How Much Stamp Duty Will I Pay in 2026? UK SDLT Rates Explained

You've found the perfect property, agreed a price, and you're counting down to completion — but before anyone hands over any keys, HMRC wants their cut. Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is one of the biggest one-off costs of buying property in England and Northern Ireland, and the rates and thresholds have shifted more than once in the last few years, which makes it easy to end up working from an out-of-date figure.

This guide walks through exactly how much stamp duty you'll pay in 2026, whether you're a first-time buyer, moving to your next home, or adding to a buy-to-let portfolio. It's written for anyone about to buy a home in the UK — and if money and property calculations are your thing more generally, this sits in our Finance category, alongside our other UK money calculators.

What is stamp duty?

Stamp Duty Land Tax is a tax charged by HMRC on property and land purchases in England and Northern Ireland above a certain price. It's calculated as a percentage of the purchase price, using a banded structure similar to Income Tax — the rate increases in slices as the price rises, rather than one flat rate applying to the whole amount.

Scotland and Wales charge their own, separate property transaction taxes instead of SDLT. In Scotland, it's called Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), collected by Revenue Scotland. In Wales, it's Land Transaction Tax (LTT), collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority. Both work on a similar sliced-band principle to SDLT, but with their own thresholds and rates — covered in full further down this guide.

SDLT (or LBTT/LTT) is due within 14 days of completion — the day you legally become the owner — and it's always the buyer who pays, never the seller. In practice, your solicitor or conveyancer usually handles the calculation and filing for you as part of the purchase process, and the amount is typically settled alongside your other completion funds. Skip the maths with our free UK stamp duty calculator — it covers SDLT, LBTT and LTT in one place.

2026 SDLT rates for standard buyers

If you're moving home and don't qualify for first-time buyer relief or face an additional-property surcharge, you'll pay SDLT at the standard 2026 rates below. These apply to the portion of the price that falls within each band — not the full purchase price at a single rate.

How the “slice” system actually works

A common misunderstanding is thinking stamp duty is a flat rate applied to the entire purchase price — so a £400,000 house in the 5% band would mean a £20,000 bill. That's not how it works. Each band is taxed separately, like filling a series of buckets: the first £125,000 sits in the 0% bucket, the next slice sits in the 2% bucket, and so on, until you reach the top of the price. You only pay the higher rate on the portion of the price that falls into that higher band.

Worked example: a £400,000 property

Here's exactly how a £400,000 purchase breaks down for a standard, non-first-time buyer in England or Northern Ireland:

That's a total SDLT bill of £10,000 — an effective rate of 2.5% of the full purchase price, even though part of it was taxed at 5%. Before you commit to an offer at this level, it's worth checking your take-home pay too, so the mortgage and this extra upfront cost both comfortably fit your budget.

First-time buyer stamp duty relief 2026

If this is your first property purchase, you're very likely paying less than the standard rates above — sometimes nothing at all.

Do you qualify?

To claim first-time buyer relief, you (and anyone you're buying with) must never have owned a residential property anywhere in the world before, and you must intend to live in the property as your main home. If you're buying jointly and even one buyer has owned property previously, the relief isn't available on that purchase.

2026 first-time buyer rates

That last row matters: the relief isn't tapered away gradually above £500,000 — it disappears entirely, and standard rates apply to the whole purchase price instead, not just the portion above the threshold.

Worked example: a first-time buyer at £500,000

A first-time buyer purchasing at exactly £500,000 pays 0% on the first £300,000 and 5% on the remaining £200,000, which comes to £10,000. Compare that with the standard rates a home mover would pay on the same property — £15,000, using the banded calculation from the section above — and the relief saves a first-time buyer £5,000 at this price point. The saving is even bigger at lower prices: anything up to £300,000 is completely SDLT-free for a first-time buyer, while a home mover would still pay SDLT on the portion above £125,000.

See how much you'll save with our first-time buyer stamp duty calculator — just select “first-time buyer” as your buyer type and enter your property price.

Additional property surcharge (buy-to-let, second homes)

Buying a property that isn't going to be your only or main residence — a buy-to-let, a second home, a holiday home, or a purchase made through a limited company — triggers a 5% surcharge on top of the standard SDLT bands in 2026. Crucially, this surcharge applies to the entire purchase price, including the portion that would otherwise fall into the 0% band for a standard buyer.

