2026 Stamp Duty Rates in England: 0%–12%, Examples & 14 Days to File

Stamp Duty Land Tax runs on a slice system with five standard bands, from 0% up to £125,000 to 12% above £1.5 million. Buy an additional property and a 5% surcharge stacks on top of every band. Non-resident buyers face a further 2%, and the return is due within 14 days of completion.

• The tiered stamp duty system applies specific rates to purchase slices, with higher thresholds increasing the effective rate for expensive properties.
• First-time buyers can qualify for relief by meeting strict eligibility criteria, including never owning a property anywhere in the world.
• Buying an additional property triggers a 5% surcharge on top of standard rates, with the total added tax rising significantly for high-value or multiple purchases.
• Non-residents face an extra 2% surcharge, and companies buying residential property can be subject to a flat 17% rate, replacing the usual schedule.
• Accurate calculation and timely submission of SDLT depend on professional conveyancers, as the tax must be filed within 14 days of completion to avoid penalties.

Table of Contents

What are the current stamp duty rates for a standard purchase?

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) works like income tax: you don't pay one flat rate on the whole purchase price. Each portion, or "slice," of the price is taxed at the rate for that band, and only the amount within that band gets taxed at it. This is what people mean when they ask "how does stamp duty work" rather than assuming it's a single percentage applied across the board.

As of September 2026, the standard residential SDLT bands for England and Northern Ireland are:

Say you're buying a home for £280,000. Nothing is due on the first £125,000. The next slice, £125,001 to £250,000, is taxed at 2%, giving £2,500. Total bill: £4,000.

Thresholds have shifted before and can shift again at a fiscal event, so always cross-check the live figures on GOV.UK's residential rates page before relying on a number for a real purchase.

Do first-time buyers pay a lower rate of stamp duty?

Yes, and the difference is worth checking carefully before you assume you qualify. First-time buyer relief raises the nil-rate threshold and cuts the tax due on a first home, provided you meet HMRC's tests.

• The relief applies a 0% band up to a higher threshold than the standard schedule, with a discounted 5% band above that, up to an overall price cap.
• Buy above that cap and the relief disappears entirely. You revert to the standard bands on the full price, not just the excess.
• You qualify only if every buyer on the title has never owned a residential property anywhere in the world, including inherited shares or overseas homes. One buyer failing this test disqualifies the whole purchase.
• A couple buying their first home together at £300,000 would pay considerably less under the relief than under the standard bands, because a larger slice of the price sits in the 0% band.

Because the "never owned property anywhere" test trips up more buyers than expected (an inherited flat abroad counts), it's worth confirming eligibility with your conveyancer before you factor the relief into your budget.

What is the surcharge on second homes and additional dwellings?

The Higher Rates for Additional Dwellings (HRAD) adds 5% on top of the standard bands for anyone buying an additional residential property worth £40,000 or more, whether that's a buy-to-let, a holiday home, or a second home bought before selling the first. This rate has applied since 31 October 2024, up from 3% previously, and it catches out a fair number of buyers who budgeted using older figures.

Because the surcharge stacks band by band, the effective rates on an additional property look like this:

1. 5% on the portion up to £125,000 2. 7% on the £125,001 to £250,000 slice 3. 10% on the £250,001 to £925,000 slice 4. 15% on the £925,001 to £1,500,000 slice 5. 17% on anything above £1.5 million

A £350,000 additional property carries standard SDLT of £5,000 plus HRAD of £17,500, for a total bill of £22,500. That's an effective rate of 6.4%, more than double what a main-home buyer would pay at the same price.

If you buy a new main residence before selling your old one, you'll pay the HRAD upfront. Sell the previous home within 36 months and you can reclaim the surcharge from HMRC, though the process runs through a specific form and usually benefits from a conveyancer's help.

How does the non-resident and corporate surcharge work?

Buyers who spend fewer than 183 days in the UK in the 12 months before completion face an additional 2% surcharge, stacked on top of the standard bands and HRAD where both apply. This catches overseas buyers and UK nationals who've been working abroad, not just foreign investors.

