Gifting Property to Brother

[atto40]

Hi

Its a long winded one , but i will keep it short.
We had a family home back in the 90's, and my parents bought it under their names + mine.

Around 4 years ago, they took their name off and left it to me, its been on rent since.

The family bought another property back in 2003 and we all moved. again all 3 of us were named on this. Then my name was removed from the new house at the same time I took ownership of the 1st house.

So now....i want to buy another property @ 170k as my main residence (currently im living with parents at the 2003 house) but will be hit heavily on stamp duty. My questions are:

1 - what % Stamp D will i pay ? will it be on the full 170? or is the 1st 125k free?

2 - to avoid the SD, can i sign over the old property thats on rent to my brother (change of ownership, not selling it to him) ? He was never on the deeds. Will he or I be liable pay any tax on the old house?

Thanks