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Stamp duty anxiety

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  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by big_panda:
    Landlord doesn't want to pay his tax on income. Its to his detriment as well, coz if he wanted to kick you out, he would have difficultly with the Land Tribunal as the agreement would not have been duly stamped and prima facie unenforceable, but that can be rectified by the landlord back paying the duty and a penalty. On the other hand if he didnt pay back your deposit, you can use the non-payment of duty as blackmail, so it could work to your advantage as well.
    Just wonder If rental agreement is not enforcable, will the tenant be considered to be illegally occupying the property?

  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blueprints:
    Thanks for the comments everyone. Very helpful.

    I am now inclined to try to pay the stamp duty unilaterally, but I am worried how my landlord would react if he's trying to evade taxes.

    Don't really wanna throw the landlord under the bus, but I'm not comfortable committing a criminal offence for such a small sum, especially considering Stamp Duty Ordinance says I could be liable to a fine and imprisonment for up to one year.



    Signed the contract last week.
    OK - you are well within the time limit then. I agree in that case - go ahead and pay it. Your landlord is evading taxes by not stamping; they may not be happy but you cannot be blamed for wanting to be legal.

    EDIT - you may need to manage keeping the landlord happy though. Perhaps contacting them directly with the links from this thread and a "it really is a requirement, so sorry you got bad advise from your agent but we (i.e. you and him) could be fined so it's best to do it, don't you think?" kind of thing. I think that makes it very hard for him to say no......
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  3. #13

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    More than the taxes - landlords are afraid that their banks might find out it is not an occupied property and is a rented property. Different interest rates will apply.

    This is the step they're worried about.

    Moreover, a tenancy document must be stamped before it can be lodged with the Lands Registry for registration.

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    More than the taxes - landlords are afraid that their banks might find out it is not an occupied property and is a rented property. Different interest rates will apply.

    This is the step they're worried about.
    Yes, although when I asked our agent he was clear about this part so I don't think the stamp duty is necessarily connected to a reporting to the mortgage holder. Still a risk, according to other posts on here (one guy's landlord went bankrupt and bank won't honour tenancy agreement without prior approval). But I've also no love loss for banks and it's not a thing back home (in terms of interest rate) so with so few options and a need to settle we moved forward.

    You at least have the copy of your lease, right?

  5. #15

    Thanks again for the kind help everyone.

    I've applied for eTax so I can try to pay the stamp duty online myself, without any sort of involvement from the landlord. Will update here afterward for future reference.

    I am slowly translating the contract to English and gradually coming to realise how dumb I am for signing this thing so readily. I thought it would be totally standard, but apparently I am responsible for "the doors, windows, sanitary fixtures and plumbing" of the building, which seems unusual. Maybe I don't want to make this contract legally valid by paying stamp duty, ha ha... :/

    Just kidding, I figure the best course of action is to pay stamp duty as required and accept whatever mess I've gotten myself into from there.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cornmeal:

    You at least have the copy of your lease, right?
    Yes, I have a single copy of the tenancy agreement.
    Last edited by Blueprints; 30-08-2017 at 11:13 AM.

  6. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Blueprints:
    Thanks again for the kind help everyone.

    I've applied for eTax so I can try to pay the stamp duty online myself, without any sort of involvement from the landlord. Will update here afterward for future reference.

    Although I am translating the contract to English and slowly coming to realise how dumb I am for signing this thing so readily. I thought it would be totally standard, but apparently I am responsible for "the doors, windows, sanitary fixtures and plumbing" of the building, which seems unusual. Maybe I don't want to make this contract legally valid by paying stamp duty, ha ha... :/

    Just kidding, I figure the best course of action is to pay stamp duty as required and accept whatever mess I've gotten myself into from there.


    Yes, I have a single copy of the tenancy agreement.
    Those aren't 'unusual' clauses (for here anyhow), as they're written for and by owners and agents, but my bilingual lease is the opposite as I read up and made sure those things (electric, AC, plumbing, inc. typhoon damage) were NOT my responsibility. Also a nice clause that in event of a dispute the English text prevails.

    Wish I could offer advice as to how to proceed but I'm too new. The only thing, apart from being your own maintenance person, to really be concerned about is if the landlord goes bankrupt or sells during the year and then you might have an issue. There is a website where you can type in the name and address and get further particulars on the ownership, that might help with your piece of mind.

    Land Registery
    Last edited by Terreneuve; 30-08-2017 at 11:20 AM.
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  7. #17

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    @Blueprints - Did this get resolved? Would appreciate the courtesy of a response..

    TheBrit and Cornmeal like this.

  8. #18

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    Yes, inquiring minds want to know!

    I appear to be in a similar odd situation now too as the agent didn't submit the lease for stamping citing the owner asking him to wait for some "problems to be resolved", I only found this out cause the owner contacted me asking for the water to be put back in her name for "proof of address" for undisclosed "investment purposes".

    The agent keeps saying "no problem, no problem", we'll just draw up a new lease so the dates aren't past the stamp due date (I have been on him about it but spaced last week as my new job has me really busy). This has me really stressed out, however I have information now that I didn't prior to the initial signing which may benefit me.

    There is a land dispute between an original land owner, who owns basically everything around this village house and several others that was actually only given a court injunction 2 days before be saw the place. Prior to which there was a fence all around the place making entry and exit quite difficult (the evidence of which is still there, post holes filled in spray paint lines) and explained why it was still available a week after our first viewing (cause this point would be obvious to locals who are aware of such disputes being common).

    Obviously we weren't informed by either the owner or agent and despite both of us paying him equally he's clearly favoring the owner here above our interests. If we had know about this issue I certainly would've have offered less rent than we did or maybe reconsidered entirely. It also explains why there's a brand new place (with same right of access issue) totally empty as I'm guessing no one wants to rent there with the dispute still in court.

    So what should I do? I am going to bring this purposeful deceit up (quite sure it's against EAA rules) and demand a lower rent for both this issue (and we've also found other 2F places nearby pay much less) and the stress she's now caused us just as we were starting to settle in, really a slap in the face. I could also threaten to send her info (land registry) to all the local mortgage lenders with a copy of the lease and bills in my name? Or tell them to just submit the lease late and they deal with the penalties?

    Argh!

    TheBrit and Fiona in HKG like this.

  9. #19

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    Do you know who the original land owner is? Perhaps you could find out more on the situation from them. I think whatever they will do in the near future will definitely affect your decision


  10. #20

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