Selling the garden shed?

When you are selling your home, you are likely to be selling a range of fixtures and fittings. For example:

• White goods, washing machines, fridges, cookers etc,

• Furniture,

• Carpets,

• Curtains,

• Garden equipment,

• Leisure or fitness equipment, jacuzzi etc,

• And the garden shed.

If identified in the sale contract, any value attributed to these personal assets, or chattels, will not attract a stamp duty charge for your purchaser.

Accordingly, if you are selling at a value that just tips your property into the next band for stamp duty purposes, being able to allocate part of the price to stamp duty free “chattels” may provide an incentive to buyers to make an offer.

What you cannot do is allocate an arbitrary amount when pricing up your list of exempt fixtures and fittings. You will need to base your valuations on the cost price. Unless you have a very special garden shed, valuing it at say £5,000 to avoid stamp duty would beg the unwanted attention of HMRC, who would rightly see the transaction as tax avoidance.

Selling personal, home based assets in this way should not create any other tax issues, capital gains tax for example. You do not need to declare any gain on the sale of a personal chattel if the disposal proceeds do not exceed £6,000.

Talk with your selling agents as they should be able to help you draw up a realistic, costed list.