Stamp Duty Cost 2026: How Much Will You Pay?

If you’re buying a home in England or Northern Ireland, stamp duty starts once the purchase price goes above £125,000. At the current average house price in England of £290,000, standard stamp duty would be £4,500. [1]

The amount you pay depends on the property price and whether you’re a first-time buyer, replacing your main home, or buying an additional property.

Current Stamp Duty Rates In England And Northern Ireland

These are the standard residential rates if the property will be the only home you own when the purchase completes.

Purchase Price Slice	SDLT Rate
Up to £125,000	0%
£125,001 to £250,000	2%
£250,001 to £925,000	5%
£925,001 to £1.5 million	10%
Above £1.5 million	12%

If you’re a first-time buyer, buying an additional property, or purchasing in Scotland or Wales, your rates will be different.

Common Stamp Duty Costs At Typical Purchase Prices

The figures below use the current England and Northern Ireland rates, first-time buyer relief, and the higher additional-property rates from 1 April 2025. This is the quickest way to sense-check your number before you get into the edge cases.

Purchase Price	Standard Residential Purchase	First-Time Buyer	Additional Property
£250,000	£2,500	£0	£15,000
£300,000	£5,000	£0	£20,000
£310,000	£5,500	£500	£21,000
£400,000	£10,000	£5,000	£30,000
£500,000	£15,000	£10,000	£40,000

A £300,000 purchase is a good example of how much the scenario matters. The same home can mean £0, £5,000, or £20,000 in SDLT depending on whether you are a first-time buyer, a standard home mover, or buying an additional property.

How Stamp Duty Is Worked Out

Stamp duty is charged in bands, not as one flat percentage on the full purchase price. That means going just over a threshold does not mean the whole property price is taxed at the higher rate. Only the slice within that band is charged at that rate.

So if you buy a home for £300,000 as a standard residential purchase, you pay 0% on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000, and 5% on the final £50,000. That is how you get to £5,000. If you only remember one thing from this guide, make it this.

Something we see a lot is buyers treating SDLT as a rough percentage they will tidy up later. That is usually where the trouble starts, because the bigger jumps in the bill tend to come from the rules rather than the maths.

First-Time Buyer Relief

If you and anyone you are buying with are all first-time buyers, and the property costs £500,000 or less, you can claim first-time buyer relief. That means you pay no SDLT up to £300,000 and 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000. If the property costs more than £500,000, the relief does not apply.

The relief tapers, rather than cliff-edges, once you go above £300,000. So a first-time buyer paying £310,000 would owe £500, not the full standard residential amount. That is a small example, but it is exactly the kind of detail buyers want to see early.

If you are buying jointly, everyone on the purchase has to qualify as a first-time buyer for the relief to apply. That is one of the reasons couples sometimes get caught out, especially when one person assumes their own status is enough to carry the transaction.

Replacing Your Main Residence

This is the most misunderstood part of SDLT. Replacing your main residence does not just mean moving house. The higher rates usually apply if all three of these are true:

Condition	What It Means In Practice
The new purchase will not be the only residential property worth £40,000 or more that you own anywhere in the world	You will still own another qualifying property at the end of completion day
You have not sold or given away your previous main home	Your old main residence is still yours when the new purchase completes
No one else has a lease on that old home with more than 21 years left to run	A long lease can change the position

This is why buyers can feel they are “replacing” their home in everyday language, but still get caught by the higher-rate rules. If you rent where you live now, but own another property elsewhere, buying a home to live in will usually not count as replacing a previous main residence under these SDLT rules, because you have not sold a main home you owned.

If you have already sold your previous main home before, or on the same day as, the new purchase, you will usually stay on the standard residential rates instead. If you buy first and sell later, you may have to pay the higher rates up front.

If that happens, a refund may still be available. GOV.UK says you can usually claim back the higher-rate element if you sell or give away your previous main home within 3 years of buying the new one, subject to the refund rules and deadlines.

Additional Properties, Second Homes, And Buy-To-Lets

From 1 April 2025, the higher SDLT rates for additional residential properties in England and Northern Ireland are 5% up to £125,000, 7% from £125,001 to £250,000, 10% from £250,001 to £925,000, 15% from £925,001 to £1.5 million, and 17% above that.

