Stamp duty
Stamp duty explained: what you will pay in England, Scotland and Wales
Stamp duty is usually the biggest cost of buying a home after the deposit, and it has to be paid in cash: you cannot normally add it to the mortgage. It works differently in each part of the UK and depends on who you are as a buyer, so here is how it works and what you would pay at common prices.
Three taxes, one idea
"Stamp duty" is really three taxes. England and Northern Ireland have Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), Scotland has Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Wales has Land Transaction Tax (LTT). All three work the same way: the price is split into bands, and each band is taxed at its own rate, a bit like income tax. You never pay the top rate on the whole price.
For example, someone moving home in England and paying £300,000 pays nothing on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 (£2,500) and 5% on the last £50,000 (£2,500): £5,000 in total, under 1.7% of the price.
What you would pay
The rates in force for 2026/27, for the three main types of buyer:
| Price | First-time buyer | Moving home | Second home or buy to let |
|---|---|---|---|
| England and Northern Ireland (SDLT) | |||
| £200,000 | £0 | £1,500 | £11,500 |
| £300,000 | £0 | £5,000 | £20,000 |
| £400,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £30,000 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £15,000 | £40,000 |
| Scotland (LBTT) | |||
| £200,000 | £500 | £1,100 | £17,100 |
| £300,000 | £4,000 | £4,600 | £28,600 |
| £400,000 | £12,750 | £13,350 | £45,350 |
| Wales (LTT) | |||
| £200,000 | £0 | £0 | £10,700 |
| £300,000 | £4,500 | £4,500 | £19,950 |
| £400,000 | £10,500 | £10,500 | £29,950 |
Three things stand out. England is the most generous to first-time buyers. Scotland charges more on mid-priced homes because its higher bands start sooner. And Wales has no first-time buyer relief, but its tax-free band (£225,000) is the highest, so cheaper homes pay nothing whoever buys them.
First-time buyer relief
In England and Northern Ireland, first-time buyers pay nothing up to £300,000 and 5% on the part between £300,000 and £500,000. In Scotland the tax-free band rises from £145,000 to £175,000, worth up to £600. Wales has no separate relief.
You only count as a first-time buyer if everyone buying has never owned a home, anywhere in the world, and you are buying it to live in. Buying with a partner who has owned before means the normal rates apply.
Watch the £500,000 cliff in England. A first-time buyer pays £10,000 at £500,000, but at £500,001 the relief disappears completely and the bill jumps to £15,000.
That cliff is worth knowing if you are negotiating near £500,000: getting the price to £500,000 or below saves far more than the price reduction itself.
Second homes and buy to let
If you will own more than one home when you complete, a surcharge applies to purchases of £40,000 or more:
- England and NI: 5 percentage points added to every band, so even the first £125,000 is taxed at 5%.
- Scotland: an Additional Dwelling Supplement of 8% of the whole price, on top of the normal tax.
- Wales: a separate higher-rate table, from 5% up to 17%.
The surcharge often catches people moving home who buy before they have sold. If the new home replaces your main home and you sell the old one within three years (36 months in Scotland), you can usually claim the surcharge back. In England and Northern Ireland, buyers who are not UK resident also pay an extra 2%.
When and how it is paid
Your conveyancer normally files the return and pays the tax for you, using money you send them before completion. The deadlines are tight: 14 days after completion for SDLT, and 30 days for LBTT and LTT. Because it is due so soon after you buy, it needs to be in your budget from the start, alongside the deposit and legal fees.
Work out your own figure
The stamp duty calculator works out SDLT, LBTT or LTT for any price and buyer type, with a band-by-band breakdown, the first-time buyer saving and any surcharge. If you are still deciding where to buy, it can fill in the average price for your area too.