My wife owns another property in Stafford. If I add her onto the deeds of the property I own (also in Stafford) and transfer half the ownership to her (i.e. the mortgage is in my name only), is stamp duty land tax (SDLT) payable? Is this affected by the value of the property (e.g. above or below £125,000)? 

Arthur Weller replies:  

It appears that you are not charging your wife anything for this transfer, so the only issue is the transfer of the mortgage. If there is no transfer of the mortgage, there is no stamp duty land tax (SDLT). Even if there is transfer of the mortgage, currently (until 31 March 2021), SDLT is not payable on residential property up to £500,000 pursuant to HMRC’s Stamp Duty Land Tax manual. The extra 3% SDLT for second properties does not apply for transfers between husband and wife.