Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tiered tax paid by the buyer when purchasing residential property in England and Northern Ireland. You pay different rates on different slices of the purchase price, not one flat percentage on the whole amount, which is why a £260,000 home does not cost dramatically more in tax than a £250,000 one. The thresholds below have been in force since 1 April 2025, when the temporary higher nil rate band ended, and they still apply in 2026. Scotland and Wales run their own systems (LBTT and LTT). The calculator handles those too, and you will find their rates further down the page.
Stamp duty rates for home movers If you already own a property and are selling it to buy your next home, standard rates apply: 0% on the first £125,000, 2% on the portion from £125,001 to £250,000, 5% from £250,001 to £925,000, 10% from £925,001 to £1.5 million and 12% on anything above £1.5 million. On a £400,000 purchase that works out at £10,000, and on a £300,000 purchase it is £5,000. Our moving home calculator adds this to your other moving costs so you can see the full picture.
First time buyer relief First time buyers get a higher nil rate band. You pay no stamp duty on the first £300,000 and 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000. Buy for more than £500,000 and the relief disappears entirely, so standard home mover rates apply to the whole price. To qualify, every buyer on the purchase must be buying their first property anywhere in the world and intend to live in it as their main residence. On a £350,000 first home the bill is £2,500, compared with £7,500 for a home mover, a saving of £5,000.
Additional property surcharge If you are buying an additional residential property, such as a buy to let or second home, a 5% surcharge is added to every band on top of the standard rates (it rose from 3% to 5% on 31 October 2024). The surcharge also applies if you complete on a new main residence before selling your old one. If you then sell the previous home within 36 months you can claim the surcharge back from HMRC. Non UK residents pay a further 2% on top of whichever rates apply to them.
Stamp duty guide
I get asked about stamp duty on almost every purchase we arrange, so here is everything in one place: the current rates for each type of buyer, real examples you can compare with your own numbers, and the practical bits about when and how the tax actually gets paid. The calculator above does the maths. This section explains what it is doing and why.
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 0% |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,001 to £925,000 | 5% |
| £925,001 to £1.5 million | 10% |
| Above £1.5 million | 12% |
These are the rates for anyone replacing their main residence, and for first time buyers paying more than £500,000.
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £300,000 | 0% |
| £300,001 to £500,000 | 5% |
| Purchase price above £500,000 | No relief, standard rates apply |
All buyers on the application must be first time buyers. If one of you has owned before, even a share of an inherited property, the relief is lost for both of you.
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 5% |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 7% |
| £250,001 to £925,000 | 10% |
| £925,001 to £1.5 million | 15% |
| Above £1.5 million | 17% |
The 5% additional property surcharge applies from the first pound, so there is no nil rate band at all on a second home or buy to let purchase.
If you have spent fewer than 183 days in the UK in the 12 months before completion, a 2% non UK resident surcharge is added to every band, on top of any additional property surcharge. Spend 183 days in the UK in the 12 months after completion and you can claim the 2% back. Our calculator includes this when you select Non UK Resident.
Northern Ireland uses the same SDLT rates as England. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax, both with different thresholds and no non UK resident surcharge. Pick Scotland or Wales in the calculator above and it switches to the right rates.
£250,000 first home. The whole price sits inside the £300,000 first time buyer nil rate band, so the stamp duty is £0. A home mover buying the same house would pay 2% on £125,000, which is £2,500.
£350,000 first home. Nothing on the first £300,000, then 5% on the £50,000 above it. Total stamp duty £2,500. A home mover pays £7,500 on the same property (2% of £125,000 plus 5% of £100,000).
£400,000 home mover. 0% on £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 (£2,500) and 5% on the remaining £150,000 (£7,500). Total £10,000, an effective rate of 2.5%.
£600,000 first time buyer. The price is over £500,000 so no relief applies. 2% on £125,000 (£2,500) plus 5% on £350,000 (£17,500) gives £20,000. This cliff edge is why some buyers negotiate hard to get a price under £500,000.
£300,000 buy to let. 5% on the first £125,000 (£6,250), 7% on the next £125,000 (£8,750) and 10% on the final £50,000 (£5,000). Total £20,000, four times what a home mover would pay. Landlords need to factor this into their rental yield calculations from day one.
£300,000 buy to let, non UK resident. Add 2% to every band: 7%, 9% and 12%. Total £26,000.
Stamp duty is due within 14 days of completion in England and Northern Ireland (30 days for LBTT in Scotland and LTT in Wales). In practice your solicitor or conveyancer files the SDLT return and pays HMRC for you, and they will ask for the money before completion along with your deposit and their fees. It is paid from your own funds, not the mortgage advance, so it has to come from savings, a gift or the proceeds of your sale. Some buyers borrow a little more and put down a smaller deposit to keep cash back for the tax, but that pushes up the loan to value and often the rate.
Miss the 14 day deadline and HMRC charges a penalty plus interest, which is another good reason to know your figure early and have the funds sat in the right account.
Yes, in a few situations. If you paid the 5% additional property surcharge because you bought your new home before selling the old one, you can claim a refund provided the old home is sold within 36 months. Non UK residents who go on to spend 183 days in the UK within the following year can reclaim the 2% surcharge. Claims are made to HMRC online, usually by your solicitor, and are normally paid within a few weeks.
