I own a buy-to-let (BTL) property in Southend in my own name, and I also own a residential property in joint names with my wife. Recently, I have thought about remortgaging the BTL property together with my wife. The property is worth £355,000 and the remortgage will be £248,000. Is stamp duty land tax (SDLT) payable for the transfer of equity to my wife, and will this be based on the half of the mortgage consideration or half of the property value? 

Arthur Weller replies:  

According to HMRC’s Stamp Duty Land Tax Manual at SDLTM00330A in Example 3, SDLT will apply when one spouse transfers to the other spouse, based on half the mortgage debt being taken over by the recipient spouse. However, if it is specified in the transfer that the recipient spouse is not taking responsibility for any debt, SDLT will not apply when the property is being gifted. Furthermore, the current threshold for residential SDLT is £250,000, so your scenario is below the threshold. Additionally, the extra SDLT for a second property does not apply between husband and wife – see SDLTM09810 at Example 8, and SDLTM09820.