Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is the tax paid to HMRC by the buyer when a residential or commercial property in England or Northern Ireland is purchased above the nil-rate threshold. Scotland uses Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) instead; Wales uses Land Transaction Tax (LTT). The mechanic is similar across all three but the bands differ.

SDLT is calculated on the slices of the price, not the total. A buyer paying £450,000 doesn’t pay one flat rate on the full amount — they pay 0% on the first slice, then 2% on the next, then 5%, and so on, stacking the bands.

Three regimes overlap:

• Standard rates: applied to most main-residence purchases above the nil-rate threshold.
• First-time buyer relief: nil-rate extended to a higher threshold on properties below a price ceiling — the relief vanishes entirely if the price is above the ceiling.
• Additional property surcharge: a 3-percentage-point uplift on every slice for second homes and buy-to-let purchases (with limited refund rules for replacement of a main residence).

SDLT is due within 14 days of completion. The buyer’s solicitor handles the return (form SDLT1) and the payment.

Use the SDLT calculator to model standard, first-time-buyer, and additional-property scenarios.