Can you sell a house within 6 months of purchase?

Can you sell a house within 6 months of purchase?

10:28 AM, 11th November 2014, About 10 years ago 25

Text Size

I am aware that it isn’t easy to sell a house within 6 months of purchase, but speaking to my solicitor the other day it would appear to be nigh on impossible. She seemed to think most lenders would reject any application without even looking at it if the property hadn’t previously been owned for a minimum of 6 months, in some cases it could be as much as 12 months. Can you sell a house within 6 months of purchase

I find this hard to believe. Surely if this were true then it would be very difficult to make any money out of property development.

Does anyone have any experience of this problem?

Thanks

Onslow


Share This Article


Comments

Paul Temple

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

13:47 PM, 15th March 2016, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "11/11/2014 - 19:50":

Mark - your comment that selling a renovated property without it having been rented out first would be taxed under personal income vice CGT is an interesting - and pertinent - one for us.

We're just coming to the end of that process and were advised that having bought/renovated/sold one property we would probably get away with it as CGT once with HMRC, but that if we tried to do it again they would probably say we were' professional developers' and thus force us down the personal tax route. The accountant's implication was that the rule wasn't hard and fast whereas you suggest otherwise.

After following you/your comments on this site I'm more prone to believe you than the accountant I spoke with which could mean a depressing tax bill!

Having said that, we have approached the whole exercise as an experiment and while the thought of paying tax is disappointing it is by no means life-changing and helps us to move forward next time with greater clarity.

We were already looking towards the limited company route for future buy/renovate/sell activity and this - along with the Chancellor's attacks on LLs - is just making the decision easier.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

14:04 PM, 15th March 2016, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Paul Temple" at "15/03/2016 - 13:47":

Thanks for your vote of confidence and good luck moving forwards 🙂
.

marco rossi

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

14:59 PM, 15th March 2016, About 9 years ago

the lender was RBS I think. I am beginning to understand the process here, but it does raise alarm bells for me as a seller that the opposing purchaser needs to be pretty clued up with this type of scenario, and I find it a little uncomfortable that I somehow would have to influence/guide the purchasers decisions if they were not so clued up about this. it is so frustrating that there seems to be so many If's and but's and maybe's....I will however continue to pursue this avenue as this is the model I need to work to as in buy/refurb/sale (within 6 month or less)

Jonathan Clarke

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

8:07 AM, 1st April 2016, About 9 years ago

.
Question please

Where do you think the onus starts / lies in the process of highlighting the 6mth rule if the property has been bought less than 6 mths ago and is then put on the market for sale ?

The seller who should tell the agent
The agent who should ask the seller
The buyer who should ask the agent
The agent who qualifies the buyer
The broker who advises the buyer
The lender who links up with the broker
The solicitor who advises the buyer
The surveyor who advises the lender
The surveyor who advises the buyer

Anyone else possibly ?

How does the industry as a whole prevent this being discovered very late in the day right at the end game when much time/money has been spent by various parties?

I know of one example where it was discovered in final checks by the lender just before exchange and as it didn't meet their criteria the deal fell through ?

Whose job is it / should it be to pick up on this 6 mth rule and at what stage to save much heartache by all ?
.

marco rossi

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

8:46 AM, 1st April 2016, About 9 years ago

Hi Jonathan,

all I can do is tell you my experience having gone through a lost sale due to this ruling. moving forward my agent this week contacted me to say they have someone wanting to view my rental property that is for sale (still under 6 months owned). and asked what do I want to do. my feed back was for the agent to explain why I am selling the house (in this instance I only bought the house as a form of part x so I could sell my own home) but I also told them to tell the purchaser that they would need to go back to their lender and ask the question about lending on a house less than 6 months owned. if the purchaser was happy to do that and the lender was happy with the circumstances, then it looks like we all could proceed nicely. however to go back to your question, I think this form of lending restriction puts a lot of emphasis on the seller to make all parties aware, so that any interested parties are made aware of the restriction right up front thus saving time and money for all.

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Automated Assistant Read More