What stamp duty is
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is the tax you pay when you buy a property or land over a certain price in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax (LTT) instead, with their own bands. SDLT is paid to HMRC, usually within 14 days of completion, and your solicitor normally handles the return.
Standard residential rates 2026
For someone replacing their main home, the rate applies only to the portion of the price within each band:
| Portion of price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 0% |
| £125,001 – £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,001 – £925,000 | 5% |
| £925,001 – £1,500,000 | 10% |
| Over £1,500,000 | 12% |
First-time buyer relief
If you and anyone you are buying with have never owned a home, you get a more generous set of thresholds — but only if the price is £500,000 or less:
| Portion of price | First-time buyer rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £300,000 | 0% |
| £300,001 – £500,000 | 5% |
Buy above £500,000 and the relief is lost entirely — you fall back to the standard rates on the whole price.
The second-home surcharge
If buying the property means you will own more than one residential property — a buy-to-let or a second home — a 5% surcharge is added on top of the standard rate in every band. So the bands become 5%, 7%, 10%, 15% and 17%.
A worked example: £350,000 home
A first-time buyer paying the same £350,000 would owe just 5% on the £50,000 above £300,000 — £2,500. The calculator above switches between buyer types automatically; to sanity-check a first purchase, the first-time buyer stamp duty calculator at ukcalculator.com applies the £300,000 and £500,000 thresholds for you.