Almost everyone budgets for the deposit. Most people remember the solicitor. Plenty even factor in the survey. And then, roughly a fortnight after the keys land in their hand, a tax bill arrives that nobody had quite penciled in.
Stamp duty is not complicated once you have seen it laid out. It is just quietly expensive, and it turns up at the exact moment your bank balance is at its thinnest. This guide covers what you will pay, when you have to pay it, and the handful of mistakes that cost buyers real money. It also shows where the bill sits against the rest of your moving house costs, because stamp duty is one line in a much longer list.
Summary: Stamp duty starts at £125,000 for home movers and £300,000 for first-time buyers, with the first-time relief vanishing completely above £500,000. Additional properties carry a 5% surcharge on every band. You have 14 days from completion to file and pay in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales run their own taxes, with different bands and a different clock. Current bands and the official calculator sit on gov.uk.
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What Is Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and When Does It Apply?
SDLT is a one-off tax on property and land purchases above a set price in England and Northern Ireland. It applies to first homes, upsizes and buy-to-lets alike, and it is charged on the purchase price or, for some transfers, on market value. See the gov.uk SDLT overview.
You will pay it on:
- Freehold and leasehold residential purchases
- New leases above a certain value
- Transfers where money or a mortgage changes hands, which catches some divorce and gifting arrangements
Renting? None of this touches you. Buying below the nil-rate threshold? Also nothing to pay, though you may still need to file a return.
Two things are worth knowing before you read any further. Scotland does not use SDLT at all, and instead runs the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) through Revenue Scotland. Wales has its own version too, the Land Transaction Tax (LTT), collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority. Both get their own section further down. If you are buying in Edinburgh or Cardiff, the numbers in the next few sections are simply the wrong numbers for you.
Current SDLT Rates and Thresholds for Standard Residential Purchases
Standard bands run 0% to £125,000, then 2%, 5%, 10% and 12% above £1.5m. Each rate bites only on the slice of the price inside its own band, never on the whole purchase price. Confirmed on the gov.uk residential property rates page.
That banding point matters more than people expect. Buyers routinely assume that creeping into the 5% band means paying 5% on everything, panic accordingly, and end up over-budgeting by thousands. It works like income tax: only the portion above each threshold gets charged at the higher rate.
| Portion of price | SDLT rate |
|---|---|
| £0 to £125,000 | 0% |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,001 to £925,000 | 5% |
| £925,001 to £1,500,000 | 10% |
| Above £1,500,000 | 12% |
One warning about older advice. These thresholds dropped back to their pre-2022 levels on 1 April 2025, so any article still cheerfully quoting a £250,000 nil-rate band is out of date and will leave you thousands short. Rates also move with the Budget, which makes the gov.uk page worth a bookmark rather than a one-time glance.
First-Time Buyer Relief: How Much You Can Save
First-time buyers pay nothing on the first £300,000 and 5% between £300,001 and £500,000. Go a single pound over £500,000 and the relief disappears entirely, with standard rates applying to the whole price. Rates and eligibility are set out on gov.uk.
Read that cliff edge again, because it is genuinely brutal. This is not a taper. At £500,000 you keep the relief. At £500,001 you lose all of it, and the bill jumps by thousands over one pound of purchase price. If you are negotiating anywhere near that line, arguing the price down a fraction is worth far more than it looks on paper.
There is a second trap in the small print. Everyone named on the mortgage and title has to qualify. If your partner owned a flat a decade ago, or inherited a share of a property abroad, the relief does not apply to the purchase at all. Not halved, not apportioned. Gone. Our first-time mover guide walks through the wider process if this is your first time through it.
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Buying a Second Home, Buy-to-Let or Company Purchase: The Surcharge Explained
Additional properties carry a 5% surcharge stacked on top of every standard band, from the first pound. Non-UK residents add a further 2%. Certain company purchases above £500,000 face a flat 17%. Details on the gov.uk rates page.
