Hi Sam, your recollection is accurate but I have been unable to find the statement to which you refer in the SDLT manual. The statement is however reproduced in Sergeant and Sims on Stamp Duties at AA1.13 although of course it relates to the old sub sale rules in section 45 which did not contain a tax avoidance filter unlike the current sub-sale rules in Schedule 2A FA 2003, para 18. If your client or their purchasers require certainty then they could always pay the SDLT and also ask that the transfer be adjudicated as not chargeable with stamp duty.
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