When the surcharge doesn't apply

If you're selling your existing main home and buying a new one to replace it, the surcharge generally doesn't apply, even though you technically own two properties for a short overlap period — provided the sale of your old main residence completes on the same day, or you sell it within a set window after the new purchase (HMRC allows a refund of the surcharge if your previous main home is sold within three years of the new purchase). The surcharge is aimed at buyers who are keeping or adding an additional property, not people who are simply moving house.

Worked example: a £300,000 buy-to-let

A landlord buying a £300,000 buy-to-let pays the standard SDLT on that price — £5,000, using the same banded calculation as any other buyer — plus the flat 5% surcharge on the full price, which adds £15,000. That's a total SDLT bill of £20,000, four times what a first-time buyer would pay on an identical property. Once you know your surcharge, it's worth running the numbers through our mortgage calculator to see what the full purchase — deposit, SDLT and monthly repayments — actually costs. A dedicated buy-to-let mortgage calculator, covering rental yield and interest-only repayments, is coming soon to Calculio.

Non-UK resident surcharge

On top of any other rate that applies, buyers who don't meet HMRC's UK residence test for a purchase face a further 2% surcharge. This stacks on top of standard rates, first-time buyer rates, or the additional-property surcharge — whichever applies to your purchase.

Broadly, you're treated as UK resident for a transaction if you're present in the UK for at least 183 days during the 12 months ending on the day of completion. Spend less time than that in the UK around your purchase, and the 2% surcharge applies regardless of your nationality or where your money comes from.

For example, a non-UK resident buying a standard £300,000 home (not an additional property) would pay the usual £5,000 standard SDLT, plus 2% of the full price — £6,000 — for a total of £11,000. Combine non-residence with an additional-property purchase, and the surcharges stack further still: standard rates, plus 5%, plus 2%, on the same £300,000 property would total roughly £26,000 once every layer is added together.

Scotland (LBTT) and Wales (LTT) — different rules

If your property is in Scotland or Wales, SDLT doesn't apply at all — you'll pay LBTT or LTT instead, under their own separate rate tables.

LBTT rates in Scotland (2026)

First-time buyers in Scotland get a higher nil-rate band — up to £175,000 rather than £145,000 — through separate first-time buyer relief. Additional properties, including buy-to-lets and second homes, face the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS), currently a flat 8% on top of the standard LBTT due, applied to the full purchase price.

LTT rates in Wales (2026)

Wales doesn't offer first-time buyer relief — it was abolished when LTT replaced SDLT in 2018, so first-time buyers pay the same main rates as any other buyer. Additional properties instead face the Welsh higher residential rates, which start at 5% on the lowest band (rather than 0%) and rise to 16% at the top of the scale, replacing the main rates entirely rather than adding a flat surcharge on top.

When and how to pay stamp duty

In the vast majority of purchases, your solicitor or conveyancer handles stamp duty as part of the conveyancing process — calculating what's due, filing the return, and arranging payment from your completion funds, so you don't need to deal with HMRC directly.

The legal deadline is 14 days from the date of completion. This involves filing an SDLT return (form SDLT1) and paying any tax due. Missing the deadline triggers an immediate £100 penalty, with further penalties and daily interest adding up the longer it remains unpaid. For full detail on filing requirements, HMRC publishes official stamp duty guidance on GOV.UK.

Common ways to reduce your stamp duty

A few legitimate reliefs and classifications can reduce an SDLT bill, though most only apply in specific circumstances:

• Multiple Dwellings Relief (MDR) — this relief, which reduced SDLT for buyers purchasing more than one dwelling in a single transaction, was abolished for transactions completing on or after 1 June 2024. It's no longer available for most new purchases.
• Uninhabitable property claims — a property genuinely unfit for habitation at the point of purchase may qualify for lower non-residential rates rather than residential ones. HMRC scrutinises these claims closely, and several tribunal cases have gone against buyers who overstated a property's condition.
• Mixed-use classification — a property with a genuine non-residential element, such as attached land used commercially, may qualify for mixed-use rates, which are generally lower and don't attract the additional-property surcharge.
• Chattels apportionment — SDLT is only due on the property itself, not on fixtures, fittings or furniture included in the sale. Genuinely apportioning part of the agreed price to chattels can reduce the taxable amount, but the apportionment must reflect a realistic market value.

A word of caution: HMRC has been actively cracking down on aggressive SDLT reclaim schemes, particularly around uninhabitability and mixed-use claims sold by third-party agents on a no-win-no-fee basis. If a refund claim sounds too good to be true, it's worth getting independent advice from a qualified tax adviser before proceeding — you remain liable for the tax (plus penalties and interest) if a claim is later rejected, even if someone else submitted it on your behalf.

Frequently asked questions