8 years ago I gifted a small one bedroomed appartment to my daughter, partly to eliminate this asset from IHT and to help her gain her independence. She is now in a position to purchase a house with her fiance and start a familly, but finds that she is being priced out of the market by virtue of the fact that she currently lives in her flat and is being hit by a large stamp duty penalty of £18,000 above the normal stamp duty of £6,500.
She does not want to sell the flat, as it offers a modicum of financial security in her future years as her (as well as most peoples' nowadays) and her partner's estimated pension is estimated at hardly adequate. When she starts a familly, finances will of course get tighter.
Is there a method to avoid this crippling tax?