|
The rules on charging SDLT when T is holding over are complex, and depend upon whether the original lease was granted under the SDLT regime, or the earlier Stamp Duty regime.
But, yet another level of complication occurs if the old lease is contracted out (ie L and T agree that the security of tenure provisions under LTA 1954 should not apply). So, what is the SDLT position when T holds over under a contracted-out lease? If T is actively negotiating the terms of a new lease with L, then the period of holding over will, for the time being, be a tenancy at will – with no SDLT payable. However, if a new lease is eventually completed, and backdated to the expiry of the old lease, then the rent during that holding over period will then be liable to SDLT as a premium (but not as ‘rent’ since ‘the term of a lease cannot begin before the date of its grant’).
|
|
April 2009 |