• The 2% non-resident surcharge applies per band, in the same slice-by-slice way as HRAD.
• Companies and other non-natural persons buying residential property worth £500,000 or more can face a flat 17% rate on the whole price, replacing the ordinary band schedule entirely.
• If your residency status changes shortly after completion, for example you become UK resident within the qualifying period, you may be able to reclaim the surcharge.
• Trust purchases and mixed-ownership structures often need tailored advice, since the way surcharges apply depends heavily on how the buyer is defined and how the deed is worded.

How do you calculate stamp duty and when is it due?

Working out your own SDLT liability is mechanical once you know the bands. It's the deadline that trips people up.

1. Identify which schedule applies: standard, first-time buyer relief, additional-dwelling, or non-resident/corporate. 2. Split the purchase price into the relevant slices for that schedule. 3. Apply the rate for each slice to only the portion of the price sitting within it. 4. Add any surcharge percentages (HRAD, non-resident) to the base rate for each slice before calculating. 5. Sum every slice to get the total SDLT due.

SDLT is a self-assessed tax. You (or your representative) must file a return and pay any tax due within 14 days of the effective date, which is usually completion. Miss that window and HMRC applies interest and penalties on top of the tax owed.

Pro Tip: Most buyers never file an SDLT return themselves. In practice, a conveyancer handles the calculation, submits the return through HMRC's online system, and pays the tax from funds held on your behalf at completion, which is one of the strongest reasons not to try to manage this deadline solo.

What does stamp duty actually look like at common price points?

Numbers on a page mean more once you see them attached to a real purchase price.

• £300,000 main home: 0% on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 (£2,500), and 5% on the remaining £50,000 (£2,500). Total: £5,000, an effective rate of 1.7%.
• £300,000 second home: the same base £5,000, plus 5% HRAD across the full price (£15,000). Total: £20,000, an effective rate of 6.7%, nearly four times the main-home bill.
• £600,000 main home: 0% up to £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 (£2,500), 5% on the remaining £350,000 (£17,500). Total: £20,000, an effective rate of 3.3%.
• £1,600,000 main home: the calculation runs through all five bands, landing at £93,750, an effective rate of 5.9%, showing how sharply the effective rate climbs once you cross £1.5 million.

The gap between a main-home and second-home bill at the same price is often the single biggest surprise buyers report, which is exactly why checking your scenario against MoneyHelper's calculator before exchanging contracts is worth the ten minutes it takes.

Have stamp duty rates changed recently, and are more changes coming?

The most significant recent shift was the HRAD increase from 3% to 5%, which took effect on 31 October 2024 and caught a lot of second-home buyers and landlords off guard mid-purchase.

Thresholds and reliefs for SDLT have moved more than once in recent years, generally in response to wider fiscal pressures rather than a fixed schedule. That pattern makes it risky to rely on a figure you read six months ago, or on a number quoted by an estate agent who hasn't checked the current schedule.

The practical takeaway is to treat every SDLT figure as time sensitive. Before you exchange contracts, or even before you make an offer at a price point near a band threshold, check the live rates on GOV.UK rather than a number from a calculator you bookmarked previously. A conveyancer instructed early in your purchase will also flag any change that affects your specific transaction, which matters most if there's a gap of several weeks between agreeing a price and completing.

Do Scotland and Wales use the same stamp duty rates?

No. England and Northern Ireland share the SDLT schedule described throughout this guide, but Scotland and Wales run entirely separate systems with their own bands, thresholds, and names.

Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), administered by Revenue Scotland rather than HMRC. Wales charges Land Transaction Tax (LTT), administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority.

This matters most for anyone buying near the England and Wales border, or comparing a house price across nations without adjusting for the tax difference. A property advertised at the same price in Bristol and Cardiff will not carry the same tax bill, because the calculation runs through a different schedule entirely. If your purchase touches Scotland or Wales, treat the England and Northern Ireland figures in this guide as background context only, and check the specific LBTT or LTT schedule that actually applies to your transaction.

Does stamp duty apply differently to commercial or mixed-use property?

Yes. The residential bands and surcharges covered above apply specifically to residential property. Commercial property, and land that has no residential element at all, follows a separate non-residential SDLT schedule with its own thresholds and rates, generally lower at the top end than the residential schedule but structured on the same slice principle.

