More than one residence leads to higher charge

The taxpayers spent some £12m purchasing in separate transactions a few weeks apart two adjoining residential properties – numbers 31 and 38. They purchased these with the intention of amalgamating them into a single property but although planning permission was granted in 2019 the work had not commenced at the time of the hearing. The family lived in the two properties (which were connected by an outside balcony) with the children sleeping in no 31 and the parents in no 38.

At the time of the purchase the taxpayers paid the higher rate of stamp duty land tax on both properties. They subsequently sold their property in Dubai and made a claim for repayment of the higher rate tax on the basis that numbers 31 and 38 taken together were their main residence and thus the lower rate of relief applied to the purchase.

The tribunal did...