Guide · 5 min read
Stamp Duty, explained
SDLT is one of the bigger surprises in buying a home. It's charged on the portion of the price in each band — not the whole price at one rate. Here's the full picture.
Standard bands (England & Northern Ireland)
Effective from 1 April 2025:
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| £0 to £125,000 | 0% |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,001 to £925,000 | 5% |
| £925,001 to £1,500,000 | 10% |
| £1,500,001 and above | 12% |
Worked example: £400,000 standard (non-FTB) purchase. You pay 0% on the first £125k (£0), 2% on the next £125k (£2,500), and 5% on the remaining £150k (£7,500). Total £10,000.
First-time buyer relief
Every named buyer must genuinely be a first-time buyer — no prior residential property ownership, anywhere in the world, including by inheritance.
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| £0 to £300,000 | 0% |
| £300,001 to £500,000 | 5% |
| Above £500,000 | No relief — standard rates apply in full |
Above £500,000 is a cliff, not a taper. At £500,000 you pay £10,000 under FTB relief. At £500,001 you pay £12,500 — the standard rates on the entire price. This is worth thinking about if your offer is in the £495-£515k range.
Additional property surcharge
If the purchase is not replacing your main residence — a second home, a buy-to-let, or you're keeping your existing home and buying another — a 5% surcharge applies on every band.
| Portion of price | Surcharged rate |
|---|---|
| £0 to £125,000 | 5% |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 7% |
| £250,001 to £925,000 | 10% |
| £925,001 to £1,500,000 | 15% |
| £1,500,001 and above | 17% |
The surcharge rate was raised from 3% to 5% on 31 October 2024 — if you're reading older guides that still reference 3%, they're out of date.
Non-resident surcharge
Buyers who are not UK resident for SDLT purposes pay an additional 2% surcharge on every band, on top of standard rates and (where applicable) the additional-property surcharge. Residency is defined for SDLT purposes by presence in the UK in the 12 months around the transaction, not by nationality.
Scotland and Wales
Scotland uses Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) with its own bands and first-time buyer relief (£175,000 nil-rate band). Wales uses Land Transaction Tax (LTT) with no first-time buyer relief and a different additional-property surcharge. Both are administered by devolved tax authorities. Neither is the subject of this site.
Timing and payment
SDLT is paid at completion via your solicitor, who files the SDLT return with HMRC within 14 days of completion and passes the tax to HMRC. Most buyers never interact with HMRC directly — the solicitor handles the whole thing and includes the tax in the completion statement.
You can't spread the payment: it's due in full at completion. Budget it alongside the deposit and fees.
Planning around thresholds
For first-time buyers near £500k, an offer at £499k versus £510k is a £15,000-£20,000 difference in total cash needed (SDLT jumps from ~£9,950 to £25,500 at £510k). Worth pushing hard on negotiation around that mark — or looking at the same postcode £10,000 below.
Use the SDLT calculator to model specific prices.
Frequently asked
When did the current bands start?
1 April 2025. The temporary thresholds from September 2022 (which raised the standard nil-rate band to £250,000 and the FTB nil-rate to £425,000) ended on 31 March 2025. The current bands are a return to pre-2022 levels, though with the additional-property surcharge now at 5% (raised from 3% on 31 October 2024).
Do I pay SDLT if I'm taking a mortgage, or only the deposit portion?
You pay SDLT on the full purchase price, regardless of how much is deposit and how much is mortgage. The tax is on the transfer of the property, not on your cash contribution. This trips up first-time buyers all the time.
What if the property is £301,000 and I'm a first-time buyer?
You pay 0% on the first £300,000 and 5% on the remaining £1,000 — so £50 total. The cliff edge is at £500,000: at £500,001 you lose FTB relief entirely and pay standard rates on the whole price (£12,500) instead of the FTB calculation. There's a real planning consideration around offers near £500k.