend
its time?
● If the individual has children, where do they go to school?
● At which residence is the individual registered to vote?
● Where is the individual’s place of work?
● How is each residence furnished?
● Which address is used for correspondence?
● Where is the individual registered with a doctor / dentist?
● At which address is the individual’s car registered and insured?
● Which address is the main residence for council tax?
3.35 The test for the old dwelling is a question of objective fact, was the dwelling at
some point in a period the only or main residence of the individual who disposed
of it?here is guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... properties para 3.30 on which of several homes is a main residence.

[Overleigh]

I am very grateful to each of you who has responded to shed light on what I now see is a complicated matter. Thank you SDLT Geek for pointing me towards those notes; I will take a closer look at them.