How Much Stamp Duty Land Tax Will You Pay in 2026?
Stamp Duty Land Tax is the largest single cost most buyers forget to budget for. It is due within 14 days of completion, it cannot be added to your mortgage, and it has to be available as cash on the day. Getting the number wrong by a few thousand pounds can stall a purchase entirely.
This guide explains how SDLT is actually calculated for residential property in England and Northern Ireland, for purchases completing on or after 1 April 2025.
Stamp duty is charged in slices, not one flat rate
This is the part people get wrong most often. SDLT is not a single percentage applied to the whole price. The price is cut into bands, and each slice is taxed at its own rate:
- Nothing on the first £125,000
- 2% on the slice from £125,001 to £250,000
- 5% on the slice from £250,001 to £925,000
- 10% on the slice from £925,001 to £1.5 million
- 12% on anything above £1.5 million
So a £300,000 purchase does not attract 5% on the whole price. It attracts nothing on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 (£2,500), and 5% on the final £50,000 (£2,500) — £5,000 in total, an effective rate of 1.67%.
A worked example at £420,000
Take a £420,000 home and run the same property through three different buyer situations.
A standard buyer — someone moving home, who will own only this property — pays nothing on the first £125,000, then 2% on the £125,000 up to £250,000, which is £2,500, then 5% on the remaining £170,000, which is £8,500. The total is £11,000.
A first-time buyer gets a much higher nil-rate threshold: nothing at all up to £300,000, then 5% on the amount between £300,000 and £500,000. On £420,000 that is 5% of £120,000, so just £6,000. The relief saves £5,000 on this purchase.
Someone buying an additional property — a second home or a buy-to-let — pays the standard bands plus a 5% surcharge applied to the entire price, including the nil-rate band. That works out at £6,250 + £8,750 + £17,000, or £32,000. Put simply, it is the standard £11,000 plus 5% of £420,000.
The same house, three buyers, and a £26,000 spread in tax.
The first-time buyer cliff edge at £500,000
First-time buyer relief is withdrawn completely once the price passes £500,000. It does not taper. At exactly £500,000 a first-time buyer pays £10,000. At £505,000 the relief vanishes and standard rates apply to the whole purchase, producing a bill of £15,250.
That is £5,250 of extra tax for £5,000 of extra house. If you are a first-time buyer negotiating near that threshold, the £500,000 line is worth defending hard.
The second home surcharge and the 36-month refund
The 5% additional property surcharge catches more people than expected, because it applies whenever you end up owning two residential properties at the end of the day of completion — including when you are genuinely replacing your main home but your sale has not completed yet.
If that happens you must pay the surcharge, but you can usually reclaim it if you sell your previous main residence within 36 months. The surcharge also does not apply where the additional property costs less than £40,000.
Non-UK residents pay a further 2% on top of everything else.
Scotland and Wales are different taxes entirely
Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax. Both have their own bands, thresholds and reliefs, and neither follows the figures above. If you are buying in Edinburgh or Cardiff, the English rates will mislead you.
Budget for it as cash, early
Because SDLT is payable within 14 days of completion and cannot be financed, it needs to sit alongside your deposit rather than inside your mortgage. Add your conveyancing fees, survey and removals on top and the cash requirement on completion day is often far larger than buyers plan for.
Run your own price through the UK Stamp Duty Calculator to see the band-by-band breakdown for your exact situation, including first-time buyer relief and the additional property surcharge.