It is not one tax. England and Northern Ireland charge Stamp Duty Land Tax, Wales charges Land Transaction Tax, and Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. The bands differ, the reliefs differ, and the surcharge on additional property differs.
All three work the same way in one respect: the rate applies to the slice of the price within each band, not to the whole price. Going a pound over a threshold costs you the rate on that pound, not on everything below it.
The headline differences
The surcharge catches more people than expected It applies whenever you will own more than one property at the end of the day of completion. That includes buying before you have sold, a share of a property you inherited, and a property you own abroad. Where it applies only because a sale has not yet gone through, it can often be reclaimed if you sell within the time limit.
The first-time buyer definition is stricter than people think. It means you have never owned a property anywhere in the world, including a share of one you inherited and never lived in. If you are buying with somebody else, you both have to qualify — one of you having owned before removes the relief for the purchase.
What else to budget for
- •Your conveyancer’s fee, plus their disbursements — searches, Land Registry fees, bank transfer charges.
- •A survey, if you want one beyond the lender’s valuation, which you almost certainly should on anything older.
- •The lender’s product fee, if the product you take has one.
- •Buildings insurance, which needs to be in place from exchange of contracts, not from completion.
- •Moving costs, and on a leasehold flat, the apportionment of ground rent and service charge.
Work out your own figure
Our stamp duty calculator covers all three countries, first-time buyer relief and the additional property surcharge, and shows the band-by-band breakdown so you can see where the money goes.
It is an estimate to plan with. Your conveyancer files the return and confirms the amount actually payable, and they are the ones who will spot the reliefs and the traps that apply to your particular purchase.