Because stamp duty comes out of your cash, it directly affects the deposit you have left and therefore your loan to value. A buyer with £40,000 saved for a £350,000 home mover purchase actually has £32,500 for the deposit after stamp duty, before legal fees and surveys. That can push you from a 10% deposit product into a 5% one with a higher rate. We work this out with every client before they offer, using this calculator alongside our loan to value and mortgage borrowing calculators.
On a shared ownership purchase you can choose to pay stamp duty on the full market value up front (a market value election) or pay in stages as you buy more shares. First time buyer relief can apply to the election route. Developer incentives on new builds do not reduce the price for stamp duty purposes, and mixed use or six or more dwellings bought together fall under non residential rates. These are the cases where it pays to check with us and your solicitor before exchanging.
Most people land here with a price already in their head, so here are the common ones worked out for you. These are England and Northern Ireland figures for UK residents. If you are buying with someone else, it is the total purchase price that counts, not your share of it.
| Purchase price | First time buyer | Moving home | Second home or buy to let |
|---|---|---|---|
| £200,000 | £0 | £1,500 | £11,500 |
| £250,000 | £0 | £2,500 | £15,000 |
| £300,000 | £0 | £5,000 | £20,000 |
| £350,000 | £2,500 | £7,500 | £25,000 |
| £400,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £30,000 |
| £450,000 | £7,500 | £12,500 | £35,000 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £15,000 | £40,000 |
| £550,000 | £17,500 | £17,500 | £45,000 |
| £600,000 | £20,000 | £20,000 | £50,000 |
| £750,000 | £27,500 | £27,500 | £65,000 |
| £900,000 | £35,000 | £35,000 | £80,000 |
| £1,000,000 | £43,750 | £43,750 | £93,750 |
Look at what happens to first time buyers around £500,000. At £500,000 you pay £10,000. Go £1 over and the relief disappears, so the bill jumps to £15,000. If an offer is hovering just above that line, it is worth one more round of negotiation before you agree it.
Scotland and Wales set their own property taxes, and the calculator above handles both if you pick the right country. In Scotland first time buyer relief only lifts the nil rate band to £175,000, and second home purchases pay a flat 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement on the whole price. Wales has no first time buyer relief at all, but nobody pays anything on the first £225,000. In both countries the return is due within 30 days of completion, not 14.
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £145,000 | 0% |
| £145,001 to £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,001 to £325,000 | 5% |
| £325,001 to £750,000 | 10% |
| Above £750,000 | 12% |
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £225,000 | 0% |
| £225,001 to £400,000 | 6% |
| £400,001 to £750,000 | 7.5% |
| £750,001 to £1.5 million | 10% |
| Above £1.5 million | 12% |
For a second home or buy to let in Wales, the higher rates start at 5% on the first £180,000 and climb to 17% above £1.5 million. To put the three systems side by side: on a £300,000 home a mover pays £5,000 in England, £4,600 in Scotland and £4,500 in Wales. Buy the same house as a second home and it is £20,000, £28,600 and £19,950.
Not on the first £300,000 of the purchase price in England and Northern Ireland. Between £300,001 and £500,000 you pay 5% on that slice only, so a £400,000 first home costs £5,000. Over £500,000 the relief goes completely and standard rates apply to the whole price.
Everyone on the purchase must never have owned a home, or a share of one, anywhere in the world, and you must be buying it to live in. If your partner has owned before, even an inherited share, neither of you gets the relief.
Standard rates plus a 5% surcharge on every slice, starting from the first pound. A £300,000 buy to let costs £20,000, four times what a home mover pays. The surcharge does not apply to purchases under £40,000.
Usually, yes. If the new property replaces your main home and you sell the old one within 36 months, you can claim the surcharge back from HMRC. Keep both completion statements, because the claim relies on the dates.
Within 14 days of completion in England and Northern Ireland, and within 30 days in Scotland and Wales. Your solicitor or conveyancer files the SDLT return and pays it for you, using money you send them before completion. Miss the deadline and penalties and interest are added.
Not directly. The tax is paid from your own funds at completion, not from the mortgage advance. Some buyers borrow a bit more and put down a smaller deposit to keep cash back for it, but that raises your loan to value and often your rate, so it is worth running both options with us first.
No. Scotland charges LBTT and Wales charges LTT, with different bands, surcharges and deadlines. The calculator above covers both, and the Scotland and Wales tables on this page show the current rates.
Not on an inheritance, or on a gift where no money changes hands and no mortgage is taken over. If you take over someone's mortgage as part of the transfer, stamp duty can be due on the debt you take on.
If you own no other residential property anywhere in the world, your first buy to let is charged at standard rates, not the surcharged ones. First time buyer relief will not apply though, because you will not be living there.
I check them against GOV.UK, Revenue Scotland and the Welsh Revenue Authority after every Budget, and they were last checked on 2 October 2026. If the rules change, the calculator and this page are updated straight away.
Speak to one of our mortgage advisers today. Our advice is fee free on standard residential and buy to let mortgages. We will calculate your affordability, explain your options and help you move forward with confidence.