Mixed-use property, a shop with a flat above it, for example, is where things get more nuanced. HMRC treats a genuinely mixed-use purchase under the non-residential schedule rather than the residential one, which can produce a lower overall bill than if the same price were paid for a purely residential property. This has made mixed-use classification a point of scrutiny in recent years, since misclassifying a residential purchase as mixed-use to access the lower schedule is a common area HMRC checks closely.

Neither the first-time buyer relief nor the HRAD surcharge applies to non-residential or genuinely mixed-use transactions in the way they apply to residential ones. If your purchase includes any commercial element, garden land bought separately, an annexe, a small business unit, get specific advice on which schedule applies before you assume the standard residential bands cover your situation. The classification can shift your bill by a meaningful margin either way.

What other exemptions and reliefs exist beyond first-time buyer relief?

First-time buyer relief gets most of the attention, but it isn't the only relief on the books. Charities buying property for charitable purposes can claim relief from SDLT entirely, provided the property will be used to further the charity's aims rather than held as an investment.

Certain transfers carry no SDLT charge at all because no chargeable consideration changes hands: property left in a will, for instance, or a genuine gift where no money or mortgage debt is transferred alongside it. Transfers between spouses or civil partners on divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership, ordered by a court, are also typically exempt.

Multiple dwellings relief, which historically reduced the average rate applied to purchases of several dwellings in one transaction, has been withdrawn in recent years, so don't assume it still applies without checking current guidance. Right-to-buy transactions, certain shared ownership purchase structures, and some compulsory purchase transactions also carry their own specific treatment.

None of these reliefs apply automatically. Each has its own eligibility test, and claiming one incorrectly can trigger an HMRC enquiry well after completion. If your transaction looks even slightly unusual, a gift with a small cash contribution, a property held partly in trust, get it checked before you file the return rather than after.

How does stamp duty fit alongside other property transaction costs?

SDLT is usually the single largest tax cost in a purchase, but it isn't the only fee you'll pay, and it interacts with several of the others in ways worth understanding upfront. Conveyancing fees, the legal costs of handling the purchase, are separate from SDLT and paid directly to your solicitor or licensed conveyancer, though the same professional will typically calculate and file your SDLT return as part of that fee.

Disbursements, third-party costs your conveyancer pays on your behalf, cover things like local authority searches, land registry fees, and bank transfer charges. These sit alongside SDLT on your completion statement but are calculated independently of it. Mortgage arrangement fees, valuation fees, and any lender's legal fees also run separately, though they all land on the same completion day as your SDLT payment.

Where it gets genuinely interconnected is timing: your conveyancer usually pays SDLT from the funds held for you at completion, alongside the purchase price itself, the land registry fee, and their own bill. Budgeting for a purchase means adding SDLT to legal fees, disbursements, and moving costs, not treating it as a separate, later payment. Get a full breakdown of typical conveyancing fees before you complete so nothing on the day comes as a surprise.

Why a conveyancer matters when it comes to filing SDLT

SDLT is self-assessed, but almost nobody files it themselves. Conveyancers routinely handle the calculation and submission because the rules on residency, reliefs, and additional-dwelling status catch out buyers who assume their situation is straightforward. An inherited share in an overseas flat, a slightly delayed sale of a previous home, a few days either side of the 183-day residency test: any of these can turn a straightforward bill into an overpayment or, worse, a penalty. Using a regulated conveyancer to check your position before completion is the cheapest insurance in the whole transaction.

Get a fixed-fee quote and let a regulated conveyancer handle your SDLT return

Working out which band, relief, or surcharge applies to your purchase is only half the job. Filing it correctly within 14 days is the other half, and that's where a DIY calculation or a rough estimate from an estate agent falls short. Using an instant quote system can connect you with regulated firms who calculate your SDLT accurately, file the return on time, and know how to handle reclaim cases if you're due a refund on the additional-dwelling surcharge.

Quotes are generated instantly, so you know your legal costs before you commit to a firm. Get your instant conveyancing quote now and have a conveyancer sorting your SDLT liability alongside the rest of your purchase.

Sources

Get Your Free Conveyancing Quote

Compare prices from trusted local solicitors. No obligation, no hidden fees.

Get Free Quotes Now