Second home, holiday let, buy-to-let: the tax treats them all the same way. Here is how the two columns compare.
| Portion of price | Standard rate | Second home rate |
|---|---|---|
| £0 to £125,000 | 0% | 5% |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 2% | 7% |
| £250,001 to £925,000 | 5% | 10% |
| £925,001 to £1,500,000 | 10% | 15% |
| Above £1,500,000 | 12% | 17% |
Notice what happens in that bottom-left corner. The surcharge applies from the very first pound, so a second home worth £100,000 attracts 5% where a main residence at the same price attracts nothing at all.
The 17% company rate is not a typo, incidentally. It is an anti-avoidance measure aimed at high-value homes bought through corporate structures, and it rose from 15% at the end of October 2024, so older guides get this wrong.
There is one scenario that catches ordinary movers rather than investors. If your sale collapses and you complete on the new place while still owning the old one, you count as owning two properties on completion day. You pay the surcharge upfront and reclaim it once the old house finally sells. Painful, but recoverable.
If you are buying through a limited company or juggling two properties at once, this is the point to bring in a conveyancer or tax adviser. Get it checked before you exchange, not after.
How to Calculate What You’ll Actually Pay: Worked Examples
Three buyers, three very different bills.
Example 1: First-time buyer, £280,000 flat
- Sits comfortably under the £300,000 first-time buyer threshold
- SDLT due: £0
Example 2: Home mover, not a first-time buyer, £350,000 house
- 0% on the first £125,000 = £0
- 2% on the next £125,000 = £2,500
- 5% on the remaining £100,000 = £5,000
- Total SDLT: £7,500
Example 3: Second home at £450,000
- Standard SDLT on £450,000 = £12,500
- Plus the 5% surcharge across the full £450,000 = £22,500
- Total SDLT: £35,000
The surcharge nearly triples that last bill. It is the single number people underestimate most, and it is why a buy-to-let that looked affordable in the spreadsheet suddenly does not. For your own figure, spend two minutes with the official gov.uk SDLT calculator, which handles reliefs automatically.
Then put that number into a proper budget rather than leaving it floating on its own. Our guide to moving house costs sets solicitor fees, surveys and removals alongside the tax so you can see the whole picture before you exchange. Worth doing early, too, since removal slots vanish fast around month-ends and Fridays.
When and How You Must Pay SDLT (The 14-Day Deadline)
The return and payment are due within 14 calendar days of completion. Late filing brings an automatic £100 penalty, rising to £200 after three months, plus interest. Once a return is 12 months late, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can add a tax-based penalty of up to the full tax due. Set out in the gov.uk guidance on late SDLT returns.
Calendar days, note, not working days. And the clock starts at legal completion, not the day the van turns up.
In practice your solicitor deals with all of it, filing the return and paying HMRC straight out of the completion funds. That is how the overwhelming majority of purchases work. You can file it yourself if you are not using a conveyancer, though few people do, largely because the form is easy to get wrong.
Here is the part worth underlining: the legal responsibility sits with you, not your solicitor. If it is filed late, it is your penalty. So ask for written confirmation that the return has actually gone in. One email, and you are covered.
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Common Costly Mistakes to Avoid
A short list of errors accounts for most of the stamp duty horror stories we hear from buyers.
- Assuming the solicitor filed it. They almost certainly did. Confirm anyway, because the penalty lands on you.
- Missing first-time buyer relief. Some buyers never realise they qualify. Others lose it because a joint buyer’s past ownership was not declared properly.
- Underestimating the additional-property surcharge. Buying before selling catches out plenty of ordinary movers who never thought of themselves as second-home buyers.
- Leaving SDLT out of the budget entirely. Easy to fixate on deposit and mortgage, when on a £350,000 purchase the tax alone is £7,500.
- Overpaying by ignoring reliefs. Uninhabitable properties, multiple dwellings and mixed-use purchases each have their own rules. Niche, but worth a question to your solicitor if your purchase is unusual in any way.
Running through a proper moving checklist early tends to surface these before they turn into completion-day surprises.
Scotland and Wales: Different Rules, Different Names
Scotland charges LBTT from £145,000, with an 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement levied on the whole price. Wales charges LTT from £225,000, offers no first-time buyer relief, and allows 30 days to file rather than 14. Rates are published by Revenue Scotland and the Welsh Revenue Authority.
