One of the most common requests from clients is for a stamp duty valuation of their property.
This usually occurs as they are transferring ownership of their property to children, or moving the property into a different ownership structure such as from a personal name into a superannuation fund.
In the past the State Revenue Office of Victoria would have accepted a real estate agents written appraisal letter as evidence of the properties value, and calculated stamp duty on that.
But they have realised that the local agents were sometimes under quoting a properties value, and in some instances very significantly and that they were missing out on a large amount of revenue consequently.
It is now accepted by lawyers, conveyancers and the like that best practice is to have a property professionally valued, and that the valuation report is then used by the client to calculate stamp duty. This will stop any questions being raised the SRO in regards to stamp duty being assessed fairly.
They have access to significant amounts of information in regards to almost all properties in Victoria, and can conduct a desktop assessment quickly to see if there is any significant difference between the declared value and what the actual market value may be.
The cost of a stamp duty valuation is minimal compared to the stress of an audit by the SRO, and an inspection report can usually be done quickly and efficiently.
If you have any questions in regards to having a property valued for stamp duty purposes please contact Melbourne Property Valuation for further information.
We have over 15 years experience with stamp duty valuations and conduct the on a weekly basis. It also should be noted that we have never had a client come back to us in regards to the report being questioned by the SRO.