How it works
The 2025/26 Stamp Duty bands
This stamp duty calculator works out the exact SDLT on any residential purchase in England or Northern Ireland, using the bands that took effect on 1 April 2025. Drop in the price, pick your buyer type, and the figure below is what your conveyancer will ask for on completion day. Cross-check it against the mortgage calculator, the compound interest calculator and the council tax calculator so you know the true cash-to-complete figure, not just the headline tax.
Stamp Duty Land Tax applies in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own tax (Land and Buildings Transaction Tax) and Wales has Land Transaction Tax. The bands below apply to residential purchases completed on or after 1 April 2025 — the temporary higher thresholds that applied in 2022–2025 ended.
| Band | Main residence rate | Additional property rate |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 0% | 5% |
| £125,001 – £250,000 | 2% | 7% |
| £250,001 – £925,000 | 5% | 10% |
| £925,001 – £1.5m | 10% | 15% |
| Above £1.5m | 12% | 17% |
How Stamp Duty is actually calculated
SDLT is a slab-free, banded tax — you pay each band's rate only on the slice of the price that falls in that band. It is not a single percentage on the whole purchase.
Worked example: £400,000 main residence
First £125,000 × 0% = £0
Next £125,000 × 2% = £2,500
Remaining £150,000 × 5% = £7,500
Total SDLT = £10,000 — an effective rate of 2.5%.
Worked example: £400,000 first-time buyer
First £300,000 × 0% = £0
Next £100,000 × 5% = £5,000
Total SDLT = £5,000 — half of what a regular main-residence buyer pays.
Worked example: £400,000 second home
First £125,000 × 5% = £6,250
Next £125,000 × 7% = £8,750
Remaining £150,000 × 10% = £15,000
Total SDLT = £30,000 — the 5% surcharge bites hard.
First-time buyer relief
To qualify, you must be buying your first ever residential property (worldwide), intend to live in it, and the price must be £500,000 or less. If it's above £500,000, no relief applies and you pay the standard rates.
Joint buyers both need to be first-time buyers. If one partner has previously owned, you cannot claim the relief.
The 5% surcharge on additional property
If, on the day of completion, you own (or part-own) another residential property anywhere in the world, and you're not replacing your main home, the 5% additional rate applies on every band. This catches buy-to-let investors, second homes and anyone caught in a simultaneous completion.
The surcharge can be reclaimed if you sell your previous main residence within 36 months of the new purchase — a useful safety valve when chains break down.
When and how SDLT is paid
Your solicitor files the SDLT return and pays the tax to HMRC within 14 days of completion. It's usually handled as part of completion monies — you don't need to do anything yourself, but it must sit in the solicitor's client account when you exchange.
Common misunderstandings
- "If I offer £1 less, I drop a band." — No. SDLT is banded, not slab. A £250,000 offer versus £250,001 saves you 5p, not thousands.
- "My flat abroad doesn't count." — It does. Any residential property you own worldwide triggers the 5% surcharge on a UK additional-property purchase.
- "New builds are exempt." — Not true. New builds pay the same SDLT. Some developers offer to pay it for you as part of an incentive.
- "Buying with my partner — I'm a first-time buyer." — The relief requires both buyers to be first-time buyers. One previous owner means no relief.
Scotland and Wales — different taxes, different bands
If the property you are buying is in Scotland or Wales, ignore SDLT entirely — different taxes apply. The structure is similar but the thresholds are materially different, and the terminology on your solicitor's completion statement will change.
Scotland — Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT)
Revenue Scotland administers LBTT. For 2025/26, the main-residence rates are: 0 % up to £145,000, 2 % on £145,001–£250,000, 5 % on £250,001–£325,000, 10 % on £325,001–£750,000 and 12 % above £750,000. First-time buyers have a £175,000 nil-rate threshold. The Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) on second homes jumped from 6 % to 8 % in April 2025, making Scotland one of the most expensive places in the UK to buy a buy-to-let.
Wales — Land Transaction Tax (LTT)
The Welsh Revenue Authority runs LTT. Main-residence rates for 2025/26 are: 0 % up to £225,000, 6 % on £225,001–£400,000, 7.5 % on £400,001–£750,000, 10 % on £750,001–£1.5 m and 12 % above. There is no first-time buyer relief in Wales; the compensation is the high £225,000 nil-rate threshold. The higher residential rate on additional property rose from 4 % to 5 % in December 2024.
The 2 % non-resident surcharge — how it stacks
Since April 2021, non-UK residents pay a 2 % SDLT surcharge on every band on top of everything else. You count as non-resident if you spent fewer than 183 days in the UK in the 12 months leading up to completion. Commonly overlooked combinations:
- Non-resident first-time buyer — still owes the 2 % surcharge on the £300,001–£500,000 slice, on top of the standard first-time buyer rate.
