Hi Everyone,
My boyfriend and i want to buy a house to live in sometime this year. I have 2 investment properties and i have already claimed the first home owners grant and stamp duty exemption.
My boyfriend doesn't own any property. We have been advised that we should try and avoid stamp duty by buying the property in his name only, as he is a first home buyer.
We want to buy something under $500,000 so this would be a huge saving for us. Potentially $20k.
What do you think, is this the best way to go? This means he would need to show around $25,000 of savings in his name over the next year. This also means we wouldn't be able to access the equity from my property as a deposit (unless i then transferred the cash into his account bit by bit to show him as having saved this money).
Should we take the route of putting it just in his name to avoid SD?
I don' t want to be rude, but having been thru a divorce where I was a joint owner of the property yet still got done over I would be asking how long you have been with your boyfriend and how secure is the relationship? Unfortunately relationships do break down and if you are not legally noted as a joint owner of the property you may lose a large wad of cash, especially if you have 'given' your boyfriend money to show evidence of 'savings'
cheers
Sonya
You may be breaking the law, depending on what your relationship is at the moment – if it is spouse, then you probably are. If you are not living together etc then you may be ok.
As for a potential future break down you don't need to be on title to make a claim. But you will be arguing for the grant that you were not a couple while arguing at the property settlement that you were a couple. Probably best to get some agreement drawn up and then make sure you can establish yourself as a couple as soon as possible after settlement.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
We don’t live together and we are not planning to until we are married. We would be married not long after buying the house as we are planning a wedding for early 2011.
My boyfriend is more than happy to sign a “pre-nup” type agreement to acknowledge the financial relationship prior to our marriage. He is not a money focussed person at all. I trust his motives for wanting to approach the matter this way.
I do believe that we can transfer the title into both our names once we are married quite easily. So to avoid stamp duty, i would say that having thought about it, we would be better off buying the property in his name and then transferring it into both our names once we are legally married a few months later.
If you are not living together then you are probably ok under the FHOG Act.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
Go for the double whammy, buy something off the plan or a house/land package – it will delay your costs, comply with the requirements, may get any additional state govt bonus $ etc.
Thanks for the advice everyone.
Soctt No Mates- you make an interesting point. How much would we need in the bank/on hand $ wise when entering into a contract for a house/land package? We have considered this option. I think the only thing we would get is $10,000 from the NSW government. Unless the rules change.
Hi hangingupsidedown,
How did you go with your plan?
I found your case really interesting because my partner and I are making up our minds on how to maximise all the existing options as I can see you guys want to do (leverage). In our case we're a gay couple, we're migrants, so we're not getting married anyway, which could be an advantage maybe yes, maybe no, maybe there's no difference. That's what I am still trying to understand.
My plan so far could be (it has to be revised) to buy a off the plan investment property, then each one would buy a house using the FHOG if possible.
It would be great to know how things worked out for you both.
Cheers
Alex
anelxander wrote:Hi hangingupsidedown,How did you go with your plan?
I found your case really interesting because my partner and I are making up our minds on how to maximise all the existing options as I can see you guys want to do (leverage). In our case we're a gay couple, we're migrants, so we're not getting married anyway, which could be an advantage maybe yes, maybe no, maybe there's no difference. That's what I am still trying to understand.
My plan so far could be (it has to be revised) to buy a off the plan investment property, then each one would buy a house using the FHOG if possible.
It would be great to know how things worked out for you both.
Cheers
Alex
Hi Alex
I think you will find that same sex couples are treated the same as non-same sex (??) couples and that you would only get one FHOG per couple. You would need to look at the definition of couple/spouse in in the FHOG Act in the state you intend to buy in.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
Thanks Terry!
I'll do that
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