How much Stamp Duty will I pay?

You pay the standard rates plus a 5% surcharge on every band, charged from the first pound. So on a £250,000 buy-to-let you'd pay 5% on the first £125,000 and 7% on the next £125,000 — £15,000 in total, against £2,500 for someone buying their only home. The surcharge applies whenever, after the purchase, you'll own more than one residential property.

First-time buyers pay nothing on the first £300,000 and 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000. You qualify if you — and everyone you're buying with — have never owned a home anywhere in the world, and the property will be your main residence. If the price is over £500,000 the relief is lost completely and the standard rates apply to the whole price.

The nil-rate threshold is £125,000 for a standard purchase, so there's no SDLT below that. It dropped back to £125,000 from £250,000 on 1 April 2025. First-time buyers have a higher £300,000 threshold. An additional property has no nil-rate band at all — the 5% surcharge applies from the first pound.

Not if you sell your old main residence on or before the day you complete the new one — then it's treated as your only property. If your old home hasn't sold yet you have to pay the surcharge up front because you temporarily own two, but you can claim it back if you sell the old one within 36 months.

No. Stamp Duty Land Tax only applies in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Wales has Land Transaction Tax (LTT), both with different bands and thresholds. Use this tool only for a property in England or Northern Ireland.

You must file an SDLT return and pay the tax within 14 days of completion. In practice your solicitor or conveyancer usually handles the return and collects the money at completion, so you rarely deal with HMRC directly — but the legal responsibility to file and pay on time is yours.