Stamp duty: If you knock down an existing house and build a new one and sell it on, does the buyer have to pay stamp duty?

Stamp duty: If you knock down an existing house and build a new one and sell it on, does the buyer have to pay stamp duty?

What about if you build two houses on the site of a single house, does that attract two separate stamp duties?

Yours is a particularly interesting question because the knocking down of suburban Dublin houses for redevelopment appears to be on the increase.

According to the Revenue Commissioners, the stamp duty position is as follows: the purchase of a newly built house, which is bought for owner occupancy and where the floor area is under 125sq m (1,345sq ft) - with a Floor Area Compliance Certificate issued by the Department of the Environment and Local Government - is exempt from stamp duty.

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Where the floor area of the house is in excess of 125sq m (1,345sq ft) the stamp duty charge, in the case of an owner-occupier, is based on the greater of the site value or 25 per cent of the total price paid for the house.

If the purchaser is not an owner-occupier, stamp duty is chargeable on the full purchase price of the house.

A house would be regarded as newly built where an existing house was completely demolished and a new house built on the site (for example, with new foundations). An existing house which was partially demolished and refurbished would not be regarded as newly built.

The same stamp duty treatment would apply to each house, if two newly built houses were erected on the site of a completely demolished house.

How can you close a pedestrian lane?

A pedestrian lane runs at the back of our house and it is shared by a terrace of eight houses. As there are now a number of small children in the terrace and it faces onto a busy road we are keen to get the laneway closed and gated at each end to provide a safe play area. How do we go about this?

Residents living near a laneway or the local residents association can apply to the local county council in writing to have a public right of way extinguished.

The application is considered by the Local Area Committee followed by the giving of public notice and putting a drawing on public display to indicate the area over which it is proposed to extinguish the right of way and the alternative route available.

It makes sense that before you even apply to the council, all eight homeowners are in agreement with the plan - that way you minimise the risk of objections.

The public notice is posted so that interested parties can object or make any other observation. Once you get approval it will be up to you, the householders, to actually pay for the work carried out - fitting gates, etcetera.