The underlying logic is the same in all three nations, in that you pay progressively by portion. Everything else differs: thresholds, percentages, reliefs and deadlines.
Scotland: Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT)
- 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
- 12% above £750,000
- First-time buyers get a £175,000 nil-rate band, with no upper price cap at all
Scotland’s second-home charge deserves a closer look, because it behaves nothing like England’s. The Additional Dwelling Supplement is 8%, and it is charged as a flat rate on the entire purchase price rather than band by band. On a £250,000 second home that is £20,000 on top of the standard LBTT. Anyone mentally translating England’s 5% into Scottish terms will be badly out.
Moving to the capital? Our Edinburgh removals team handles LBTT-affected completions regularly and can plan the move around your dates.
Wales: Land Transaction Tax (LTT)
- 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 £1,500,000
- 12% above £1,500,000
Wales offers no first-time buyer relief, the reasoning being that a £225,000 nil-rate band already sits well above England’s and does much the same job. Second homes work differently again. Rather than bolting a surcharge onto the standard rates, Wales runs an entirely separate higher-rates band table, in force since December 2024, opening at 5% on the first £180,000. You cannot reach the right answer by adding a percentage to the standard bands, and a general SDLT calculator will simply give you the wrong number.
One more Welsh quirk that catches people: you get 30 days to file, not 14. A more forgiving deadline, though not one to lean on.
Where Stamp Duty Fits Into Your Total Moving Costs
Stamp duty is usually the biggest single cost after the deposit. It is rarely the only one that surprises people. A realistic budget also has to absorb:
- Solicitor and conveyancing fees, plus disbursements
- A survey, priced according to which level you choose
- Mortgage arrangement and valuation fees
- Removals, varying by distance, volume and whether you want packing included
- Moving-day logistics: parking permits, storage if your completion dates fail to line up, utility set-up
Stamp duty gets paid and forgotten quickly, because someone else handles it. The move itself is the part you actually live through, and it rewards planning rather than panic. Whether you are crossing Manchester or heading into London, booking your removal firm as soon as you exchange takes one worry off a day that already has plenty.
FAQ: Stamp Duty and Moving House
Do I have to pay stamp duty on every house I buy in the UK?
No. SDLT covers England and Northern Ireland only. Scotland charges LBTT, Wales charges LTT, and each sets its own rates and thresholds, so check the system for where you are actually buying.
How much is stamp duty on a £300,000 house?
A home mover pays £5,000: nothing on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000, then 5% on the remaining £50,000. A first-time buyer pays nothing at all, since £300,000 sits exactly at the top of the nil-rate threshold.
Can I avoid the stamp duty surcharge on a second home?
Only if it genuinely is not an additional property, which usually means selling your main home before or on the same day you complete on the new one. Complete on the purchase first and you will normally pay the surcharge upfront, then reclaim it once the old place sells.
What happens if I miss the 14-day SDLT deadline?
An automatic £100 penalty, rising to £200 past three months, with interest on anything unpaid. Leave it beyond 12 months and HMRC can add a tax-based penalty of up to the full tax owed. Chase your solicitor for confirmation rather than assuming.
Is stamp duty included in my mortgage?
No. It is a separate cost, paid on top of your deposit and mortgage funds. Some lenders will factor it into affordability calculations, but it does not get rolled into the loan the way legal fees sometimes can.
Sorted Your Stamp Duty? Now Let’s Sort Your Move
Stamp duty stays comfortably abstract right up until it appears as a real number on your solicitor’s completion statement. Know your band, check whether relief or the surcharge applies, file within 14 days, and the tax side of your purchase is finished.
The move is the part that still needs thinking about: boxes, van space, timing around completion, and getting everything from one address to another intact. That is our job. EcoGreen Movers is fully insured on every job and runs on eco-friendly practices, including tree planting, because a good move should not leave a bad footprint.
First home or growing family, get a free quote from EcoGreen Movers and let’s get you moved properly.
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