That is why the jump can be so sharp. On a £300,000 purchase, the additional-property bill is £20,000 rather than £5,000. The surcharge is not a small tweak. It can change the whole budget.

The rule also reaches further than many buyers expect. HMRC looks at residential property you own or part-own anywhere in the world, not just in the UK. It also applies across joint buyers, and, in many cases, spouses and civil partners. If one buyer would have to pay the higher rates individually, the transaction as a whole is usually charged at the higher rates.

If You Also Count As Non-UK Resident

There is also a separate 2% surcharge for non-UK residents buying residential property in England or Northern Ireland. GOV.UK says that, for individuals, the key test is whether you were present in the UK for at least 183 days in the 12 months before the purchase. That 2% sits on top of the other residential rates that already apply.

Shared Ownership And Leasehold

Shared ownership has its own SDLT rules, so a standard stamp duty table will not always give you the full answer. You should also factor in the wider shared ownership costs before budgeting.

In most cases, you can either pay SDLT upfront on the full market value, or pay in stages. [2] Paying upfront usually costs more at the start but keeps later staircasing simpler, while paying in stages can reduce the initial bill but may mean SDLT is due later if your share rises above 80%, so it helps to understand the wider staircasing solicitor fees too.

If you are a first-time buyer buying your first share through an approved shared ownership scheme, you may also be able to claim first-time buyer relief.

Leasehold is usually simpler. SDLT on the lease premium uses the same residential bands shown above. In some new leasehold purchases, there can also be SDLT on the rent element if the total rent over the life of the lease goes above £125,000.

If your purchase involves linked transactions, buying out a partner, or a transfer after divorce or separation, get the SDLT position checked by your conveyancer before exchange.

Scotland And Wales Use Different Property Taxes

If the property is in Scotland, you do not pay SDLT. You pay Land and Buildings Transaction Tax instead. The current residential LBTT bands are 0% up to £145,000, 2% from £145,001 to £250,000, 5% from £250,001 to £325,000, 10% from £325,001 to £750,000, and 12% above £750,000. Scotland also has first-time buyer relief, which raises the nil-rate band to £175,000. [3]

If the Scottish purchase is an additional dwelling, the Additional Dwelling Supplement may apply. Revenue Scotland says ADS is currently 8% of the purchase price for transactions on or after 5 December 2024 where the relevant conditions are met.

If the property is in Wales, you pay Land Transaction Tax instead of SDLT. The current main residential LTT bands are 0% up to £225,000, 6% from £225,001 to £400,000, 7.5% from £400,001 to £750,000, 10% from £750,001 to £1.5 million, and 12% above £1.5 million. For higher residential rates, GOV.WALES says the current bands from 11 December 2024 start at 5% up to £180,000, then 8.5%, 10%, 12.5%, 15%, and 17% through the higher bands. [4]

The practical takeaway is simple. Use the property tax system for the nation where the property is located, not where you live now. A buyer moving from England to Wales, or from London to Edinburgh, needs to switch systems entirely.

When You Pay It And Why It Matters To Moving Day

For England and Northern Ireland, GOV.UK says you must file an SDLT return and pay any tax due within 14 days of the effective date, which is usually completion. If you are using a solicitor, agent, or conveyancer, they will usually file the return and pay the tax on your behalf, then add it to the money you need to send them, alongside your solicitor fees when buying."

Scotland and Wales have their own deadlines. Revenue Scotland says LBTT returns are due within 30 days of the day after the effective date, and GOV.WALES says the same 30-day timing applies for LTT returns and payment.

This is the part a lot of tax-only guides do not really cover. Stamp duty is not just a number on a calculator. From what comes through our service, the real pressure is not just the SDLT figure itself. It is the fact that so many moving costs land together.

That is why getting the SDLT number right early matters so much, especially when you're also working out when to pay solicitors' fees and other completion-day costs.

If you budget for the standard rate and later discover the higher rates apply, the problem is not just a bigger tax bill. It is a bigger completion-day funding problem.

Once you know your likely SDLT figure, put it into the full moving budget straight away. Then check the other costs of buying a house while there is still time to make decisions calmly, rather than trying to patch the numbers together at the last minute.