I would like to add my wife to my residential property in Warrington. At the moment, I am the sole owner. The intention is to become 50:50 shareholders (joint tenants) with no money involvement between us to do so. The property is worth £500,000, and has £120,000 worth of mortgage left. I am currently re-mortgaging this amount and considering adding her name to the title deed. My wife and I also own a buy-to-let property that is under our joint names. That property is worth £230,000 and it has a £116,000 mortgage left on it. So, the question is: how much stamp duty land tax (SDLT) will I have to pay when she is added to our residential mortgage or property deed? 

Arthur Weller replies:  

There is no SDLT liability. See HMRC’s Stamp Duty Land Tax Manual at SDLTM00330A, Example 3, where you can see that since the amount of mortgage transferred is below the SDLT residential threshold, it is exempt from SDLT. As far as the extra 5% SDLT surcharge is concerned, it doesn't apply to transfers between husband and wife – see SDLTM09810 at Example 8 (and SDLTM09820).