SCHEDULE 9Stamp duty land tax: right to buy, shared ownership leases etc
F1Shared ownership lease: treatment of staircasing transaction
4A
(1)
This paragraph applies where under a shared ownership lease—
(a)
the lessee or lessees have the right, on the payment of a sum, to require the terms of the lease to be altered so that the rent payable under it is reduced, and
(b)
by exercising that right the lessee or lessees acquire an interest, additional to one already held, calculated by reference to the market value of the dwelling and expressed as a percentage of the dwelling or its value (a “share of the dwelling”).
(2)
Such an acquisition is exempt from charge if—
(a)
an election was made for tax to be charged in accordance with paragraph 2 or, as the case may be, paragraph 4 and any tax chargeable in respect of the grant of the lease has been paid, or
(b)
immediately after the acquisition the total share of the dwelling held by the lessee or lessees does not exceed 80%.
(3)
In this paragraph “shared ownership lease” means a lease granted—
(a)
by a qualifying body, or
(b)
in pursuance of the preserved right to buy,
in relation to which the conditions in paragraph 2(2) or 4(2) are met.
(4)
Section 118 (meaning of “market value”) does not apply in relation to the references in this paragraph to the market value of the dwelling.