- Non-resident buying an additional property — owes 2 % + 5 % = 7 % surcharge on top of the base rate, producing headline rates of 12 % to 19 % across the bands.
- Crown servants such as diplomats and armed-forces personnel posted overseas are exempt from the 2 % surcharge even while non-resident.
Mixed-use, linked transactions and multiple dwellings
Several edge cases can dramatically shift the bill either way. Your solicitor should flag them, but it helps to understand the shape of the argument before you complete.
Mixed-use property
A property with both residential and non-residential elements (for example a flat above a shop, or a house with a working paddock let to a farmer) uses the non-residential SDLT bands: 0 % up to £150,000, 2 % to £250,000, 5 % above. The rates are lower and there is no surcharge. HMRC has tightened this relief after a wave of aggressive claims; a garden paddock alone is unlikely to qualify now.
Linked transactions
If you buy several properties from the same seller in connected deals, HMRC treats them as one transaction for rate purposes. Three flats at £200,000 each are taxed as a single £600,000 purchase, so a much bigger chunk sits in higher bands. The rule stops buyers artificially splitting one purchase to stay in lower bands.
Multiple Dwellings Relief (abolished)
MDR used to average the tax across linked dwellings, cutting the bill sharply. It was abolished from 1 June 2024 for new purchases. If you completed before that date, you may still have a valid claim — talk to a specialist tax adviser.
Five worked scenarios at different price points
A quick tour of the bands so you can sanity-check the calculator. All 2025/26 rates, main residence unless stated.
| Scenario | Price | SDLT |
|---|---|---|
| First-time buyer, Leeds flat | £220,000 | £0 |
| First-time buyer, Reading house | £420,000 | £6,000 |
| Home mover, Nottingham | £275,000 | £3,750 |
| Home mover, Bristol | £550,000 | £17,500 |
| Second home, Cornwall cottage | £350,000 | £20,000 |
| Buy-to-let, Manchester terrace | £200,000 | £11,250 |
| Non-resident, Zone 2 London flat | £750,000 | £56,250 |
Who counts as a first-time buyer — edge cases
HMRC's definition is stricter than most buyers expect. You are not a first-time buyer if any of the following apply.
- You have ever owned a freehold or leasehold residential property anywhere in the world, even if you inherited it and sold immediately.
- You hold a share in a residential trust, or inherited any share of a deceased relative's home.
- A joint buyer on the transaction has previously owned property, even if they are contributing nothing to the deposit.
- You owned a property jointly during a previous marriage which has since been transferred to an ex-partner via consent order — HMRC treats the joint ownership as prior ownership.
How to reclaim the 5 % surcharge when selling slowly
If you buy your next home before the old one is sold, you pay the 5 % surcharge at completion and reclaim it once the previous main residence sells, provided the sale completes within 36 months. The reclaim is filed on form SDLT16 via your solicitor or directly on GOV.UK. Keep the completion statement of both transactions and the original SDLT5 certificate. HMRC repays by bank transfer, typically within 12 weeks.
The trap is forgetting about it. On a £400,000 purchase, the surcharge is £20,000 of cash the calculator forgets to mention once you leave the conveyancing desk. A diary entry the day after completion, pointing 35 months later, is cheap insurance.
Chattels versus fixtures — the legitimate way to shave SDLT
SDLT is charged on the price paid for the land and permanent fixtures, not on removable items the seller throws into the deal. If a £252,000 sale includes £3,000 of genuinely removable furniture and white goods, your solicitor can split the contract into £249,000 for the property plus a separate list of chattels, which drops you under the £250,000 band entirely.
- Chattel (excluded from SDLT) — free-standing wardrobes, curtains, carpets laid over wooden floors, white goods not built-in, garden furniture, bespoke rugs.
- Fixture (included in SDLT) — fitted kitchens, bathroom suites, built-in wardrobes, integrated ovens, wood flooring screwed or nailed down, hard-plumbed radiators.
- The rule of thumb — if it would be damaged when removed, it is a fixture. If it walks out with the seller's van undamaged, it is a chattel.
Leasehold and new-build ground rent — the NPV hidden charge
Most leasehold flats also owe SDLT on the net present value (NPV) of future ground rent over the lease term. Below the £125,000 NPV threshold, nothing extra is due; above it, 1 % on the excess. For a typical new-build in London with £500 a year ground rent over 999 years, the NPV lands around £24,000 — well under the threshold. But for historic leases with escalating ground rents (doubling every 10 or 25 years) the NPV can run into six figures and add several thousand pounds to the bill. Always ask your solicitor for the NPV line on the SDLT calculation, not just the consideration line.
